One of the reasons I wanted to stay at the Rafter J Bar
Ranch is that the Mickelson Bike Trail ran right beside it. The Mickelson Bike Trail is a 110 mile long
rail trail than runs from Deadwood to down past Custer.
This was the first bike trail we had ever seen that charged
a user fee of $3 per day...walking or biking.
On Tuesday, I talked Chuck into our riding our bikes south on the trail
towards the Crazy Horse monument. I
decided to head towards this direction because I knew it would be uphill on the
way out meaning we would be riding downhill most of the way back.
The trail was hard-packed with small gravel.
There were several wooden (and very rough) bridges that we crossed.
And we followed a stream much of the way.
Like all the Black Hills, the views were great.
After peddling nearly 6 1/2 miles up a gradual slope, we
finally reached Crazy Horse.
When the Crazy Horse statue is complete, Crazy Horse will appear riding a horse but it is unknown when it will ever be completed because the construction is not very well funded only receiving money from donations and entrance fees to the Crazy Horse memorial.
When it is complete, it is supposed to be the biggest sculptures in the world.
After resting for a few minutes, we headed back down toward
Rafter J on a very pleasant downhill ride.
We barely had to peddle at all.
The hardest part was peddling back up the hill at the campground.
Later that afternoon, we drove into Rapid City to see statues
of the presidents on the street corners that Ron and Brenda had told us
about.
We saw Franklin Roosevelt,
Abraham Lincoln,
Teddy Roosevelt,
Harry Truman (my dad's favorite),
Bill Clinton,
Thomas Jefferson,
George Washington,
Ronald Reagan,
George W. Bush,
and many others.
As we left, we saw a dinosaur on top of the hill behind
Rapid City...
and this weird-looking creature at the Dairy Twist.
(It was actually a piece of wood lying next to the
building.)
Then, we headed back home and enjoyed one more nice night at
Rafter J Bar Ranch.
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