We knew the George S. Mickelson Trail would be challenging both from what we’d read about the unrelenting climbs and from the wind blowing Kellie’s gloves several yards from where she’d laid them atop of the car.
The 108-mile trail runs south-to-north and we started at the northernmost point in the “old Western town” of Deadwood, South Dakota. (We’re thinking casinos and its proximity to Sturgis have helped to keep it alive.) It was the first time either of us had been to South Dakota, so we hit Mount Rushmore the night before, then began the next morning on a paved trail that ended approximately one-quarter mile later. From then on, it was cinder and dirt, but well-maintained and lined with globe streetlamps for the next mile and a half.
