Adventure Begins on The George Michelson Trail in South Dakota

Greetings from the shaded porch at Plenty Star Ranch along the George Mickelson Trail,

Sheesh, that was a mouth full!

Before I tell you about our duo bike tour, let me tell you about our fun on a noisy four-wheeler.

There is a place in Custer where you can rent a fast polaris thing.  Steve rented one for half a day for us.

The Adventure Company provides ipads or some kind of screen that has GPS and shows you where you are on the off road trails.  

We were surprised by the smoothness of the ride.  However the road had some puddles and muddy places.  After slowing for the dip, Steve would speed up and the mud would fly off the wheels.  At first I though it was flies buzzing around us until the mud blobs lanfed in the hood, half wind shield and inside the vehicle. 

It wasn't long and I had cow pie on my shirt and seat.  Lol, at least I never got any in my face!

We were instructed to go through the cattle gates and if it was closed, close it.  If it was open, leave it open.

We went to a scenic over look.  We could really see the smoke from the Canadian Wildfires.  

I felt a little guilty about choosing an activity that uses fossil fuels and contributes to global warming.  But then I remembered how I worked on world population back when there were five billion people in the world. Now there  are eight billion.  How can my little choice make a difference?

There is a saying, "No one snow flake in an avalanche feels responsible." ... or something like that.

Anyway, we both had ear plugs in and yet the motor was still loud.  While Steve was driving I held on, screamed and navigated.  But Steve couldn't hear my directions.  So we turned around a few times.   He had me take a video once and you can hear me screaming and yelling we missed our turn and it didn't make any difference in the speed or direction we were traveling.  Later when we watched the video, Steve said he didn't hear any of it when he was driving.  Lol.  

Despite my screaming and yelling, I had a fun time and was glad we did it.  It wasn't long enough, but I think for four hours it was over $300.  Steve was smiling a lot.  He used to do a lot of racing through the trails on his dirt bike.  He was home on these trails.

When planning our bike ride on the Mickelson Trail, I checked into shuttles and they were quite expensive.  Though reasonable, considering the driver would have to pick us up and drive well over 100 miles and then drive himself or herself back.

So instead of a shuttle driver, I reserved a Uhaul.  The problem with that was there was no uhauls available at either end of the trail... Deadwood or Edgemont.

So we had to drive to Rapid city, then drive the Uhaul and truck to the Deadwood Trailhead.  

The pictures below are out of order.  Since I am writing this with my thumbs on my phone, I hope you will forgive the mix up.

We spent the night at the Travelodge in Edgemont.  The clerk at the front desk suggested we have dinner at the Victory Steak House.

We didn't expect much for us pescatarians, but they had a small, but well-stocked, salad and soup bar.  Steve ordered the Walleye.  And on Wednesday nights there is a couple playing oldies but goodies on their guitars.  Fun!

The first day of biking we were riding uphill on the rail trail.  Not steep, but long inclines.  And the weather predicted was up to 107 in Edgemont and after 11 am, gusts of up to 36 mph!

As we started our climb out of Edgemont we came upon a train with ten engines.

The clerk at the motel said they just opened up to the public.  Before they only serviced workers.  Mostly from the rail yards.  After so many hours of work they have to have 10 hours of rest, she told us.  

The train was parked and where farmers had trails into their field, the train cars had been separated.

The sign below was from from a photo we took in downtown Edgemont where the route begins, mile zero.  Our lodging was between mile marker 34 and 35, Plenty Star Ranch.

I got up around five am so we could take advantage of the cooler morning. 

I told you these pics would be out of order. Snap your mind back to us parking the truck in Deadwood, the northern end of the trail.

Below is the parking area in Deadwood.  It has been vastly improved since I rode here with the Fab Four.  What was that? 20 years ago?

We parked the truck.  Loaded our bikes and gear into the uhaul and drove a looooong way to Edgemont.  Where we got to drop off the truck.  They were excited to get it at the Guns, Ammo and Uhaul because no one ever moves to the small town of Edgemont. "The truck will be rented out in a matter of hours," she told us.

Now back to the trail ride...

The birds were plentiful and different than what we were used to.  Meadow Larks were very everywhere on the grasslands.

Below an Eastern Kingbird posed for me a long while.

There were lots of grass hoppers on the trail hitting our legs.  I was glad I wasn't on a trike.

There were lots of grasshoppers devouring this snake.  They all hopped away when I approached except for the guy with the prime real-estate.  He wasn't giving up his position on the bloody spot.

We were passed by a ranger truck pulling a wagon with a large water container.   There are cisterns at the trail heads now with drinking water.  He was refilling them and yay, the first ones we came to were full of cold water. Thank goodness!  We filled our jugs and wet our shirts and hats.  The shirts and hats were dry very quickly.

It was hard to drink enough.  The humidity is low so it doesn't feel like we are sweating so much.

The trail goes by an old lime mine.  This shed was where the train was filled with lime.

At noon we reached Pringle.  I had used the e-assist the last 10 miles because I was feeling light headed.  Steve doesn't have e-assist and he was feeling shaky by the time we got to the bar/restaurant in Pringle.  The assist really helped in the heat and with the climb.  Steve said we climbed over 2000 feet.

Near the restaurant was the Bike mountain.

Mile markers on the trail were donated.

Well, I am sitting in the shade sweating.  There are showers available and it is time to use them and rinse out my clothes for tomorrow. They should dry fast in this dry heat.

We have no air conditioning but it usually cools off at night.  I hope tonight is not too hot for sleep.

Below is a picture of our cute cabin.

And one Teepee still remains.  My friends Kathi and Karl tried it last time I rode this trail.  They weren't happy with the experience, as I recall.

In the news for those of you looking back at this blog in the future.  Kamala Harris just won enough delegates to become the democratic party nominee to run against Trump in November.

And the city of Jasper in British Columbia is burning.  We are scheduled to go there in a August.  We may be changing our plans.

I hopefully can touch base with you again tomorrow.  We stay in Hill City.   There will be museums, restaurants and maybe some music.  I may be too  busy.  We will see.