Mickelson Trail Rides

The George Mickelson Trail is a rails to trails route that runs 109 miles from Deadwood in the North to Edgemont in the south.  It goes through Custer, past Crazy Horse, thru Hill City, across the Black Hills and up to Lead and Deadwood.  Our campground is right on the trail just 2 miles south of Hill City.

We couldn’t wait to ride the trail and see how well our e-bikes perform so Monday morning I packed a lunch and we took off north to the Mystic Trailhead, a ride of almost 18 miles one way.  The bikes were great.  It made the hills seem like a flat ride but we still felt like we were getting a great leg workout.  The scenery was very pretty, lush and green.  We met a few people along the way who were interested in visiting about our bikes.  Towards the turn around at Mystic there were two old railroad tunnels we rode through.  Not long ones but we were told to watch out for cows staying cool in the shade - but not today.

The ride back seemed harder which I’m sure was the result of having ridden too far but it was definitely more uphill going back.  I had to take a rest in Hill City before attempting the final 2 miles uphill.  John went ahead of me but he didn’t have to wait long for me to arrive as I kicked the bike into turbo mode and flew home!