Connecting Lewis & Clark in South Dakota to TransAmerica in Wyoming?

[CHA7]

Hello - I'm cycling E-W this summer and am looking to connect from just about anywhere in South Dakota along the Lewis & Clark trail to the TransAmerica Trail in Wyoming.  If anyone has recommendations of routes to take, (obviously I'd love to hit as many beautiful places as possible), I'd love to hear them.  I want to connect the two because I don't want to miss out on the Tetons and Yellowstone, but don't want to follow Lewis & Clark all the way into North Dakota and Montana.  Any advice is welcome!  Cheers!!

[JHamelman]

Hi CHA7,

You might want to start your search with some state resources, check with the South Dakota and Wyoming bicycling pages. They road suitability and traffic count maps can be helpful in assisting you to avoid no shoulder and/or high traffic roads. Links follow:

South Dakota:
http://www.sddot.com/pe/projdev/planning_bp.asp

Wyoming:
http://www.dot.state.wy.us/wydot/safety/pedestrian_bicycle

If you don't see what you need, you can also contact their bicycle/pedestrian coordinator for more information.

Hope this helps,

.Jennifer.

[John Nettles]

If you are willing to leave in the L&C in Onawa, IA, you can go west to Norfolk and connect with the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska.  From the end, you can take US-20 west until you connect with US-26 in Douglas, WY.  Take US-26 west until you connect up with the TransAm between Lander and Dubois.

The Cowboy Trail is a rail trail (chat or finely crushed gravel surface) that parallels US-20 most of the way so if you do not like the trail, you can hope onto the pavement.  The traffic counts on US-20 east of Atkinson, NE are a tad high but US-20 has pretty decent shoulders.

If you need/want to still go through South Dakota, be sure to go through the Custer State Park area and also to ride the Mickelson Trail in western SD.  The problem with going through SD is that you will have to dip back south on US-26 to get to the Tetons first as described above.  If you come in from the north via Yellowstone first you will have to head south and then double back unless you do not want to head north toward Missoula.  If the latter, there is a route that goes from Jackson and reconnects to the TransAm in John Day, Oregon.

Hope you have an enjoyable ride!

[CHA7]

Thank you both Jennifer and John for your responses!  I'll look into both state resources and those routes suggested in Nebraska!  Thanks!!