Let’s climb a railroad grade

Day 2

Sunday 6/1/25

Mystic to Dumont

Stats: 36 mi. AIS: 3:47 elev gain: 1282.  9.6 mph

You know it doesn’t seem to make us any quicker in the morning sleeping in the van! But it is a lot simpler and warmer and convenient making breakfast in the van and getting dressed standing up. I guess it is still taking us 2 hours from rise and shine to the trailhead because we don’t depart from camp. 

It was a 1/2 hr drive from Hill City to Mystic trailhead this morning. 

After unloading our bikes my front tire was low. Good news is that I ride with tubeless tires and whatever the leak was sealed itself! Love these tires. Just pumped it up and no problems all day. I am due for new tires though… these ones have plenty of miles on them now. 

At the trailhead we noticed a couple riding full sized recumbents. Not exactly as long as our friend Curt’s “hog” but they said it was doable on this trail.

Quiet trailhead. Depart 8:45am. It’s going to be hot day. Our goal is 36 miles out and back to Dumont where we finished yesterday. It means 18 miles uphill then a hopefully fast return to Mystic. Then… if we have the gas to climb 7.5 miles toward Hill City and back. Thankfully we can play it by ear with the heat temps.

This section of trail had 2 short tunnels and several tall trestles. The entire way we had a creek very near the trail to enjoy. We had some pine forest but mostly beautiful grass valleys with pine hill tops. Such beautiful country. It’s a treat to ride and the trail condition was as good as yesterday!

The last 4-5 miles to Dumont we had some headwind and about 17 of the 18 miles up had a steady 4% incline. Seems easy but when it’s constant it catches up to you.

It took almost 3 hours to get to Dumont (with stops of course). We shared a picnic table with a nice older couple from Belle (Belle Fourche).  They liked to birdwatch and e-bicycle the trail to bird watch. They were really friendly couple and shared their potato chips with us. You need salt, he said! We gladly accepted😊

We were looking forward to the 17 miles of downhill and we flew. Took half the time to get back. Would have been faster but we stopped at our scouted swimming hole in the creek to soak our feet and watch the trout swim in that hole. 

The last mile was a soul sucker. It had a slight incline that of course we never noticed at the start. It was 85’ by 2:30. We arrived at the van and called it the end of today’s ride. The benefit of having a van waiting  to make the decision easy! We will ride that stretch tomorrow. 

Our campsite tonight is on Forest Service land. Oreville Campground just south of Hill City. But first a stop at the Lost Cabin Brewery in Hill City. Caught the tail end of a band. Nice outdoor area right next to tomorrow’s trailhead. 

Oreville campground is right on a highway between Custer and Hill City and just a few miles from the turnoff to the “faces”…Mt Rushmore. If you know anything about the Black Hills, they’re famous for Mt Rushmore. While the stone sculpted faces are impressive, it brings millions of visitors to the Black Hills. With that comes quite a tourist industry of junk. However…if you venture one mile off the main highways the countryside is beautiful! There’s hiking, rock climbing, bicycling, canoeing, fishing and a “sport” that’s lost me…side by sides (UTV). They are everywhere! To me they are loud and obnoxious and South Dakota has made them legal on the highways and streets. Anyway lots to do if you are adventurous in these hills!

Side note: When I was 19 years old I applied to work at a National Park. My mind was thinking Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier etc… but I was hired to work at Mt Rushmore! That was a surprise. I worked for the concessionaire and sold junk to tourists. But.. I worked in the Black Hills Gold jewelry department. So I sold nice stuff. I hated this job! I lasted 2 months. We lived onsite in a 4 person to a room dormitory. We ate in the employee dining hall at the “faces”. We worked 48 hour weeks with 1 day off and they took out room and board. But… I did discover how beautiful the Hills were if you got off the highway. We went hiking and camping on our days off and explored. In that respect I learned to appreciate this beautiful area. I did not have a car… only a bicycle and that was such hard work. The roads go up and down and very twisty. So I was at the mercy of friends with cars. 

Kids came from all over the US. This was in 1975. Today these jobs are mostly filled with young people from all over the world. I imagine they still have the same poor wages and housing conditions!

That summer was the height of the AIM Movement. (Russell Means and the American Indian Movement). The concessionaires and the National Monument were very concerned at the time the movement would harm the monument and we were on “high alert”. Nothing happened. 

Perhaps we will have the time this week to go see Mt Rushmore and I can take a walk down memory lane. It’s been 50 years so I’m sure a lot has changed. 

New territory tomorrow 😊