Michelson Trail (South Dakota) blog post

[emily_in_nc]

Wow -- we just got back from a trip to the Dakotas, and riding the Michelson Trail was a HUGE highlight! Such a lovely trail, well-maintained, and the scenery was unbeatable. I just wrote a blog post on it if anyone is interested:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/magnificent-michelson-trail-rides.html

Hope you enjoy!

[Kathi]

We rode the Mickelsen trail 2 weeks ago but did it with the S.Dakota parks dept. They provide the shuttle service (riders only) so you can ride all 109 miles in a 3 day weekend. It was our 4th year doing this ride. Sorry to see all the beetle kill trees around Rochford. For some reason we both felt this year was the best so far, perfect weather, good trail conditions. My highlight, riding down the trail to Mystic a deer jumped out in front of me.

[emily_in_nc]

We rode the Mickelsen trail 2 weeks ago but did it with the S.Dakota parks dept. They provide the shuttle service (riders only) so you can ride all 109 miles in a 3 day weekend. It was our 4th year doing this ride. Sorry to see all the beetle kill trees around Rochford. For some reason we both felt this year was the best so far, perfect weather, good trail conditions. My highlight, riding down the trail to Mystic a deer jumped out in front of me.

Neat! We knew that the annual Michelson Trail Trek was going on right when we were there (but did not know any TErs were doing it!) We actually did our "Ride 2", the southern part of the trail, on one of the days you were riding but made sure that your group was riding the northern part of the trail that day. No offense, just didn't want to have to share the trail with that many other riders!

The pine beetles are just awful. We also hiked Harney Peak, and the devastation in the Black Elk Wilderness is beyond words. There won't be any Black Hills left if a remedy can't be found. I read that 1/3 of the pines in the Black Hills have already been lost, and it's spreading fast.

[Kathi]

I didn't think to post that I was going to be there either. The area is getting hammered with snow. Sturgis got 33" today. Too late for the trees, no remedy. The trees need very cold temps in the early fall to kill the beetle. The dry conditions for so long have taken their toll. Our condo assoc. tries to spray our trees but every part of the tree must be coated and we still lose trees. Soon our beautiful mountain view will be more open, :(. At least S. Dakota is thinning the forests, that will help some if only to prevent devastating fires. Unfortunately, the lodge pole pines will soon be gone.
Glad you enjoyed the trail. My favorite part is from Mystic to Rochport. We had an awesome blue sky on Sat.