Saturday, 12 August 2017
The Black Hills of South Dakota are home to the 109-mile long Mickelson rail-trail. We rode most of the Hill City to Mystic section. This section includes a relatively high pass (for this trail) at 5436 ft and two tunnels. It’s a relentless 2% grade from Hill City, and I had difficulty -- it’s different riding 3-mile 2% grade at 1500 ft and riding a 7-mile 2% grade at 5000 ft! We turned around at the first tunnel, about 2 miles shy of Mystic -- I really didn’t want to add to the return climb!
After our ride, we got back into the car and headed for Montana.
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| Prairie dogs on our way out of Wind Cave National Park. |
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| Our route took us on the back side of the under-construction Crazy Horse monument near Mt. Rushmore. |
The Black Hills of South Dakota are home to the 109-mile long Mickelson rail-trail. We rode most of the Hill City to Mystic section. This section includes a relatively high pass (for this trail) at 5436 ft and two tunnels. It’s a relentless 2% grade from Hill City, and I had difficulty -- it’s different riding 3-mile 2% grade at 1500 ft and riding a 7-mile 2% grade at 5000 ft! We turned around at the first tunnel, about 2 miles shy of Mystic -- I really didn’t want to add to the return climb!
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| Lon near the summit at Redfern. |
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| A gate across the road where the trail goes into the Black Hills National Forest. |
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| Tunnel A, our turn-around point. |
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| Our route cut across the extreme northeastern corner of Wyoming. |
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| Clouds were building over Montana. I was also intrigued by the brilliant red rocks on the hill tops here. |
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| The view from our campsite in Makoshika State Park near Glendale, Montana. |
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