Mickelson Trail in South Dakota 2003

George S. Mickelson Trail in South Dakota. June 2003. The George S. Mickelson Trail is a rail-to-trail that runs from Edgemont to Deadwood a little over 100 miles through the Black Hills. We took this trip the first week of June in 2003. Thanks to my planning it was an uphill ride against the wind and in the rain. Despite this it was still a great time. We stayed the first night in Hot Springs and drove to the trail head in Edgemont the next morning. From there we rode over a 3 day period spending the night in hotels in Custer, Hill City and ending in Deadwood. My folks shuttled our gear to each nights stop. They also provided us with shelter in their camper and dry clothing at a couple of trailheads along the way when the rain was really bad.

I would recommend riding this trail from the opposite direction (downhill) and some other month not so rainy. One advantage to riding the direction that we did was the prettiest scenery was saved for last.