Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States
time : Sep 26, 2020 8:24 AM
duration : 4h 52m 3s
distance : 10.6 mi
total_ascent : 1253 ft
highest_point : 6019 ft
avg_speed : 2.6 mi/h
user_id : Tleon14
user_firstname : Tom
user_lastname : Leonard
Today, Kelly and I backpacked a portion of the Mickelson Trail from Dumont Trailhead to the Rockford Trailhead. We used 2 vehicles today and parked one at each trailhead. Total distance was 10.6 miles and our time was almost 5hrs with a 45 minute lunch break. A little history of the Mickelson Trail,
Trail Information The Mickelson Trail was originally the Burlington Northern line that carried trains from Edgemont to the northern Black Hills and the gold mines of the Deadwood area. The trail transverses the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. The original track was built in in 9 months and 22 days, and was abandoned in 1983. A group of outdoor enthusiasts recognized the trail's potential, and with support of Governor George Mickelson, it became the state's first rails to trails project. Total mileage of the trail is 110 miles.
The temps were in the 40’s to start and rose into the upper 50’s. It was a cloudy comfortable day and most of our trail was trending downhill, not steep just a steady decrease. Beautiful scenery along the way with the leaf color being more prevalent at the beginning and less as we continued downhill. We followed the north branch of rapid creek, so water was not an issue. The winds picked up as we got halfway into the trail and temps dropped. We stopped for lunch and had to put on some additional clothing. We also had a few raindrops following us for part of the trail. A lot of bikers were on the trail but as we got farther into the trail we ran into less people. We went through a tunnel and over a lot of bridges as the trail crisscrossed the creek. Overall, it was a great day and our mileage/ time comparison was really good. Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading. .