2024 Black Hills Bounty (Day 6) - The Way To Lost Canyon

This is the way.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian (2020).

Settling in for the night in Lost Canyon.
(image by Paul Brasby)

Five days into the 2024 Bounty, we finally loaded up our bikes for self-supported bikepacking to venture deep into the heart of the Black Hills. Over a solid day of pedaling, we rode up rough back roads, through Mickelson Trail tunnels, and along a bucolic valley to a gorgeous Forest Service primitive campground. After a rough start, we were back. See, Back on the BackBone, At Last. 

We awake ready to dive deeper. 

Loaded up at Black Fox Campground to search for Lost Canyon.

On Day 6, we roll up Black Fox Camp Road (USFS Secondary Standard Road 233) to access even rougher roads that eventually claw up to picturesque USFS Hanna Campground. The walk-in camping area there would be a great place for bikepackers to stay, but it's far too early for that today. So, we drop a few miles to popular Cheyenne Crossing for a scrumptious meal.

Then we coast down cliff-lined Spearfish Canyon to Roughlock Falls Road (USFS Secondary Road 222.3). Motorized vehicle traffic picks up for a mile or so as we spin up the well-traveled, wash-boarded gravel road to the falls. After that tourist destination, traffic thankfully dwindles, even with two USFS campgrounds further upstream.

Not surprisingly, the striking scenery does not let up. Bright fall colors paint the stark canyon.

Roughlock Falls Road (USFS Secondary Road 222.3).
(image by Paul Brasby)

Western reaches of Roughlock Falls Road (USFS Secondary Road 222.3).
(image by Paul Brasby)

Emerging from that canyon, we obligingly grind a very short stretch of Tinton Road (USFS Primary Road 134), a veritable autobahn of a gravel road, to connect with Schoolhouse Gulch Road (USFS Secondary Road 222). Sigh of relief. Let's get back on the good stuff.

Schoolhouse Gulch Road starts out pretty smooth, rolling up gently along grass filled meadows and pine stuffed hills. It's a relaxing, contemplative spin into the Northern Hills backcountry. There's little development, other than the nice gravel road, fence lines, and a small reservoir for cattle.

Schoolhouse Gulch Road (USFS Secondary Road 222).
(image by Luke Derstein)

School house Gulch Road (USFS Secondary Road 222).
(image by Paul Brasby)

With the oh-so-pleasant ride and a hardly signed road, it would be very easy for the inattentive rider to miss the turn onto Pettigrew Gulch Road. So, we pay attention and continue on the way to Lost Canyon. For the next half mile, that USFS two track winds between fence lines and a few structures, before abruptly turning 90 degrees to drop down a little hill back into Black Hills National Forest. 

Then the "road' slowly dissipates to little more than grass occasionally trampled by cattle. It's National Forest land, but the road is long ago abandoned. It does not even show up on official USFS maps.

Pettigrew Gulch Road. Yes, that's a USFS Low Standard Road onto which we turned.
(image by Paul Brasby)

One fence to open/close on the abandoned road near Bonanza Gulch.
(image by Luke Derstein)

But it's there, generally tracking a creek and sometimes discernible from the remains of a built road bed long since covered and re-covered with vegetation. After negotiating a gated fence, we round a corner and there it is.

Lost Canyon.

Seeking sites for tents in Lost Canyon.

Sheer rock walls close in from both sides, creating a narrow canyon through which flows a happy little creek. The abandoned road bed reappears on the now rocky ground, revealing a bit of a shoulder and the makings of an old two track. The road bed forms the only somewhat flat surface between canyon wall and creek, so we fan out to find spots to pitch our tents. 

As shadows from the setting sun crawl up the opposing canyon wall, the sights, sounds, and smells of dinner drift over our small encampment. A small campfire draws the crew together as the evening fades to black on our final night on the 2024 Black Hills Bounty.

This is the way.

Paul Brasby's tent as shadows lengthen in Lost Canyon.
(image by Paul Brasby)

Small tent city emerges in Lost Canyon.
(image by Paul Brasby)

Paul Brasby's choice site along Beaver Creek.
(image by Paul Brasby)

Dinner time as the sun drops.
(image by Luke Derstein)

Memorable final evening on the 2024 Black Hills Bounty.
(image by Paul Brasby)

Addendum. I found Lost Canyon while scouting "roads" for the BackBone Grande, my bikepacking route that crosses the State of South Dakota through the best of the Black Hills and surrounding prairie. See, BackBone Grande Page. This little known canyon is featured in an introductory post of the BackBone Grande (Northern Black Hills & Beyond) and a post on the first through-ride (Low Standard & Lower). I also included it on a Black Hills Bike Hub 2024 group bikepacking ride.

Back to the Bounty, here's a link to the Black Hills Bounty Page, which describes and links all blog posts for every year of this ride (2021-present). Black Hills Bounty Page.

The Mandalorian, Ludwig Goransson (2020).