Our next stop is South Dakota, where we continue eating meat almost every day. With apologies to our vegetarian readers, it’s what carnivores do when in cattle/bison country.

More importantly than the meat, western South Dakota is famous for the Mickelson Trail, another member of the Rail Trail Hall of Fame and a definite bucket list item. We spend 5 nights in the darling town of Custer. This place has a small population (less than two thousand residents) and a big summer tourism industry. It’s a gateway to Mt. Rushmore, the Sturgis motorcycle rally, and the Badlands.

We spend three days riding on the unpaved Mickelson Trail. On the first we ride from our house to Hill City. Unfortunately it’s mostly downhill – it’s just a two to three percent grade, but the 10-mile climb back up is rather painful. Heat and the 5000-foot altitude can take their toll.

The second ride was south to Pringle and the famous (infamous?) bike sculpture. We started pretty much at the Custer trailhead, knowing that the return route would feature an easier downhill ride.

A railroad operated on this trail for almost one hundred years. The line ceased operation in the early 1980’s and by the end of the decade, then–governor George S. Mickelson started working towards converting the line to a rail–trail. He lived to see the first six miles (of the 109) completed, but sadly he died in a plane crash in 1993 and didn’t live to see the project completed in 1998. Fun fact: it took less than a year to build the railroad. It took 15 years to build the rail-trail.

Back to the ride, we ride to Pringle. There is nothing here except something that is called a sculpture, but looks more like a junk yard. Beauty and art are definitely in the eye of the beholder!

Our final ride on the trail was a remote start from the Mystic trail head. This gave us the chance to see four railroad tunnels that are now part of the trail.

Now you have seen all four tunnels.

And now a bit of personal history: Eve has been trying to see Mt. Rushmore for 47 years. It’s a long story that started with a college graduation cross-country trip in 1979. Too many miles, too little time. Over the years, other attempts to visit did not work out.

I am thrilled to report that I have checked yet another item off the bucket list this trip!

Over the years people have told me that it’s not that big, it’s not that impressive and it’s a bit disappointing. I do not agree! I was very impressed and after all these years, it was worth the wait!

Our next tourist destination was Custer State Park. We planned a drive through the park to see the wildlife.

There is a giant “Custer” sign up in the trees. It lights up at night and you can see it from down below. It turns out there is a nature trail carved out with over 200 steps UP to go see it. Some of the steps are very steep and there are lots of roots and hazards on the way up. On our last morning in town we decided to make the hike.

Now somewhere in the Black Hills of Dakota, there lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon. We searched for Rocky during our visit. Rocky didn’t like that, but all we could find was Gideon’s bible. (If you know, you know.)

There’s one more trail to ride, and your intrepid voyagers move to Nebraska for our next post.

Follow this blog and get an e-mail notification every time we publish.  Just click the FOLLOW button on the upper right side of the page!  You’ll get an email to confirm your subscription, and then you are set. 

Follow us on Strava at Georgia Tandem Rally.