The Black Hills on Nice Days

June 9 and 10

The rain is gone!  On Monday we called Dakota Taxi Service and got them to ferry us up to Dumont for our favorite bike ride!  2 miles uphill and 15 miles downhill!  It is such a picture perfect ride!

Its the Mickelson trail!  This the where we start at the Dumont station.

 At the beginning its uphill.  What lovely sites.  Pine trees abound and every gulch has a brook.

 The biggest problem for us after four previous rides is remembering where this bike gate is located.  Its five miles from Dumont trail head around a sharp curve.  My 16 mph ride is interrupted at each curve.  I know the gate is somewhere but I'm not sure on which curve so I slow down until we finally hit it.  These gates are nothing like the gates on the PA bike trails.  You could do some serious injury if you couldn't stop to open the gate.

 On Tuesday we decided to go to Custer State Park.  I had my eye on walking this little (only 1.5 miles) walk called the Cathedral Spires Trail.  I thought we would like the rocks and we did. It is listed as strenuous.  It does go up and up over lots of rocks.

 Lew is pointing at Muscovite Mica.  It felt like paper.

At the trail end you can see Harney Peak, the high point of South Dakota.

This is a spectacular walk which became an instant favorite for us.