A Loop Through the Black Hills

[indyfabz]

Photos here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/105349603@N05/sets/72157655263744881

Click on the first one and advance manually to see the captions. Unfortunately, I trashed my camera on the first night. I bought a replacement but didn't have a chance to charge the battery until after I had ridden up Spearfish Canyon, which was one of the most scenic parts of the trip.

My original itinerary included a foray into remote Northwest Nebraska. However, when I reached Edgemont on Day 3 I met a family at the municipal campground who told me the 35 mile dirt road that would take me to the main reason for going to Nebraska—Toadstool Geologic Park—would be a tough ride under good conditions and likely impassible by bike due the extensive flooding the area had experienced, so I scrubbed that portion of the mission and took a rest day in Edgemont instead. From there, It was a relatively short ride to Hot Springs, which was on my original itinerary. This change in plans resulted in a total point-point/day ride mileage of about 400. Excursions into towns and attractions such as the mammoth dig site in Hot Springs added at least another 30 miles. Ride With GPS shows about 26,500’ of climbing for the point-to-point/day ride mileage.

Things worked out like this:

Rapid City to Spearfish
Spearfish to Hill City
Hill City to Edgemont
Day Off in Edgemont with a 17 mile ride towards Nebraska and back
Edgemont to Hot Springs via Old Hwy 18 and U.S. 18
Hot Springs to Custer via Wind Cave N.P.
Loop from Custer to Sylvan Lake then Needles Highway
Day ride from Custer to Hill City and back
Custer to Mt. Rushmore KOA then a loop via Old Hill City Rd. Keystone, thence to Mt. Rushmore and back to the KOA via SD 244.
Mt. Rushmore KOA to Rapid City

Some random thoughts:

Food: This was my first tour of more than two days where I did not bring cooking gear. The reason for not doing so was that cooking on at least four days was not really practicable, either because of a lack of grocery stores and the fact that I was staying in a motel at the start and end of the trip. I thought this could be a problem and it was to some extent. When touring my body runs best on a high carb diet, and high carb meals are hard to come by in an area dominated by beef and fried foods. Even salad bars are short on fresh vegetables and long on things like tuna salad and macaroni salad drowning in mayo. Later in the trip, while staying in Custer for three nights, I did find a restaurant that had some options with decent carbs, which provided pleasant relief.

The Mickelson Trail: My route included nearly all of this 108 mile rail-trail. It is unique. The surface varied between fine to larger gravel, dirt, lose sand, and even some rocks. Ruts from unusually heavy runoff were prevalent. There are several cattle gates which you have to open, negotiate and then close. There are many bridges that are less than smooth and have transitions which, in the exercise of caution, require you to slow down. Four tunnels and countless road and driveway crossings also require slowing. One evening I had to lift my bike over a downed tree. And not only is the trail not flat, you top out at over 6,000' and are over a mile a in altitude in several places. My first day on the trail I underestimated the time it would take me to get from the Englewood trailhead to Hill City. I didn't arrive in town until 8 p.m. With that said, it is a beautiful trail and passes through some isolated territory. Fortunately, there are several trailheads with shelters, rest rooms and cisterns with drinking water. If you plan to ride this trail without fenders, expect to get dirty if the surface is wet.

Sun & Rain: The sun was intense nearly every day. Even the official map for the Mickelson Trail warns you to bring sun block as much of the trail in not shaded. I know a few days were in the upper 80s, but even days in the high 70s felt much hotter due to the blazing sun hitting you at altitude. Every day but one was dry. Around 10:15 p.m. on the second night a storm that looked like it would miss my campground on the edge of Hill City suddenly moved over the area. It went from doing nothing to raining and then hailing in a matter of 90 seconds. The hailstones ranged from pea to ping pong ball sized. There were also heavy thunderstorms two nights in Custer.

I recommended good foul weather gear for the Mickelson. Before starting out on my day ride to Hill City I met a couple in the city park who was being shuttled up north on the trail so they could ride back to Custer. I thought I might run into them in Hill City. I did. While the brunt of the that afternoon's storm missed Hill City, the couple had gotten caught in the worst of it during the long descent into town. The temperature in town dropped by what seemed like some 20 degrees, so I can only imagine how cold it was up on the hill. Compounding matters was the fact that they had been delayed in the deluge by a herd of free range cattle blocking the trail. When the couple pulled into the shelter in town, the husband's fingers were literally blue from the could. He called the shuttle service, which was based in Hill City, and they got a ride back to Custer.

Climbing & Wind: The Black Hills are, well, hilly. The first day of the trip featured nearly 4,800’ of climbing in 60 miles. Much of that was in the first 35 miles or so of the ride. The second day threw close to 5,000’ of climbing at me. That’s a lot considering 40 of the day’s 70 miles was on the Mickelson Trail. The famed Needles Highway had many steep sections. I rode it clockwise and without gear during a no-move day in Custer. That allowed me to avoid the double-digit grade sections I would have encountered going the opposite way. On day two, including a fifteen minute “I need to get out of the blazing afternoon sun” shade break, one 3 mile climb took me nearly an hour going into the wind. On that subject, there was a good deal of wind, and it was often in my face. Not strong, gusty winds, but rather steady, usually between 10 and 15 mph.

Camping: Campgrounds where generally decent. The municipal campground/park in Spearfish was the nicest municipal campground I have ever stayed in, with lush grass and modern, clean facilities. I spent two nights at the municipal campground in Edgemont, which is next to the main BNSF coal train route out of Wyoming. At the height of traffic there were 135 car unit coal trains about every 35-45 minutes. I work in the rail biz so the action was of interest to me, but the noise did wake me a few times.

Overall: I had a great time. While I would have liked to have added Nebraska to the list of states I have toured in, everything worked out well in the end. Skipping Nebraska allowed me several days where I could take day rides without having to break camp. It also insured that I had time to visit the mammoth dig site, which would have been unlikely otherwise as the day from Nebraska to Hot Springs would have been an 82 mile one.

I have the route details on Ride With GPS if anyone is interested.

[mckas]

Indyfabz, thanks for the write up on the Black Hills, and the pictures.  My 10 yr. old and I will be touring the Black Hills the last week in June on a tandem.  As of now we plan to try to duplicate the route that Adventure Cycling uses for its tour.  (6 days 234 miles) We plan to start in Deadman though.  I do have some questions for you.  First, what time of year did you do your tour?   Did you have any problems getting into a campground?  This is important to me, because I have been shut out of campgrounds in the past, and have camped "on the road somewhere", but traveling with my son, this may be too much of an adventure for him and me.  Did you find this to be a problem?  Any roads that you would not miss if you had to do it over, and like wise any roads you would stay away from?  I actually have 2 tandems that I can choose from to do this trip.  I can use a road tandem, currently set up with 36mm tires (can use up to 2" tires), or a mountain  tandem with front suspension.  I would like to get onto some unpaved roads, the average mileage is low, but we will not be acclimated to the elevation and I know there will be plenty of climbing, but I'm sure I can get my son through some extra mileage.  The nice thing about this area is that, if we need to cut it short, we can, if we want to add on we can.  It's also why I want to start on the Mickelson Trail, I figure after the first day, I'll know if we can do any extra mileage, or if we need to cut it short.  I guess I'm going in with the want to add some mileage on unpaved roads.  Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[indyfabz]

I flew to Rapid City on June 17th and started riding the next day. Plenty of tent space at the campground I stayed in, although I did make reservations at some of them just to be safe. Don't know your planned route, but the KOA on SD 244 was the most crowded. After that, Crooked Creek in Custer was second, but still, there would have been space had I showed up unannounced.

If you tell me the general route/itinerary, I can give you a better idea of what you might like to ride, etc., but Needles Highway is certainly worth the effort. You can do it as a day ride from Custer. And if you are going to Mr. Rushmore, the "back way" from Hill City is much nicer than SD 244.

[indyfabz]

O.k. I looked at the ACA itinerary. If you can swing it and don't mind the climbing, the day from Rapid City to Deadwood via Nemo Rd. is really nice. Here is the route I did continuing on to Spearfish:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8788873

The portion between a little after mile 34 and a little after mile 36 is a quiet, gravel road. Once you get to the summit around mile 38.7 it's a cruise into Deadwood. Just before you start that climb there is a private campground with a "burger shack" open to the public. The burger was pretty good. Since I didn't stay in Deadwood I didn't look for camping, but I remember seeing this place. Not sure if it offers tent camping:

http://daysof76.com/?/days-of-76-campground

This was my second day, from Spearfish to Hill City:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8789073

Spearfish has the most amazing municipal campground I have ever seen. And it's right next to a national fish hatchery museum, complete with "tanks" full of fish. The gradual climb through Spearfish Canyon is really, really nice, as is the mileage to Cheyenne Crossing. When you turn on to U.S. 85 is where things get ugly. It was only 3 miles, but that climb was a beast. The sun beating down on me didn't help. Mil3 30 in Edgemont is where I picked up the trail. as you can see, there are two sustained uphill sections. Between the surface and the breeze and me being tired from the early climbing, those sections were harder than I thought they would be. Note that the only place to get any food along this stretch is at a restaurant in Rochford. Pretty sure it's not open on Sunday.

I finished the trail on day 3, passing through Custer and Pringle:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8789263

I don't know whether the ACA trip will get off the trail at Pringle and take U.S. 385 to Hot Springs or stay on the trail until it crosses U.S. 18 and taking that to Hot Springs, but from the days mileage, I suspect it's the latter, which is what I would do. U.S. 18 has a wide shoulder and is pretty tame except for that mile or so hill you have to climb before cruising down into town. The ACA trip is going to stay at a place that's just to the north of the center of town. I stayed at a place that is closer to town on the south end. Pricey ($30) for what it was, but it is convenient and there is a lot shade. It's small, so you might want to look into tent site reservations:

http://www.gwtc.net/~allenranch/index.html

This was my day from Hot Springs to Custer via Wind Cave N.P.:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8801424

If you looked at my photos, the bison shots were all taken on this day. The nice thing about it being short is that I had plenty of time to one of the longer tours of Wind Cave. Definitely worth the $12 or whatever I paid for it. Get there pretty early or you may have to wait for a tour. When I got done mine the wait for the more popular tours was about 1.5 hrs. Bring food as once you leave Hot Springs there is nothing until Custer. Just before mile 26 on my map I got off SD 87 and took Lower French Creek Rd. That's another gravel opportunity. Very quite and scenic back there. While the map doesn't show it, there is a tail spur extension that goes out to Stockade Lake from Custer. I stayed on the road and was glad I did. There appeared to be some short, super-steep section on the spur. The place I stayed was a bit outside of the center of town. While spending three nights in Custer I saw this place, which had a shaded tent area and is within walking distance of the main drag:

http://www.fcrvpk.org/index.html

Despite being close to things, it's still pretty quiet back there. One possibly negative is that I looked liked it could be a bit buggy, especially being so close to the creek.

That's all for now. I will update with my thought about Needles Highway.

[mckas]

Thank you again.  I am a little on information overload, it is very much appreciated.  On the route from Hill City to Hot Springs, I think the ACA route goes off the Mickelson about 8 - 10 miles south of Pringle on county route 333 or Argyle Rd.  From Hot Springs north into all the parks and monuments, I'm not sure what route they take.  I was thinking of going up 87 and then going onto the wildlife loop in Custer State Park.  Then 16A to Mt. Rushmore, then cutting up to Sheridan Lake.  Then Sheridan Lake Rd. into Rapid City.  None of my route is set in stone, and if anything having flexability traveling with my son is key, That is why I hate making reservations.  I have never seen the Ride with GPS website before, but that has peaked my interest.  Great info, I look forward to taking in the rest of your route and your thoughts on the Needles highway.  Once again, your help is very much appreciated.

[indyfabz]

From Hot Springs to Wind Cave N.P. I think you are stuck with U.S. 385. Once I got out of town there was very little traffic on that road. It probably picked up a bit as more tourists started heading towards the park. From what I read, the loops is best done in the early morning or evening. If you have the time, the Mammoth dig site in Hot Springs is worth the price od admission. You can ride there from the center of town.

If you want to save miles from Custer to Mt. Rushmore, get off U.S. 16A east of Custer and take SD 87 to S. Playhouse Rd. That will take you back to U.S. 16A and will still allow you to ride the switchbacky/pig tail part of U.S. 16A (Iron Mountain Rd.)

Once you get to SD 244 in Keystone (a horribly tacky town), the climb to Mt. Rushmore is short, but boy is it steep in place. Ride With GPS shows nearly 600' of climbing in 1.6 miles with a ruling grade of over 10%. Facing the entrance, there are bike racks on the right. Watch out for flailing selfie sticks.

Here is the map for the Needles Highway loop I did during one of my non-move days in Custer:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8771954

Some spectacular views. As you can see from the profile, you want to go clockwise unless you are a masochist.