The Big Mick, the state’s first rail-to-trail project, converted the Burlington Northern Line from Edgemont to Deadwood in 1998 and made good use of 100 abandoned bridges and four rock tunnels. Although the Black Hills beauty earned its superlative sobriquet due to its 109-mile length and not its level of difficulty as most of it doesn’t exceed a four-percent grade, the 19-mile-long incline and 1,411-foot elevation gain between the bullion boomtown of HBO series fame and Dumont is strenuous enough to leave the less prepared doing their best Al Swearengen impression. With 15 entry points, that part’s easily skipped without sacrificing seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial, meandering streams, or spruce and ponderosa pine forests.
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Deadwood, SD
United States