Black Hills, SD / George S. Michelson Trail (5/4 - 5/20/23)

Finally made it to the Black Hills to ride another Hall of Fame trail, but also to change our residency to become citizens of South Dakota. We planned to spend more time here than usual to make sure we accomplished everything we wanted to do while we were here and we're glad we did. Several days were rainouts with flood warnings, but we worked around it and were able to ride the whole trail. We have been here before and focused more on the other attractions like Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway, Custer State Park, the Badlands, caves, and the Crazyhorse Memorial. If you ever visit here, these are just of few of the must do attractions, but for us this time it was all about the trail.

If you've ever been to the Black Hills, you almost certainly have seen the herds of bison roaming the parks. They are not real shy, so seeing them up close is fairly common.

Before we embarked on our quest to ride the Michelson Trail, we went to Rapid City to get a ride in on the fully-paved, Rapid City trail system. This is a view of the lake from one of the parks this trail joins together. This trail is also close to the Dakota Point Brewing, which provided us a nice beverage break with complimentary popcorn. Box Elder, right next to Rapid City is also our new official residence.

One of our worries in planning this trip was; "Will the trail be rideable in early May?". Except for just a few hundred feet of trail, we generally had good weather and trail conditions. This was one of two places we had to hop off the bikes to get around the snow and this one was located near Englewood. We only found snow on the trail in the northern section.

The George S. Michelson trail is a limestone packed rail trail that is 109 miles long. This trail is another Hall of Fame rail trail on our bucket list we have been able to check off. This trail also has shuttle services should you want to avoid up-hill legs or doing "out-and-backs" like we did. Since we did the "out-and-backs" we actually were able to ride 219 miles of the trail.

Here is the other place where the trail was snow covering the trail. The weather while we were there was mainly in the 60s and 70s, so even with the snow it wasn't too cold. This was located near the Dumont Trailhead at mile marker 92.

This trail has 4 tunnels which are not too long that lights are needed.

Around every bend usually comes some beautiful views of the Black Hills.

This trail also has over 100 trestle bridges. They are in good condition, but sometimes they can be rough when riding too fast over the uneven wooden floor planks.

Like I said before, the weather was pretty good, but we did have a few days of rain when the forecast said there was only a 5% chance of rain more than once while out on the trail. I guess in the hills you never know what mother nature will dish out.

While dodging the hills from north to south, the trail is also frequently following mountain streams.

This trail by far is one of the most picturesque trails we have rode to date. As with much of this area, there is definitely the 1800s gold rush theme everywhere you look.

Like I mentioned before, this trail is 109 miles long running south to north and beginning in Edgemont and ending in the town of Deadwood. We actually started in the north end in Deadwood and tackled the trail in sections moving further south each day.

The tunnels had some interesting architecture elements keeping them held up over the years.

The tunnels were fairly dry and cooler inside than the outside air temps.

I couldn't believe that this rail road was built in only 255 days using the old equipment and tools we don't have today.

We stayed at three different places while here and we stayed here first at the Rush No More RV Resort near Sturgis and Deadwood. This time of the year had plenty of room available. In the summer, this will all change when motor bikers take over for the Sturgis Rally.

Sometimes you not quite sure what to expect when entering one of these tunnels, but none of them were too long. All 4 tunnels are fairly close to each other north of Hill City.

The pine trees are the main source of shade in these hills and keep the scenery looking green all year long.

We turned around here one day around the half-way point.

Along the way are several secluded rest areas in between the 14 trailheads. The trail also passes through the towns Hill City, Custer, and Pringle all of which provided amenities to refresh and rest.

About mile marker 51, you can begin to see the Crazy Horse Memorial right from the trail.

This is where we camped in Hill City at the Black Hills Trailside Park Resort. The fast running creek had a small waterfall that provided that calming sound falling waters right next to the site. The last campground we stayed in was Sunrise Ridge Campground in Hot Springs. It was nice, but we did have to drive about 10-15 miles to ride the trail from here.

On one of days off, we visited the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. This was one of those small places you normally may miss, but turns out to be quite interesting. This is an ancient sink hole where 61 mammoths happened to become trapped and well-preserved to be discovered thousands of years later. I've always heard about the Wolly mammoth, but the Columbian mammoth was the king of this species at the time.

The sink hole was not too large forcing the bones into a very concentrated area so that you are able to see them exactly where they were found during the careful dig.

Multiple times we saw the clouds forming over the horizon, so we were glad we packed rain jackets just in case.

You can barely see it, but the sign on the right was for a train stop at the Sanator Sanitarium located near here.

These hills are covered with abandoned mines not for just gold and silver, but for many other important minerals of the time. Next visit we will probably want to visit the Black Hills Mining Museum to learn more about this major reason people flocked here.

On last day of riding on the south end, we came upon some unexpected views. Riding this trail you see much more of these hills you cannot get to by car.

The views continue. This used to be a long trestle bridge that was so crickety that one train engineer would stop the train and walk over to the other side and then the second engineer would put it in gear and get off. Once the train crossed, the first engineer would hop in while in motion and wait for the second engineer to join back on the other side. Now it is a very steep dam.

Several of those secluded rest stops included manual water pumps to get fresh water.

This is the Sheep Canyon trail stop. Although the north side of this trail was probably the overall most scenic, the views from this place may have been the best.

A view from the Sheep Canyon stop. Although we did not see any sheep, the rocky canyon walls certainly look like a perfect habitat for them.

Riding along the stretch made it difficult to keep you eyes on the trail.

Coming back into the town of Edgemont was mostly down hill and provided yet another view of the valleys below.

The trail ends/starts in Edgemont and is actually along an active rail station. I have never seen so many engines in one place. I think there were over 30. The trail here is actually more a road for about a mile, but once you get past the active rail line it turns into the natural beauty it is.