When we came to Spearfish, South Dakota earlier this summer, I had made up my mind that I was going to ride the entire length of the nearby George S. Mickelson Trail. I thought I was biting off a big goal, but then I heard that my mountain biking mentor (Tim Davis) was embarking on a 5 week nonstop 1800 mile bike ride on the Pacific Divide Trail – I’m not worthy! -- But I did my little ride anyway!
The George S. Mickelson Trail is a rail trail (something like a small gravel road) that goes up and over the Black Hills of South Dakota. The main trail runs approximately 109 miles from Edgemont to Deadwood - or from Deadwood to Edgemont which is the direction I took. 
Nearly all of the trail follows the route of an old abandoned railroad bed constructed by the Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1890-91. The trail's route goes up over mountainous, forested, and very scenic land, most within the boundaries of the Black Hills National Forest. It has four tunnels and more than 100 old railroad bridges. There are fifteen trailheads spaced along the route, with the towns of Deadwood, Lead, Rochford, Hill City, Custer, Pringle, and Edgemont to make your way through.
Linda agreed to shuttle me from the Spearfish City Park we are staying at to my starting points and then pick me up at the end of the daily rides. She occasionally drove to the meeting point and started riding back towards me – it was always good to see her smiling face on the trail peddling up to meet me.
The first day of the ride I worked my way up through the town of Deadwood and all of its construction zones before I broke free of the populated areas. It was a steady climb most of the way as the trail took me along one of the local streams and the remains of the old gold mining days. The picture to the left has the remains of an old mining sluice from years gone by.
The first town after Deadwood was the mining town of Lead. The little town was officially founded on July 10, 1876, after the discovery of gold. It was actually named for the leads or lodes of the gold deposits and other valuable ores. It is the site of the Homestake Mine, (you can see the slag piles for miles) and was the largest, deepest (8,240 feet) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before closing in January 2002.
As I made my way south through the hills with 10 and 12 mile steady climbs and an occasional downhill, the real beauty of the Black Hills let itself be known to me. The rock formations, Lodge Pole pine trees, creeks and streams, and the vistas up over the valleys with the vivid blue sky calmed me in a way that I had never felt before. Maybe it was just the endorphins and dopamine that were pinging through my system after the climbs, but it sure felt good!
The next town that we came to was called Rochford. Rochford was an old gold mining town in the Black Hills along Rapid Creek of South Dakota. It was founded in 1877 and peaked at a population of around 1,000 by 1879. It had several hundred homes, a business district, saloons, and schools. But when the gold ran out, Rochford was virtually abandoned. The town did continue with just a few people for a while but in 1902 there was an explosion in one of the mines that killed a few people – after that Rochford was a true ghost town. But a few people do still live there to tell the stories and sell liquor! – (The stories are much more believable when liquor is involved.)
As I rode in the nearby areas you can tell that a few new claims have been set up with the belief that gold still remains in them thar hills.
I was working my way south enjoying a rather long downhill run when I ran into the little town of Mystic. Mystic was originally called Sitting Bull but changed its name when the railroad came through in the late 1880s. The little town was also the site of a large gold mill, it was an experimental plant set up in 1904 at the cost of about a million dollars to extract gold by some new fangled process. It failed! Then its old foundations were used to support a sawmill – which is still operating today. There’s wood in them thar hills! The sawmill, a store, a school, a church, and a few homes are all that are left from Mystic’s more prosperous days.
Along the trail are some tunnels from the old railway along with lots of bridges. One of the tunnels I went through even had a minor cave in that left a pile of large rocks right in the middle of it. I just rode around it and did not stick around to see if it was going to happen again.
Our stopping point one day was Hill City. This is a fun little tourist town with quite the history. In 1874, Major General George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills, during which gold was discovered in French Creek, 13 miles south of the present day Hill City. This discovery of gold opened the Black Hills - and the Hill City area - to mining and was know as Hillyo before it was renamed to Hill City. This was the second (white man) settlement in the Black Hills. The town of Custer was the first. The Hill City almost became a ghost town when miners moved (as fast as they could) to the northern Black Hills (Deadwood) after the discovery of gold there.
Around 1883, tin was discovered near Hill City, and the population rebounded somewhat. The Harney Peak Tin Mining, Milling, and Manufacturing Company made its headquarters on Main Street where the company (backed by English financiers) bought 1,100 prospecting sites around the area. As the mining grew, the city became known for its wild living (like most towns in the area) and was once referred to as "a town with a church on each end and a mile of Hell in between."
In 1957, the Black Hills Central Railroad, also known locally as the 1880 Train, opened a tourist passenger train on the Black Hills Central Line. The Black Hills Central Railroad restores era-style locomotives and train cars. It has been featured on television shows such as the Gunsmoke episode "Snow Train", General Hospital, and the TNT mini-series Into the West. The railroad also made an appearance in the movie Orphan Train.
We have had the opportunity to ride the 1880s train and did enjoy it as we wound through the hills to the little town of Keystone.
Hill City is a tourist town now with all its shops, restaurants, and activities that you would expect or want. Our favorite is the Bumping Buffalo on main street.
Below are some interesting iron/tools/stuff sculptures in Hill City.
As we made our way home from Hill City (by truck) we ran into a bit of a hail storm at one of the higher elevations. We came by just after it and by the looks of it we were glad we were a bit late that day.
The next part of the ride brought us down to the southern part of the Black Hills and the scenery started to change a bit. The trail separated from the main roads a little more and I found myself looking over my shoulders a bit more often – looking for that elusive mountain lion that might consider a ‘meal on wheels’ more attractive than hunting.
I made my way down past Crazy Horse Memorial but the trail really didn’t give me the opportunity to stop and look. So on I went and discovered a section of the trail that was quite breath taking with its up thrust boulders and sprawling meadows. Next stop – Custer, the oldest town in the Black Hills.
Custer is generally considered to be the oldest town established by Americans in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Gold was found there during the 1874 Black Hills Expedition, conducted by the 7th Cavalry led by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, a discovery which initiated the Black Hills Gold Rush and helped turn the local tribes against him which resulted in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
In 1875 trespassing gold-boomers named their settlement Stonewall (after the Confederate General, Stonewall Jackson), but it was renamed for Custer. Almost abandoned in 1876 after word of the much larger gold strikes in Deadwood Gulch spread, Custer later became an established city.
After a short break in Custer it was back on the trail heading south once again.
The country side opened up a bit as I headed towards the little town of Pringle with more farms and cattle.
Pringle is an interesting little town with a bit of nearby issues. It seems that the polygamist branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (Mormons) built a bit of a compound, complete with guard towers nearby. Last February two of Warren Jeffs Brothers were arrested there for a rather complex food stamp fraud scheme. Don’t know the outcome for that one – but it should be interesting.
I guess they think it’s ok to break the law if you’re doing it in God’s name.
Besides the Hitching Post Bar and Grill (lots of Harleys!) the most interesting thing in Pringle is the worlds largest bicycle sculpture. I really couldn’t see the sculpture part (the sign told us that it was a sculpture) but it did look like a really big pile of trashed bikes.
After I left Pringle and did my last uphill for the trail I ran into a group of rather feisty Tom turkeys. These guys were not small and they were looking for a fight.
There were about 10–12 of them and they were all Toms! I had never seen that before in the wild. The one to the left actually came after me and finally turned away when I stood on the bike pedals, stretched out my arms and yelled at him. That was a new experience for me.
And here I was on the lookout for Mountain Lions! Attack turkeys – go figure.
Minnekata once had a section house, school house, and gas station. Water had to be trucked into this rail stop because the local water was way too hard (mineral content) for the steam engines to use.
A rail spur was added from here to Hot Springs in 1891 and shuffled tourists to the new warm water spas there.
Images and left overs of the Black Hills Lime Company south of Pringle. With Railway access!
In the above photo (Sheep Canyon) there was a railway trestle called appropriately “Sheep Canyon Trestle” made of wood. It was said that it was so rickety that the train engineer would stop the train and walk across the trestle. Once the engineer was across, the other person in the engine of the train would put the locomotive in gear and jump off. When the train got across the trestle the first engineer would hop back on and stop the train while he waited for the other person to walk across. Then they would continue on their way.
As usual we run into a few critters as we ride. Linda had met me on the trail and ridden up from Edgemont about 9 miles into Sheep Canyon where we joined up and rode back down. This guy is known as a Bull Snake, not poisonous but a bit intimidating just by the size. I stopped and took the pic then pulled on his tail a bit – don’t think he cared for that!
When we got into Edgemont and finished the ride there was a cute story about the town from 1903.
On April 23, 1903 Teddy Roosevelt, during a tour of the western states, visited Edgemont with friend, Seth Bullock, of Deadwood fame. Hundreds of people were on hand to listen as Teddy spoke to the crowd of pioneers who had tamed the “shaggy” wilderness of the Black Hills. The town’s society matrons and elders had planned a formal banquet to honor the president. But the local cowboys had other plans and pulled their chuck wagon up to the bandstand and yelled for Teddy and Seth to come eat with them. They both joined the cowboys and ate beans and bacon washing it down with a tin cup of coffee. The cowboys brought them horses and the whole group ended up galloping through town firing their six shooters in the air and just whooping it up. Teddy and Seth returned to the train when the whistle blew and never did dine with the society folks who were left to dine and listen to the band without them.
I do love those old western stories!
My ride was finished – for me it was quite the experience. Now it is just maintenance type of rides to keep me in some sort of shape for my next goal. To ride as much as I can of Denali National Park in Alaska. We’ll see how that turns out.
I’ll get back to the normal blog next time, but we thought we should share this rather unique experience. Until next time.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
Lee
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a fantastic ride and what a wonderful support team! Good luck on your Denali ride. I'm guessing your entire home is going on the ferry to Alaska. I'd be interesplted in the details if you'd shoot me an email. Good luck and Good health. Please give Belinda a hug from us.
Duane