BLACK HILLS ADVENTURE RIDE 2013

Time to catch up on the summers adventures. I had planned on taking another stab at the Colorado Trail Race again this year but they moved it up a week which lead to some conflicts with some other races I had signed up for. So instead I decided to make up my own adventure and do a ride in the Black Hills of South Dakota and maybe if time allowed a little riding in North Dakota.
THE GREAT BLACK HILLS ADVENTURE RIDE 2013.
I left home about mid morning on Friday and got to Rapid City late that same day. I needed to do a few things in Rapid City so I spent the night in a Walmart parking lot. I've slept in a lot of odd places over the years but that's the first time I slept in a Walmart parking lot. I got up and had a good breakfast and headed over to the visitors center to pickup some maps and info on the trails. Since I started planning this trip I had been having trouble finding info on the Centennial Trail. I could find basic info but there wasn't a lot of specific info like is available on the Colorado Trail and this held true at the visitors center also. After the visitors center I headed over to a local bike shop. I got there about a half hour before they opened and while waiting for them to open I was talking to another customer also waiting, this guy was a true conspiracy theory guy who was sure the government was going to bomb and kill all but the upper class and he was going to be a survivor. Quite the guy. Well the bike shop guy said the Centennial trail was in good shape to ride, and they have been improving the northern part so that it got better as you go north. Well that fit my plan as I had intended to start at the southern end of the Centennial Trail and go north than ride on over to the Michaelson Trail and head south back to the truck. I headed out to the north end of Wind Cave Nat Park and the Highland T.H. for the start.
I arrived at the trail head about 11:30 and had the bike all packed and started riding about noon.
The trail was very reminiscent of the Colorado Trail. It was built with hikers in mind but they do allow bikers and horse riders. This trail looked like it had a lot of horse traffic. The trail was typical mountain single track. It started heading up immediately but was very rideable. After a few hours I hit the first section of hike a bike (HIB) several miles of very steep trail just full of bowling ball size boulders. It was quite a hike I don't know how a horse would make it up here. I was moving along at a steady pace getting much further than I had thought. I got to the first big detour late in the afternoon. The area where Mount Rushmore is is called the Black Elk Wilderness and bikers are not allowed. You can circle around it to the east or west and I decided to go west. This involved a 20 mile section of Needles highway. The first 10 miles were up hill but the second 10 miles were down hill and what a blast, going around the switch backs and hairpin turns at 30 MPH was great. I got around the wilderness by mid evening and went a couple of miles north on the trail and made camp for the night in a big open field.
Totals for the day: 42 miles and 8 hours. Camp 1 just north of Big Pine TH.
Day 2 started about 8 AM I got up packed up and hit the trail.The trail was typical up and down all day, mostly single track with an occasional dirt road. I saw very few people on the trail, only the occasional day hiker. One problem is that the trail did not seem to pass thru any towns so resupply was difficult. about mid afternoon as it was beginning to rain I was near Pactola Reservoir and made a detour to the marina get a meal. The only thing there was a convience store that also sold pizza and chicken so I ordered a pizza and got a pop and had a good meal. After eating I hit the trail again for a few hours till I got to Pilot Knob TH and camped near there at the edge of a field near a creek. Washed up in the creek and hit the hay for the night.
Totals for day 2: 40 miles and 11 hours
Day 3 started at 7 AM I packed up and hit the trail. The trail from where I was at (Pilot KnobTH) and north to Dalton TH was open to motorized vehicles so I didn't think navigation would be a problem. The trail was easy to follow but ya had to pay attention to the signs because there were a lot intersecting trails and the trail was very rocky and rutted from erosion. Detoured into the little town of Nemo for a meal only to find the only restaurant was closed for the day so convience store food would have to do. I did see a few more people in this area mostly on ATV's. Nemo was a nice little town with a cute looking campground but not much else. I continued on to Dalton TH. The trail was along a ridge above the TH and I saw the sign directing the motorized vehicles down the hill to the TH but missed the second turn down the hill and continued on till I came to an intersection where I knew I was off the trail but I thought I could still find the TH by continuing down the dirt road and when I came across some ATV'ers I asked for directions and they told me I was headed for the TH just up the road. I reached the TH about noon but I could not find the Centennial trail going north from the TH. I found 2 trails at the TH and knew the motorizes trail ended here so I picked the non-motorizes trail out of the TH and it climbed a huge hill that was about 45 minutes of HIB and when I got to the top I recognized the ridge trail I had just been on so I headed back down the same trail to Dalton TH and than tried the other trail leading out of the TH and again after about 45 minutes of HIB up the hill again I came to the same ridge trail and had to turn around and go back down. I checked the road about a mile in each direction and could not find the trail out of there. All of this had taken me about 2 hours and now I was at a total of 102 miles into the trip so I decided to call it quites for the Centennial trail and head for Deadwood and the start of the Michaelson Trail.
The ride to Deadwood was mostly dirt road and it was a great scenic ride. It took some concentration to navigate but I didn't have any problems. The last few miles were on pavement and than a few miles on the Michaelson trail into Deadwood. I got the last hotel room in Deadwood because the motorcyclers were starting to arrive for the rally.
Totals for day 3: 40 miles and 9 hours
Day 4
The Michaelson Trail
Started from deadwood early in the morning. The Michaelson is an old RR grade that has been converted to a bike trail. The first miles, about 15 were all up hill. but because it is a RR grade it is a slight grade. Than the next 20 or so miles are all down hill and it was a blst to ride. There are several short tunnels along this section also. After about 50 miles the trail flattens out and you are nearly out of the mountains. Stoped in a little diner in Hill City for lunch. Rode on to the little town of Pringle, It was starting to rain a little and this was directly west of where I left the truck. So I left the trial and rode the roads for about 20 miles back to the truck. Near the entrance to Wind Cave  Park I ran into a herd of buffalo on the road had to shoo them out of the way than I sat and watched them for awhile. I was going to ride up to a lookout tower but the buffalo had road blocked. So I continued on towards the truck. About 2 miles from the truck I came across another herd of buffalo who had the road blocked. I yelled and tried to move them along for about half an hour but they weren't moving out of the road and it was a remote road so there were no cars to push them out of the way. I finally ended up riding about a quarter mile cross country to the buffalo fence and than followed the buffalo fence around the herd (The buffalo fence  is a 10 or 12 foot tall fence that runs for miles along the border between Wind Cave Park and Custer Park. Apparently they don't want the wind cave buffalo mixing with the custer buffalo.) I figured if the buffalo charged me I could toss the bike at them and climb the fence. But I got around them ok and back to the truck about 7 or 8 PM. Enough time to throw the bike in the back and than I drove a few miles further into Wind Cave Park and dry camped for the night.
Total miles about 80 and 12 hours on the trail.
Day 5
Black Hills hiking
Spent the day hiking. Specifically to Harney peak the highest point in the Black Hills. Took a swim in Sylvan Lake to clean up.Than headed for Medora North Dakota and the southern end of the Maa Daa Hey Trail.
Day 6
Maa Daa Hey Trail.
After breakfast in a diner in Medora headed out on the Maa Daa Hey Trail south to North. The plan was to just have an easy day ride. The start is right along the Little Missouri River in fact you have to walk across the river within the first mile. It was only knee deep but the trail in the area is very sandy. After a few miles the trail became very nice. It seemed to be well maintained very ridable. Unfortunately I was unpreppared and was supposed to take the Buffalo Gap detour around the Theodore Roosevelt Nat Park but It wasn't posted and I continued on thru Theodore Roosevelt which was a big mistake. The trail turned to crap in the park The trail was over grown with a scratchy brush which tore the hell out of my bare shins. I rode about 10 miles in and turned around and headed back. Stopped a couple of times to talk to other bikers, saw a few rattle snakes and had my only flat of the trip about 2 miles from the end.
Total miles for the day about 25 and about 5 hours riding.

Probably the last day of skiing. It was a great day warm and sunny.

A little skiing and a little biking. (The gravel is a little sloppy)
Life is good

Picture

Arrowhead 135 V2013

Arrowhead 135 V2013
After all the hours spent preparing for really cold weather the forecast calls for temps near freezing and snow on Monday night.
The Arrowhead begins with the gear check on Sunday afternoon, a great time to visit with old friends that you may only see at the race than a short time later it’s on to the racers meeting and the spaghetti dinner. Saw Mike S, Tim E, and Jeremy K. At the dinner along with a lot of other familiar faces. And after a good night’s sleep the race starts not so bright but early at 7 AM Monday morning. The temps were in the mid 20’s for the start. Got off to a good start, the trail was soft as expected but was able to ride pretty well. The beginning was uneventful for the most part, was pushing it a little and had several low speed crashes. The front tire would get off the track and sink down to the hub than I would usually go over the handlebars. This happened several times, jammed my thumb one time. Made good time to Gateway store which is the first checkpoint at 35 miles, pulled in and had some food (which was free this year thanks to the sponsors). I only had 1 can of pop to drink which I regretted later, I should have drunk more. I left the checkpoint at about 1:30 in the afternoon, great time. After this first checkpoint the trail becomes very hilly so it is a little slower going but the trail was actually better, I still made good time, saw John K and Chris W out on the trail and we leap frogged each other several times. With a lot of concentration on finding the best line to ride I still was able to ride most of it. We got a little snow and sleet but not much and I was hoping we were going to luck out and not get any more. Things went well and I pulled into Melgeorges the ½ way check point at a little after 8 PM which was 12 hours of pedaling or 13 hours into the race, right about on plan.
Got some food and drink and tried to sleep but couldn’t so I packed up and left at 10:41 PM.
Chris and John had left about 40 minutes before me so their tracks were out there and a few others but by now there was 3 to 4 inches of new snow on the trail. I could see from the tracks of the others that they were riding some I was walking the whole way since leaving Melgeorges. And eventually all the tracks ahead of me were walking. When somebody had broken trail ahead of me I could walk at about 2 MPH. At about 2 or 3 in the morning I passed John and Chris and 1 other person(Sam H) bivied alongside the trail at the same time I saw the light of 1 other biker ahead of me. Within ½ hour I had caught up to Jill from CO, we stopped and talked for a minute and then continued on taking turns breaking trail since there was now about 6 inches of new snow. Well I ended up walking a lot faster than Jill and got well ahead of her, and after a couple of hours of breaking trail at the amazing speed of 1.5 MPH I was beat and at 5 AM decided to bivy for awhile. So I stomped out a depression in the snow, rolled out my sleeping outfit and as soon as I was inside of it I was asleep. I slept fitfully for 2 and ½ hours and by 8 AM was out on the trail again.
When I got out on the trail again I saw a skier (Mark Scotch) had passed me during the night and Jill had also passed me. A few miles down the trail I passed a shelter and I could see by the tracks that several bikers had bivied there and now they were out on the trail ahead of me also.
About 9 AM I reached the Hwy 23 crossing and Jill was there loading her bike up into a truck. She told me she had walked all night and now was pulling out of the race. She said she had seen the 3 bikers who had bivied at the shelter and they had also withdrawn at Hwy 23 and ridden into town. She also had seen the skier Mark Scotch during the night. When she had gotten to Hwy 23 the film crew that was following Mark was just leaving and they had given her a ride into the town of Orr where she had called for a ride. She offered me a ride but I said no, I was going to continue on.
Well now I was back to breaking trail thru 8 inches of new snow again. Even though there were ski tracks ahead of me they weren’t much help in breaking trail so I was back to moving along at about 1.5 MPH. I was hoping all along that trail conditions would improve i.e. a snowmobiler would come along or I would come across the tracks of some other bikers but things didn’t improve so after another hour of this trudging along I figured I was not making fast enough forward progress, and the next place ahead of me that I could withdraw from the race was 20 miles, so I decided to drop and I turned around and headed back to Hwy 23. It took me about another hour to get back to Hwy 23 and when I arrived there were 4 other bikers there contemplating whether to drop. Well we all decided to withdraw there and ride into the town of Orr. Myself, Chris W, John K, Sam H, and Kory. Kory’s ride arrived before we got to Orr but the rest of us rode into Orr and sat at the only bar in town till our rides arrived. I hitched a ride with Sam and his wife back to the finish line at Fortune Bay and from there caught a shuttle the next day back to I Falls where my car was.
I really would have liked to finish this year and completed the trifacta (run,ski,bike) but it wasn’t to be. It probably was a good idea to withdraw when I did because by the time I got to Orr my feet were really raw and blistered from all the walking in wet boots.
Maybe another time.

Jan 12, 2013 After a day of rain the rivers are flowing again.

 

I've gotten a few opportunities to get out on the trails lately. Mostly the North Shore Trail.  Its amazing who you run into out there. Last weekend I went out for a ride and ran into Jay who was on foot pulling a sled, we stopped and talked for a bit. A hour or so later I ran into a biker going the opposite direction an it was Todd M. so we stopped and talked for awhile. Than this weekend I drove to the Normana Rd trailhead and biked north from there. When I was at the trailhead I noticed Steve K's truck. A few miles down the trail I run into Jay again, He tells me Steve and others are a few miles back, he had gotten a head start back to the cars because he was on foot. So a couple of minutes later I see Steve K with Chris W, John K and 1 other. They had gone in last night and camped at the Sucker River shelter and were now on their way out. Getting to stop and talk to other bikers and runners is a great break from the long rides. I also noticed I see a lot more walkers, runners and bikers out on the snomo trails than snowmobiles.

December 2012

Got a chance to do a few trail rides the last couple of days.
A few pictures from the North Shore Trail

Jay Cooke

Finally got a chance to ride up into Jay Cooke St Park. Jay Cooke was severely damaged buy the floods in June and remains closed. Left work about 4:15 and rode out the Munger Trail. Quite a few wash outs and mud slides on the trail, but nothing I couldn't get around. Got up to Forbay lake (this is a reservoir for the hydro power plant) and the lake was totally empty! I could see across the lake and see where the earthen dam had given way and emptied the lake. Coulden't get much farther than Forbay canal because the trail was totally washed out. Wanted to get to the bridge over the St Louis but couldn't get that far. Turned around and headed home racing the rain, stopped in west Duluth for a Dairy Queen.   48.5 miles

THERE'S NO END TO UP

THERES NO END TO UP
THE COLORADO TRAIL RACE JULY 30 2012

DAY 1

START AT WATERTON CANYON IN DENVER TO 3 MILES PAST KENOSHA PASS.

4:30 AM came very early as we all got up. Andy’s wife Sandy cooked us a breakfast of eggs and toast. Than we rode the 4 miles to the start line where we met Stephan the organizer of the event who was handing out the SPOT locators. After a short speech Stephan sent all 80 of us on our way. The first 6 miles were a dirt road up Waterton Canyon. Yesterday when I rode this section for practice I saw quite a few Dahl sheep in the canyon. I rode some with Ben and George up the canyon. Saw a black bear across the river. After that we started the switch backs up the font range. A very hilly and choppy first couple of sections. Andy, Jeff and myself yo yo’ed back and forth most of the day. No great trails this day, mostly just climbing. After about 40 miles of single track we start the first wilderness detour. We have to go 8 miles of gravel into the town of Bailey. As I approach Bailey about 2 PM it starts to rain lightly. I meet Andy and Jeff in the restaurant. While we are eating it monsoon’s outside. Even though I’m hungry and haven’t eaten much all day I can’t finish a meal of hamburger and fries because of upset stomach, a problem not uncommon to me. I leave before Andy and Jeff and start the next road section which is a continuation of the detour. The next section is 5 miles of gravel going out of town than 15 miles of highway 285 going up to Kenosha Pass at 10,000 + feet. Felt good for the whole road section passing many riders on the way up. At the top of the pass we regain the CT. I ride about 3 more miles down the trail and at about 7:30 PM find a flat spot near a creek in a grove of aspen trees at about 9000 feet of elevation were several others are camped and decide to stay there for the night.

13 hours on the trail and about 70 miles. 7800 feet of climbing

It poured rain that night, and although I got a little wet I stayed warm.

DAY 2

JUST WEST OF KENOSHA PASS TO PART WAY UP THE 10 MILE RANGE.

Up at 5:30 AM and on the bike at 6 AM. Day two is a bear! The first obstacle is Georgia pass and the continental divide at almost 12000 feet of elevation. The trail is about 9 miles to the top of Georgia Pass and most of it is hike a bike. Very rocky and steep. Many long sections where I would plant my feet, push the bike up about 3 feet, squeeze the brakes and then take 2 steps up to the bike, than repeat over and over again. The top of the pass was beautiful. Above tree line, cool and clear and sunny. I passed many drifts of hail stones, which I found out later, were from the previous night. Apparently many of the faster riders spent the night up here, and at least one of them (Ben whom I had stayed with the night before the start) got so hypothermic that he quit the race the next day. Even the ride down was a lot of hike a bike because the trail was so steep and rocky. Than there was another mountain to climb than finally down to Frisco/Breckenridge area. This section was 33 miles long and contained over 4500 feet of climbing. I had talked to another CTR rider and he suggested going towards Frisco, there was a store close by in that direction. So I did. Unfortunately I rode the 3 miles to the store only to find it closed. So I turned around and rode 7 miles towards Breck to a convience store to stock up on food. Yum yum convience store food. Than 4 miles back to the trailhead. The next section is reported to be just as tough as the one I just completed The 10 Mile Range. I started this section about 3 in the afternoon and had thoughts of riding late into the night and finishing it but that wasn’t to be. I got about 5 miles into this section and came across a couple of other riders camped out at a nice spot and since it was already about 7:30 PM I decided to stay the night.

Another 13 and ½ hours on the trail but only about 38 miles.

DAY 3

THE 10 MILE RANGE

It rained a little that night but no down pours like the night before. Was a little cold in my damp gear. Got up about 6:30 and on the trail by about 7 AM. Another tough hike a bike section topping out at almost 12500 feet. Above tree line was very nice. Going up the mountain with Breck and Frisco down below and than when I crossed the ridge there was Copper on the other side. This is one of only a few sections that the guide book suggests that you detour around on a bike! Down into Copper and I found another convience store to get some food at. Got done fueling up about 1:30 PM and started on the next section. The next section was very high topping out at over 12200 feet with lots of time spent above 10000 feet. First I climbed up to Searle pass at 12040 feet than continue on to the high point of Elk Ridge at 12280 feet than on to Kokomo pass at 12020 feet. . It rained a couple of times while at the top, while at the peak on the windward side it was sunny but the rain was horizontal. Than when I crossed over to the leeward side it was calm and sunny. Than a long very rideable down hill that seemed to go on forever. I stopped a couple of times just to let the brakes cool off. After going down into the valley it was an easy rideable climb up to Tennessee Pass at 10424 feet. It had started to rain late in the day and when I got to the pass there was a highway rest area and I took shelter in the large concrete outhouse. At least it kept the rain off me for the next 45 minutes. The rain finally quit and I set up the tent in some trees and decided to go into Leadville tomorrow and take a rest day, Dry out some gear and eat!

13 hours on the trail and about 45 miles.



DAY 4

TENNESSEE PASS TO LEADVILLE

Got up at about 7 and on the road about 7:30. First of all I had to go rubber neck at a sink on Hwy 24 that was reported to be 100 feet deep. The sink hole reportedly went down to an old railroad tunnel under the road. There wasn’t really much to see the construction crews had things pretty well under control. There was 1 lane open so I had to wait at the flag man to let traffic thru. Than it was only 3 miles of trail than about 12 miles of gravel (another detour around wilderness) into Leadville (the highest incorporated city in the U. S. at 10120 feet). I got a late breakfast at the Golden Burro than got a hotel room, pulled all my wet gear out to dry, took a shower, and played tourist for the rest of the day. Had a great dinner at the Casa Blanca, than early to bed. It was during this day that I decided that I probably wouldn’t be able to finish in 10 days so I would ride another day on the trail than ride the roads back to Denver and my car.

About 15 miles of riding and 3 hours

DAY 5

LEADVILLE TO BUENA VISTA

I thought it was only a mile or 3 back to the trail but it ended up being about 10 miles of gravel till I finally picked up the trail again. The trail started out going up of course so there was some hike a bike because of the long steep trail, but the trail was in good shape. A lot of trail here at around 10000 feet but nothing much higher than that. Went around Twin Lakes which is a resvavoir and it was really low like a lot of the resavoirs in Colorado. The last 20 miles again was a detour around a wilderness area leading into Buena Vista. The last 10 miles of this detour was a gravel road that had once been a RR grade that was all downhill alongside the Arkansas River. A great ride! Pulled into Buena Vista around 1:30 PM and found a restaurant “Punkys Smoke Shack” and had a great lunch. Well this was my turn around point so after a good lunch and rest at 3:00 PM I left Buena Vista and the Colorado Trail and hit the roads for Denver. I had to head a couple of miles south on Hwy 24 than pick up Hwy 285 which headed N.E. to Denver. Nothing exciting here, there was 1 pass to cross over at about 10000 feet. The road went thru a broad high valley, lots of rolling hills, traffic wasn’t too bad and there was a good shoulder most of the way. Got to the town of Fairplay about 7 PM got a subway and asked the store clerk if there were any city parks nearby and he pointed me to Fairplay beach, a picnic park along the river which ended being a great camping spot.

53 miles of the Colorado trail to Buena Vista and about 6 hours

40 road miles from Buena Vista to Fairplay and about 4 hours

DAY 6

FAIRPLAY TO DENVER

I figured I had 80 or 90 miles to go back to Denver with 1 pass to go over and then after the pass I would repeat about 20 miles of a road detour I had done on the first day going into the town of Bailey. Then there was a really bad section of road the last 50 miles into Denver. The morning ride up to the top of Kenosha pass was great, sunny cool weather good road and little traffic. After the pass it was 12 miles of downhill but there was more traffic and sections with no shoulder, than I was able to turn off the highway for 5 miles of gravel into the town of Bailey and lunch. The map said the next 50 miles of highway into Denver was high traffic and little or no shoulder, so while at the restaurant I asked the owner about any alternate routes and he kinda vaguely pointed me to a road out of Conifer that would bypass Hwy 285 and take me into S.W. Denver where my car was. The bad news was I had to ride 13 miles of highway into Conifer. This was the worst part of the whole trip, lots of traffic and little or no shoulder and all up hill. I took about 2 hours to do this 13 miles, lots of climbing! Than I thought I found the right road to turn off on but it wasn’t quite matching with the road on the GPS. I kept going (uphill) and finally ran into some other bikers and asked directions and I was on the right road. I had to make a couple of turns but this route would take me into Denver  And what a route it was. This turned into one of the highlights of the trip. The next 20 miles were all downhill on a twisty turny canyon road. Hundreds of other bikers (but none on a fully loaded mtn bike) and only a few cars. I learned later that this was a common route for Denver riders, park at the bottom ride up and then fly down. From the bottom of the canyon it was only a few miles to Andy’s house and the car, but not the end of the trip. I had learned that my brother and sister in law and their daughter were in Keystone. So I took a drive out to there and spent a day relaxing with them, than the looooong drive home.

Last day about 80 miles of road and about 7 hours.

Overall it was a great trip. Lots of beautiful mountain scenery and great riding. The uncertainty of how I was going to get back to Denver if I had completed the ride and the slower than expected pace lead me to pull out earlier than I had hoped, but it was still a great trip. Less weight would have also helped. My bike and all my gear including water weighed about 70 pounds. Way to much I’ll bet that most riders were at half of that. Didn’t have a single mechanical problem or even a flat tire and this was some really hard hard down hilling.