An easy six hour drive from Denver lies one of the least known yet most scenic and accessible gravel tours in the country. It’s also the ideal place to show the family a uniquely beautiful part of the country.
With very little research, this summer we decided to pack up the family and head north, to check out some of America’s most storied national landmarks. I was also stoked to finally visit Custer State Park, and while there, I planned to solo gravel bike the famed Mickelson Trail. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for my kids to see these places, so we packed up the truck, the bikes, the cooler, and headed north to South Dakota.
What I discovered was that the George S. Mickelson Trail isn’t just one of the best rail-to-trail conversions in the country, it’s a veritable gravel paradise that ranks among the most scenic and accessible one- or two-day cycling experiences you can drive to from Denver, and it’s extremely popular with bike packers looking for an intro trip or shakeout ride for a longer trip. In just six hours from the Front Range you can access 109 miles of converted railroad grade that winds through four historic tunnels, crosses more than 100 converted railroad bridges, and delivers the kind of spectacular scenery that makes you wonder why every Colorado cyclist isn’t talking about this.
The 45-mile Hill City to Deadwood segment I ticked off offers everything gravel riders crave: diverse scenery, elevation changes, and surface conditions that make you appreciate why rail-to-trail conversions are a gold standard of American cycling infrastructure…embedded in one of the most historically significant and naturally spectacular regions in America, where Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, winding roads and small towns create a comprehensive adventure destination.
Standing before Mount Rushmore on a rainy day during this pivotal moment in American democracy proved unexpectedly moving, while the Black Hills themselves revealed landscapes that challenge assumptions Coloradans may hold about the Great Plains. Granite spires rise from pine-covered hills with dramatic authority, while ecosystems shaped by just enough additional humidity create the kind of lush, rolling mountainous terrain that feels both familiar and revelatory to Front Range residents seeking alternatives to crowded Colorado destinations.
The Black Hills were formed 60 million years ago when tectonic forces created an elongated dome measuring 125 miles long and 65 miles wide. The exposed granite core dates back 1.8 billion years. The region’s name derives from the Lakota phrase “Pahá Sápa,” referring to the dark appearance created by dense pine coverage when viewed from the plains. Tourism overall generates $2.1 billion annually for South Dakota’s economy, with 14.5 million visitors in 2023, while the Black Hills region accounts for approximately 70% of state tourism revenue. Mount Rushmore National Memorial alone receives 2.5 million annual visitors, and the area supports 30,000 tourism-related jobs.
Located just minutes from the towns of Keystone and Hill City, Custer State Park, and Mount Rushmore, Yak Ridge Cabins provides centralized access to Black Hills attractions. Sitting at almost 5,000 feet above sea level, the elevation provides natural cooling and fewer bugs, with forest service roads nearby for morning runs. The property features four modern cabins with full kitchens on 10 acres of forest. Yak Ridge is nestled conveniently off the main drag but has no road noise or through traffic, with average summer temperatures around 75°F during the day and 50°F at night, a perfect respite. Annual snowfall averages just 38 inches between November and March. Across the road, the Cosmos Mystery Area operates as a roadside attraction featuring truly trippy optical illusions and gravitational anomalies, open May through October.
Nearby Hill City is the second-oldest incorporated town in the Black Hills, providing central access to major trailheads and attractions. The town balances authentic Western character with modern amenities needed for a family vacay, and plenty of places for American cuisine and treats in town, including Caboose Coffee Co., a lovely stop with good prices and knowledgeable local staff. The 1880 Train offers scenic rail excursions connecting Hill City to Keystone with historical interpretation about Black Hills transportation development, and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research operates as a working paleontological facility famous for dinosaur fossil discoveries.
Surprisingly clean and vibrant, Rapid City, population 78,000, serves as the Black Hills’ largest urban center. One interesting feature are the 43 life-sized bronze statues of former presidents, positioned along the sidewalks in chronological order from Washington to Obama (and a really creepy Trump statue giving the Q-Anon hand gesture), creating an outdoor civics lesson spanning approximately a mile through the historic downtown. Locals and tourists explore streets lined with independent shops, craft breweries, restaurants and businesses. A central splash pad and bandstand provide entertainment for kids and adults, and creates an authentic small-city atmosphere that balances tourism with community.
Dining options span from classic to contemporary. Tally’s Silver Spoon delivers classic American breakfast with local ingredients and generous portions. The Bashful Bison specializes in regional cuisine including grass-fed bison preparations, and Firehouse Brewing Co. combines craft beer production with a family-friendly menu in a converted 1915 firehouse. Bokujo Ramen brings authentic Japanese preparations that demonstrate the city’s cultural diversity, and Delmonico Grill offers upscale American cuisine for special occasions. The historic Hotel Alex Johnson, constructed in 1928 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, functions as an architectural landmark with an amazing gift shop inside. The hotel’s Tudor Revival design incorporates Native American motifs throughout its 11 floors and 143 rooms. The Journey Museum and Learning Center covers 48,000 square feet with collections spanning 2.5 billion years of Black Hills history through geology, paleontology, Native American culture, and pioneer history. The museum maintains 300,000 artifacts and specimens. Prairie Edge Trading Company maintains direct purchasing relationships with over 300 Native American artists and annual sales support $2 million in direct payments to tribal artists.
I found the town of Keystone to be lovely, quaint and authentic, with regional food, lodging, shopping/crafts, and education that connect to Black Hills history and culture. While it does border on tourist trap like Gatlinburg or Estes Park, it was far from offensive, and operates as the immediate gateway to Mount Rushmore, less than three miles from the monument. The tiny town balances tourism with historical preservation. Ruby House Restaurant delivers turn-of-the-century elegance through an authentic historical atmosphere. The restaurant operates within a historic saloon building, maintaining Victorian-era decor and traditional preparations, with live cowboy music.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Mount Rushmore is something you feel like you have known your whole life yet have never seen. It features 60-foot-tall faces carved into granite between 1927 and 1941. The rock is so beautiful it really makes you want to run around and climb on it. The project removed 450,000 tons of rock under sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s direction, and workers used dynamite for 90% of the carving, which is almost impossible to comprehend, removing rock within three inches of the final surface before detailed work with pneumatic drills!
The memorial covers 1,278 acres, and the visitor center processes 3 million guests annually with peak visitation obviously between June and August. The Presidential Trail is less than a mile with 422 stairs (120 feet in elevation), providing viewing angles from 100 to 500 feet from the monument. Parking passes are $10 per vehicle and remain valid for a year. The evening lighting ceremony includes a 20-minute film followed by the lighting of the monument until 11:00 PM, from May through September, beginning at 8:00 PM in peak summer; the massive stone amphitheater seats 2,500 people.
Crazy Horse Memorial
The lesser-known Crazy Horse Memorial honors Tasunke Witko, an Oglala Lakota warrior who fought against U.S. forces to preserve Native American traditions and land rights. When completed, the memorial will measure 641 feet long and 563 feet high, making it the world’s largest mountain carving. He led warriors in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn and was killed by a U.S. soldier’s bayonet at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1877, at age 35. Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1939 to create the monument, writing “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too.” Work began in 1948.
The sculpture remains incomplete after 75 years due to its massive scale, reliance on private funding (no federal or state funds), and the Ziolkowski family’s commitment to following Korczak’s detailed plans without shortcuts. The completed face alone measures 87.5 feet, and the memorial has removed 10 million tons of rock to date. The complex includes the Indian Museum of North America, housing 12,000 artifacts from over 300 Native American tribes. The sprawling, family-friendly museum provides comprehensive cultural education through interactive exhibits and authentic displays. The on-site restaurant serves traditional Native American cuisine including buffalo stew and frybread. The facility receives 1.2 million annual visitors and operates without government funding, relying entirely on admission fees and donations. I highly recommend it.
Custer State Park
Another must-do, Custer State Park encompasses 71,000 acres, making it South Dakota’s largest state park. Established in 1912, the park maintains 1,400 free-roaming bison, 200 elk, 150 mountain goats, 300 bighorn sheep, and 30 mountain lions…according to official sources, I didn’t get to count them all personally. But the park generates $150 million in annual economic impact for the state, and advanced planning and reservations are essential, particularly during peak summer months.
Wildlife Loop Road covers 18 miles through mixed-grass prairie, ponderosa pine forest, and riparian zones, typically requiring 1-2 hours, with additional time for serious wildlife photography. Peak wildlife activity of course occurs during early morning and late afternoon hours. The gravel road to Mount Coolidge Overlook climbs 800 feet over 3 miles, offering panoramic views of the park and surrounding Black Hills.
The park’s bison herd is kind of the main attraction for most folks, descended from 36 animals purchased in 1914. Annual roundups occur each September, processing up to 1,200 animals for health checks and population management, and you can apply to volunteer. The park maintains the herd at 1,300 to 1,500 animals through annual auctions that generate up to a million dollars for park operations. Bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and reach speeds of 35 mph. (They are also delicious and have less cholesterol than beef.)
The presence of these 1,400 free-roaming bison represents one of conservation’s great comeback stories. At the beginning of the 19th century, an estimated 30 to 60 million bison roamed North America. By the 1890s, fewer than 1,000 remained—some estimates suggest as few as 300 survived in the wild.
The destruction accelerated dramatically between 1820 and 1880 during what became known as “the Great Slaughter.” Railways, rifles, and an international market for buffalo hides drove commercial hunting, but the U.S. Army deliberately amplified the devastation as military strategy. In 1873, the Secretary of the Interior stated that “the civilization of the Indian is impossible while buffalo remain on the plains.” Army Colonel Richard Dodge, stationed in the nearby Black Hills, wrote: “Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.”
For Plains tribes including the Lakota who inhabited this region, the bison was central to survival. Every part of the animal served a purpose: meat and organs for food, hides for tipis and clothing, bones for tools and weapons, sinew for binding, even stomachs for boiling water. The economic devastation was profound—within one generation after the slaughter, the average height of bison-dependent Indigenous people dropped by more than an inch due to malnutrition. By the early 20th century, child mortality rates were 16 percentage points higher for bison-reliant nations, and income per capita remained 25% lower through the late 20th century compared to other Indigenous nations.
The 36 animals purchased in 1914 to establish Custer’s herd were part of a last-ditch private effort to save the species from extinction, with similar small herds preserved in Montana. Today’s thriving population—and the annual September roundups that manage herd health—represent a remarkable recovery, though the cultural and economic trauma inflicted on Great Plains tribes continues to reverberate.
Custer envelops 71 miles of hiking trails, ranging from half-mile nature walks to the 22-mile Centennial Trail. Sylvan Lake, created by a dam in 1881, covers 17 acres at 6,200 feet elevation, and is stunningly gorgeous and perfect for summer swimming and boating. We spent almost half the day there. Water temperature averages 65°F in summer. The historic Sylvan Lake Lodge offers perfect dining with a view, and limited lodging, with direct trail access to Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak), South Dakota’s highest point at 7,244 feet.
The famed Needles Highway (SD-87) spans 14 miles through the park, featuring 14-foot-wide lanes and tunnels as narrow as 8 feet 4 inches, ideal for motorcyclists and even brave roadies, with 314 curves it climbs from 5,400 to 6,400 feet. The roadway took three years to construct (1919-1922) at a cost of $1 million. Technical rock climbing opportunities exist throughout the granite spires and formations along the highway.
If you want to explore by horseback, which many do, Blue Bell Lodge offers one- and two-hour guided trail rides May through September, and we were very impressed with this operation and their diverse group of experienced wranglers. The stable maintains 40 horses and operates four rides daily during peak season.
Regional Attractions
Hot Springs (population 3,460) lies on the way home in the southern Black Hills, and we loved hitting Evans Plunge, a historic hot springs pool established in 1890, which maintains 87°F water temperature year-round through natural geothermal springs flowing at 5,000 gallons per minute. The facility covers 50,000 square feet with pools totaling 180,000 gallons, and is a very clean and kid friendly facility. The Mammoth Site preserves 61 mammoth skeletons in situ, representing animals trapped in a sinkhole 26,000 years ago. The enclosed excavation building covers 20,000 square feet and maintains controlled temperature and humidity for preservation.
Deadwood (population 1,290) sits at 4,531 feet elevation and the entire town is designated a National Historic Landmark, preserving 80% of buildings from the 1876-1900 gold rush era. Gaming revenue generates $100 million annually, with 30% allocated to historic preservation. The town features 80 gaming establishments with 2,000 slot machines, with annual visitation exceeding two million. My shuttle driver described it as “a little Las Vegas, but with better history and fewer lights.” Nearby Terry Peak Ski Area operates 30 trails across 450 acres with a 1,100-foot vertical drop. The area receives 150 inches of annual snowfall and lift tickets are just $89 for adults; I’d love to come back and stay in Deadwood and do some skiing. The Days of ’76 Rodeo, established in 1923, attracts 20,000 visitors each July. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, established in 1940, attracts 500,000+ visitors annually during the 10-day August event and generates $800 million in economic impact for South Dakota. The town of Sturgis (population 7,020) expands to become South Dakota’s largest city during the rally. And after experiencing the beautiful winding roads of this area, I can see why it’s so popular with motorcyclists.
Another great cycling road, Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (US-14A) extends 19 miles through limestone walls, gaining and losing 1,000 feet formed through 60 million years of water erosion. Bridal Veil Falls drops 60 feet, while Roughlock Falls cascades 30 feet through multiple tiers.
The George S. Mickelson Trail: Complete Cycling Guide
The unassuming Mickelson Trail stretches 109 scenic miles from Edgemont, South Dakota, to Deadwood. The trail maintains a max about 4% grade throughout its length, and surface composition consists of crushed limestone and gravel, compacted to 6-inch depth. In other words, it’s like riding a perfect bike path the whole way.
The trail passes through 14 communities including Edgemont, Minnekahta, Pringle, Custer, Mountain, Hill City, Mystic, Rochford, Dumont, Lead, Deadwood, Kirk, Englewood, and Sugarloaf. Four railroad tunnels punctuate the route, ranging from 340 to 766 feet in length; and the trail crosses 100 converted railroad bridges, including spans up to 200 feet long and 60 feet high.
Annual usage exceeds 200,000 visitors. South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks maintains the trail through a $1.5 million annual budget funded by user fees and state appropriations. (Trail passes are required and cost $4 daily or $15 annually for users over 12. Self-service stations at all 15 trailheads accept cash or check.) Pass revenue generates approximately $400,000 annually for trail maintenance and electronic counters at major access points track usage patterns for maintenance scheduling. Regular maintenance includes grading every 4-6 weeks during peak season, drainage management, and surface replenishment. I had no issues whatsoever with smooth riding the entire way, allowing me to make good time.
Hill City to Deadwood Segment (44 miles)
This northern segment I did descends 1,200 feet from Hill City to Deadwood and passes through four tunnels and crosses 47 bridges. Tunnel specifications include Tunnel #1 at Mile 82.5, measuring 340 feet long and 12 feet wide, maintaining 45°F year-round. Tunnel #2 at Mile 73.8 extends 678 feet with a curved configuration. Tunnel #3 at Mile 67.2 stretches 766 feet as the trail’s longest tunnel. And tunnel #4 at Mile 58.9 measures 340 feet, marking the final tunnel before Deadwood. There were a few places where I got socked in with fog and light rain and without cell service, it’s good to have your bike computer on. Even though it says 44 miles I ended up doing closer to 50 that day. Average speeds range from 10-12 mph for recreational riders to 15-18 mph for more experienced cyclists.
Shuttle Services and Logistics
Black Hills Shuttle Service operates May through October, providing point-to-point transportation, including bike transport, route briefing, and emergency contact support. Advance reservations are required during peak season (June-August). Owner-operator Vince provides detailed local knowledge along with transportation. Crossroads Trail Services offers complete tour packages including lodging, daily shuttles, and luggage transport for multi-day adventures. The company handles hotel bookings and gear transport for self-guided tours. I saw everything from e-bikes to serious bike packers along the way.
Recommended tire width might be a 32mm minimum for gravel bikes; I had 35s on. The limestone surface provides good traction in dry conditions but gets a little muddy after rain. Water requirements could be about 3 liters on a hot day for the Hill City-Deadwood route, but water is available at trailheads in Hill City, Mystic, Rochford, and Deadwood. Temperature variations of 20°F between start and end points and the possibility of rain required fairly expert level layering. Cell phone coverage remains intermittent except within about 5 miles of major towns.
Horse Creek Resort, located on the return route south from Deadwood toward Hill City, provides dining and rest stop options for cyclists completing the northern segment.
Planning Your Own South Dakota Adventure
As you might expect, peak visitation occurs June through August, with July averaging 850,000 visitors to the Black Hills. September visitation drops 40% but offers cooler average temperatures of 70°F daytime, 45°F nighttime. Fall colors peak between September 20 and October 10. Spring weather remains unpredictable with potential late snow and mud conditions through May.
From Denver, the route covers 380 miles via I-25 North to US-85 North, approximately six hours. Rapid City Regional Airport offers 15 daily flights from Denver (United), Minneapolis (Delta), Dallas (American), and Chicago (United). Rental cars average $60-80 per day during peak season.
The Black Hills road network includes 4,500 miles of paved roads and 6,000 miles of gravel/dirt roads. Wildlife crossing areas require reduced speeds, particularly at dawn and dusk. The South Dakota Department of Tourism provides information at travelsouthdakota.com. Trail conditions and passes are available at gfp.sd.gov/parks. Mount Rushmore information can be found at nps.gov/moru. Custer State Park reservations are handled through campsd.com. This was really the highlight trip of my summer and I would go back in a heartbeat, perhaps for some of the state’s legendary pheasant hunting.
—Definitely Wild is a column by EO Contributing Editor Aaron Bible. He has been writing for Elevation Outdoors and Blue Ridge Outdoors, among other outdoor publications, for more than two decades, covering cycling, skiing, gear, adventure travel and mountain life. The opinions expressed here are his own. Follow him on Instagram at @DefinitelyWild.
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Fly Fishing with Eleven Experiences
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