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| Castle Peak Road (USFS Low Standard 181). |
The Heart Of The Hills Overnighter.
A 90 mile rough road overnight bikepacking loop starting and ending in Hill City.
Nothing like an Overnighter to get started.
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| Mickelson Trail tunnel. (image by Paul Brasby) |
From charming Hill City, The Heart of the Hills Overnighter explores about 80 miles of rough, remote USFS back roads and almost 10 miles of rails-to-trails Mickelson Trail for a two day tour showcasing the best of the Central Black Hills of South Dakota.
This forested, hilly loop passes a restored, abandoned gold mine, crosses over a trestle, eeks through old railroad tunnels, follows trout-filled streams, sidesteps to the iconic Moonshine Gulch Saloon, climbs along a beaver damned creek to an abandoned stone lookout, and meanders up and down back roads through prime elk country back to Hill City. An experiential Black Hills feast.
About 40 miles into the 90 mile loop awaits idyllic USFS Black Fox primitive campground, a sweet spot to spend the evening. Of course, one may choose to disperse camp throughout much of the Black Hills National Forest. In particular, one may wish to gradually climb another 12 miles past Black Fox to camp atop Flag Mountain by the lookout tower.
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| Black Fox Camp Road (USFS Secondary 233). |
This is a gravel and dirt road route, with about a mile of mellow single track, covering about 90 miles and 7,400 feet of elevation gain over 2 days. Several sections can be rocky, rutted, loose, and/or muddy, such as Horse Creek Road, Castle Peak Road, the spur up Flag Mountain, Williams Draw Road, and a few unnamed connectors. Stretches of this route have earned their way onto parts of the Black Hills BackBone, the Black Hills Bounty, the DED Dirt Ride, several Black Hills Gravel Series rides, and even the BackBone Grande. If you only have two days, here's a choice taste of bikepacking the Black Hills.
When loaded for an Overnighter on this route, I prefer a bike with 2 inch or wider tires. When riding it loaded on soft roads in late May a few years ago, I comfortably rode my Jones 29+ with 2.35 inch Bontrager XR2 tires. On the other hand, I have comfortably ridden this entire route on my single speed Black Mountain MonsterCross with 40 mm tires, but that was a single day ride. Loaded, I'd go wider.
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| The lookout atop Flag Mountain. |
Surface water to filter is widely available along the route. Potable water is available at the Mystic Trailhead of the Mickelson Trail (mile 16.5 of Day 1), at the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, the Rochford Small of America, and the Mickelson Trailhead in Rochford (mile 32.5 of Day 1), and at the USFS White Tail Campground (mile 19.2 of Day 2). The Moonshine Gulch Saloon also offers bar food and drinks, while the Rochford Mall sells light snacks.
Located an easy 26 miles from Rapid City, Hill City is a thriving tourist town of about 1,000 residents. It offers a variety of shops and art galleries, motels and campgrounds, and restaurants and bars. Hill City is also minutes away from Mt. Rushmore National Monument, Crazy Horse Memorial, and the granite towers of Cathedral Spires along Needles Highway. The Heart of the Hills is an ideal place to launch a Black Hills adventure.
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| Turning off Williams Draw Road (USFS Secondary 691) onto USFS Low Standard Road 301.1R. |
For an alternative experience with shorter riding days, one could make a 3 day/2 night trip by riding 26 miles to camp at USFS Castle Peak Campground on Day 1, ride 33 miles to camp at USFS White Tail Campground on Day 2, and ride 31 miles to finish on Day 3. Of course, one could also go the other way, ditch the camping altogether, and ride the entire 90 miles loop in a single day.
This route is publicly available on RideWithGPS at Heart Of The Hills Overnight.
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