Mickelson Trail, South Dakota

Day 1 - Pringle to Lien Quarry

  • [ Day 1 ]  
  •   [ Day 2 ]

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Wyoming I-25 road scene.

This adventure was started at 4:30 a.m. from Colorado Springs, CO. Rain was pouring down as I headed north up I-25 with a bit of snow and ice when crossing Monument Hill. The weather pretty much let up by the time I passed through Denver. The ride up through Wyoming was very nice with fat rain clouds scuttering across the skies, the country fairly green and fresh looking. I reached the Pringle, SD Mickelson Trail trailhead around 12:30 p.m. and hit the trail, heading south, at 1:00 p.m.

The Pringle, SD trailhead, looking north.

Today's ride was a short one. I wanted to complete small segment from Pringle to the Lien Quarry shelter. Last October, on my first day's ride, I rode from Edgemont to Lien Quarry.

The weather was nice, a bit of clouds and some mild wind. I took off heading south. In my rush to get on the trail, I managed to forget to bring water with me or any spare camera batteries. Luckily, the ride today was only 20 miles, so water wasn't an issue (besides, there is a water pump at the Lien Quarry shelter), and by sheer luck, my camera batteries held out until the very end of the return ride.

Photograph of the abandoned Black Hills Lime Company, one mile south of Pringle.

After concluding my ride, I packed up my car and headed to Custer, SD. I stayed at the Rocket Motel, an excellent little place - clean, quiet, very reasonably priced and well located for accessing the trail as well as restaurants and bars. You can easily reach the trail from the motel by crossing Mount Rushmore Road (US 16), going past the Dark Horse Food & Brew towards the trail.

On the trail after going under State Route 89.

Of course, even after a relatively short ride for the day, it was time to get a belly full of food and some beer. I tried the Elk Canyon Pub & Grill and had a decent meal of hot wings, steak and craft beer. After a brief walk up and down Mount Rushmore Road, it was back to my motel room to rest up for the next day's ride.

Interior of my Rocket Motel room.

And before I forget, a word about some of today's photographs. You might notice a white, cloudy smudge on the upper left corner of some of the photos. It seems I smeared my lens with my big, fat greasy fingers earlier that day. But, hey. It was all good! Good ride, good scenery, good exercise, good food, a good place to stay. Heck, a good great day!

Additional photographs

Wyoming countryside, looking west, from I-25. Dave at the Pringle Trailhead shelter. Pringle Trailhead shelter information sign.

Information sign concening the Black Hills Lime Company. Dave at the Pringle, SD Mickelson Trail trailhead shelter. Mickelson Trail heading south from the abandoned lime company.

Mickelson Trail about three miles south of Pringle. Turkeys on the trail. Trail heading southward towards Lien Quarry.

Mountain bluebird. Dave back at the Lien Quarry. Trail returning northward from Lien Quarry.

Trail going northward, uphill towards Black Hills Lime company. Trail going northward and downhill towards Pringle, SD. Riding into Pringle, SD at Mile Marker 62.

Inside a Rocket Motel room. The Rocket Motel at dusk.