Day 9 - Tuesday, July 28 (Mickelson Trail)

We hiked just under 8 miles on the Mickelson Trail today, driving our usual hour plus transit after a leisurely breakfast - this time over 25 miles of dirt roads through some decidedly (and refreshingly) uncommercialized country to leave Jim and David's car at the Mystic trailhead and start our journey at Rochford. My Dad had walked a great deal of the trail with his friend Lyn Muchmore earlier this year and had encouraged us to ride our bikes on the trail, but we couldn't take the bikes and we wanted to enjoy the walk - which was stunning.

Along the way, South Dakota's first rails to trails project, we walked through a tunnel bored in the mountain, across bridges and trestles, and in valleys walled in with jagged rock faces and forests of ponderosa pine - while a stream rushed, tumbled and drifted along beside us. We were attacked by a squadron of persistent mosquitoes for a mile or so, but for most of the trail we followed, we enjoyed drinking in the view and taking pictures, talking with each other in different pairs, and even giving out piggy-back rides.

After we got back to Mystic, we enjoyed the most wonderful tasting picnic and company (especially the cherries) and celebrated making the hike before the rain hit (the weather had been threatening for the last couple of miles). It was the perfect way to end our visit with Jim and David in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

When we returned, Eli counted over 150 bikers gathering for the rally at Sturgis next week, and we listened to them raoring by the camp while Vicki and David prepared a wonderful supper of salmon, rice and salad, and we played Clue and Acquire. it has been so good to renew our family ties with Jim and David, and to enjoy the beauty of the Black Hills together. Tomorrow, we head for Yellowstone, via Devil's Tower!