Black Hills of South Dakota - Day 3

A rather chilly start to the day.  By the time we got on the bikes it was still only 7C. Back on the Mickelson Trail for most of the day. Uphill for the first 7 miles to the Crazy Horse Memorial. I didn’t go in but rode up to the gate to get a decent picture. It is a work in progress and definitely a rather slow process - probably due to lack of funding. I heard that its current estimated date of completion is around 2050.

It was then pretty much downhill until our snack stop in Custer. Custer is a really cute little town.  Just like Calgary had a bunch of cow statues many years ago, Custer has its bison.

South of Custer the vegetation opened up a bit. More farm land and more open views. By the time we were approaching Pringle (our lunch stop), I abandoned the trail for a few miles and just rode on the highway - so much quieter!  After lunch (and a stop at a really big “bike memorial “) it was back on the Mickelson Trail for another 7 miles.

If I had been smart, though, I would have looked at the map and just taken the highway to our final destination of Hot Springs. Because - after that 7 miles of the Mickelson Trail came 13 miles of undulating (more down than up) gravel road.  I thought it was pretty treacherous on a road bike and after the first downhill caused me to fear for my life, I braked to a crawl on every subsequent downhill. My least favourite section of road probably ever!  I’m glad to be safe and sound tonight. Unfortunately Joan wasn’t quite so lucky. She went down hard and left some skin behind in addition to breaking her hand. Tough chickie that she is though, she rode the remaining days and finally visited Urgent Care when she got back to Calgary. I’ll be glad to be back on the roads tomorrow....

Stats for the day:
Hill City to Hot Springs
50 miles. 80 km.
2933 feet up. 4170 feet down.
Temps: 7C to 27C