Slept great last night. The local hotel I was at had great beds. Got out of bed at 6:00 and got ready to ride. After breakfast at the hotel, and chatting with the hotel owner and some guests, I was riding at 7:15.
I need to do a better job of looking at elevation gain for my routes, because today surprised me with a lot of climbing. It started with a three mile, 45 minute climb out of Hot Springs. It was quite a warm up. At least it was cool out. And there were some good views from the top.
It was another nine miles to the Mickelson Trail. I was on a highway, but there wasn’t much traffic and I had a great shoulder to ride on.
The Mickelson Trail started with a 35 mile climb from 4,000 feet of elevation to almost 6,000 feet. Hot Springs, where I started the day, is at 3,400 feet of elevation. There were a few short downhill sections, but it was mostly uphill. I just tried to keep it in an easy gear and not worry about my speed. The advantage of the altitude was that it was a lot cooler. Hot Springs had a high temperature of 91 degrees. I finished the day in Hill City, and the high temperature was only 83 degrees.
The other thing about all the climbing, was that I saw a lot of people biking in the other direction. I must of seen a hundred people biking downhill and no one biking uphill. I stopped at a shelter on the trail and talked to some of the cyclists. They said that almost no one bikes uphill. 🤣. They were all part of a tour group that were biking the trail in four days. I could go on, but back to my ride.
Anyway, the Mickelson Trail started out in some plains. I got to see an antelope.
There were several of these pretty white flowers along the trail to start, but they disappeared at higher elevations. I didn’t have cell service to look up the official name.
The trail was in great shape and was fun to ride. As I gained altitude, the scenery turned more rocky and there were more pine trees.
A little after 11:00 I stopped at the only restaurant in a small town called Pringle. The restaurant was called the Hitchrail Bar and Restaurant. I was the first one there for lunch, but there were a couple of older local guys who were sitting there drinking coffee. We had a nice chat about my trip and the town. They gave me some advice on my trip, and advised me to be sheltered before the afternoon storms hit at about 3:00. The food was excellent and not expensive.
The higher I climbed, the more incredible the scenery was. I loved how the meadows, rock formations, pine and aspen trees all looked together. Here are some pictures, but they don’t do it justice.
At the top of the climb was a good view of the Crazy Horse Memorial.
It was a fast nine mile decent into the town of Hill City, where I was staying for the night. I arrived at 2:45, with the sky threatening rain. The rain started a little after 3:00. I’m glad I listened to my friends in the restaurant in Pringle.
For the day, I rode 58 miles and climbed 3,300 feet. Third highest climbing total for the trip. And, it looks like more climbing tomorrow.
Love it Jim! Sounds like a beautiful ride. Will definitely half to put the Hitchrail Bar on my list.
Have enjoyed catching up with your adventures! Can’t believe I got confused and thought you were resting for a day with your leg and almost a week has passed. Enjoying especially seeing South Dakota. I was there once a very long time ago!
Liked seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial! Just finished a book about Alaska.
Love that the guys at the Hitchrail were so accurate in their weather forecast.
Love that the guys at the Hitchrail were so spot on in their weather forecast.
Hey Jim ! Love reading of your biking adventures ! Also I learned recently – after you, Elizabeth and Alexa visited us here in the south of France – that when you take a photo of a flower/plant (at least if you have an iPhone), all you have to do is tap the little circled “i” with a couple of stars at the bottom of the photo and it will give you the name of the flower (alternatively you can pull up on the photo and it will open the “i”.) You can additionally tap the plant name to learn more about it. Super handy to know the name without using one of the plant identifier apps that we were using when you were here. Ok, that’s my tip for your journey….not super useful to aid your biking but I’m sure Elizabeth will be happy to know the names of all the beautiful flowers you’ve been photographing. Wishing you continued fair winds and smooth trails.
Michelle, thank you for the tip. I tried it and it worked perfectly. Yeah!!
Awesome !!