This morning it was Greenwich all over again! Let me explain. If you’ve been following this blog for a number of years, you might remember this story. When I was cycling in London, I was headed back to the caravan park when I saw the sign to Greenwich. I had already been cycling around London all day, and didn’t want to do more miles. I said to myself, maybe next time I come to London, I’ll go to Greenwich. The next day, I was leaving London. I had used Google Maps to make a route out of London (this was before RWGPS). It was a bit tricky to follow. Somehow I ended up in Greenwich, which was not the way I had meant to go!
Fast forward to today. I had let RWGPS make a route to Mt. Rushmore from the hotel. It was about 9 miles. I took off at about 7:00. It was quite the steep climb on Old Hill City Rd right from the hotel. Then it became nice and rolling. I even got an early morning deer sighting.
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| Funny thing…a whole bunch of motorcycles went by, and the deer didn’t even move. As soon as I went by, it took off. |
The train tracks that go from Hill City to Keystone were following the road. I think I crossed them a dozen times! I saw a sign that said “Keystone 6 miles”. I said to myself, ah, I’m not going to Keystone.
Things were going along fine until my Garmin said to turn right onto Centennial Trail #89. Yeah, it was an actual trail that was uphill and overgrown. Not going to happen on a loaded Wanda. I even looked at it twice. I decided it would probably take me just as long to hike-a-bike the trail as it would to just ride around on the road to…you guessed it…Keystone!
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| Town of Keystone (quite touristy) |
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| The Keystone train depot |
At least it was pretty much all downhill to Keystone. There was a Subway on the way to Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open (I checked).
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| I tried to check off a South Dakota Subway! |
From Keystone, I entered Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.
It was a 2 mile climb up to the entrance. There was a nice wide shoulder. I actually only stopped to take a break twice. One was to take this photo.
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| Almost there! |
Interestingly, Mt Rushmore only charges for parking. Bicycles are free. I rode up the bus lane right to the Visitor Center. I parked Wanda and locked her to a bench. I noticed two other loaded bikes. When I came out of the restroom, the cyclists were at their bikes. Of course I went over to talk to them! They were Jennifer and Tony. I’m not sure where they were from (Tony was definitely New Zealand, but I didn’t get the idea they had come from NZ). They had started in Bar Harbor, and kind of did what I did coming back to Minneapolis. Then they were following Northern Tier, now doings Peaks and Prairies to Missoula, then picking up the Trans Am to Florence, OR. I said I had done Trans Am 4 years ago. Tony had an interesting way of asking how old I was. He asked how old I was when I did Trans Am. They were both in their very early 50s.
Vivian and Ken arrived, and I introduced them to Jennifer and Tony. Then we headed off to see the rock presidents.
Vivian and I decided we wanted ice cream. Sadly, the ice cream place didn’t open until 11:00. It was only 10:00. Vivian got a cinnamon roll that I had a couple of bits of, and I got a soda.
It was time to continue on my way, and for Vivian and Ken to head back to Hill City. By the way, they DID do the trail! They said it wasn’t too bad with their unloaded e-bikes, but they still had to walk them part of the way. They even went back the same way. I was heading on, so I had another route.
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| Final profile viewpoint on the way back. |
There were still a few good climbs on the road to get back to the Mickelson Trail. But, I eventually made it.
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| Back on the trail |
The trail was still climbing pretty much all the way to the turn for Crazy Horse. For awhile, a guy named Jim rode along beside me asking me about my trip. His wife was behind me. They were from Rapid City, and ride the trail a lot. Eventually they headed off.
There wasn’t actually a trailhead for Crazy Horse. The trail went under the road. On the other side, there was this.
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| Okay, good enough. |
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| It went up to a parking area, then to the road. |
Of course, it was another climb up to Crazy Horse Mtn. At the entrance I had to pay $10. Crazy Horse is not a National Memorial. I continued up, and parked Wanda in the “Bike Parking”, which was really motorcycle parking. I walked through the museum and out to the patio area.
Honestly, Crazy Horse was a little…underwhelming. I heard someone say it hasn’t been worked on for a long time. But, I can say I’ve been there now…maybe don’t need to go back.
I returned to the trail with about 8ish miles to go to Custer. It was all downhill.
Just as I was coming into Custer, the trail turned to paved. It was paved through the town. I couldn’t remember the name of the campground I had planned to go to, so I stopped to Google camping in Custer. I found one just off the trail called Buffalo Ridge. I headed there. Along the way, I went by the campground I had been planning. I wasn’t impressed, so I continued on.
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| Custer trailhead |
About a mile later, I could see the campground.
It’s a nice place up on the hill (ridge, I suppose). It’s kind of on par with a KOA price wise. They have a variety of accommodations, including teepees.
Tomorrow I will aim for Toadstool Geological Park and Campground. It will be a long day, hopefully with a fair amount of downhill or level. I’ll start early in hopes of lower temps, and less wind.
