Find the top rated trails in Sturgis, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Though Sturgis may be best known for the popular motorcycle events it hosts, the city also offers some great opportunites for the other kind of biker. The Moose Drive Bike Path is a 1.5 mile sidepath...
The Deadman Trail is a short trail that follows the ominously named Deadman Gulch on the outskirts of Sturgis, and connects to other portions of the city's ten mile bike path system. Starting in...
The Spearfish Recreational Trail travels for 5 miles through the heart of Spearfish, a town situated east of the South Dakota/Wyoming border and just north of the Black Hills National Forest, known...
The Custer State Park Spur offers a 3.2-mile paved connection between South Dakota's 109-mile George S. Mickelson Trail and Custer State Park, home to bison, coyotes, and prairie dogs in the beautiful...
This short sidepath provides a useful connection between several trails in the ten mile system of bike paths within the city of Sturgis. Beginning near the intersection of Butte View Drive and Dolan...
The Sturgis Centennial Bike Path runs a little over four miles across the northern edge of the city of Sturgis, loosely following the route of the Bear Butte Creek. While the western portion of the...
The Leonard Swanson Memorial Pathway, named for Rapid City's late, longtime public works director, is a sprawling eight mile system of paved bikeways that follows the path of Rapid Creek across the...
The Ballpark Road Trail is a short sidepath, one of several in the city of Sturgis that together form a ten mile off-road system of trails. Beginning at the intersection of Junction Avenue and...
The Custer State Park Spur offers a 3.2-mile paved connection between South Dakota's 109-mile George S. Mickelson Trail and Custer State Park, home to bison, coyotes, and prairie dogs in the beautiful...
Named in honor of the former South Dakota governor who crusaded for the trail before his death in a plane crash in 1993, the George S. Mickelson Trail runs through the heart of the Black Hills,...
This short sidepath provides a useful connection between several trails in the ten mile system of bike paths within the city of Sturgis. Beginning near the intersection of Butte View Drive and Dolan...
Though Sturgis may be best known for the popular motorcycle events it hosts, the city also offers some great opportunites for the other kind of biker. The Moose Drive Bike Path is a 1.5 mile sidepath...
More than a century ago, steam locomotives lugged supplies from Deadwood to Lead and to the miners at Homestake Mine, once the largest goldmine in the Western Hemisphere. This narrow-gauge track fell...
The Spearfish Recreational Trail travels for 5 miles through the heart of Spearfish, a town situated east of the South Dakota/Wyoming border and just north of the Black Hills National Forest, known...
The Sturgis Centennial Bike Path runs a little over four miles across the northern edge of the city of Sturgis, loosely following the route of the Bear Butte Creek. While the western portion of the...
The Leonard Swanson Memorial Pathway, named for Rapid City's late, longtime public works director, is a sprawling eight mile system of paved bikeways that follows the path of Rapid Creek across the...
The Deadman Trail is a short trail that follows the ominously named Deadman Gulch on the outskirts of Sturgis, and connects to other portions of the city's ten mile bike path system. Starting in...
The Ballpark Road Trail is a short sidepath, one of several in the city of Sturgis that together form a ten mile off-road system of trails. Beginning at the intersection of Junction Avenue and...
This short sidepath provides a useful connection between several trails in the ten mile system of bike paths within the city of Sturgis. Beginning near the intersection of Butte View Drive and Dolan...
The Ballpark Road Trail is a short sidepath, one of several in the city of Sturgis that together form a ten mile off-road system of trails. Beginning at the intersection of Junction Avenue and...
The Deadman Trail is a short trail that follows the ominously named Deadman Gulch on the outskirts of Sturgis, and connects to other portions of the city's ten mile bike path system. Starting in...
The Sturgis Centennial Bike Path runs a little over four miles across the northern edge of the city of Sturgis, loosely following the route of the Bear Butte Creek. While the western portion of the...
The Spearfish Recreational Trail travels for 5 miles through the heart of Spearfish, a town situated east of the South Dakota/Wyoming border and just north of the Black Hills National Forest, known...
The Custer State Park Spur offers a 3.2-mile paved connection between South Dakota's 109-mile George S. Mickelson Trail and Custer State Park, home to bison, coyotes, and prairie dogs in the beautiful...
Named in honor of the former South Dakota governor who crusaded for the trail before his death in a plane crash in 1993, the George S. Mickelson Trail runs through the heart of the Black Hills,...
Though Sturgis may be best known for the popular motorcycle events it hosts, the city also offers some great opportunites for the other kind of biker. The Moose Drive Bike Path is a 1.5 mile sidepath...
More than a century ago, steam locomotives lugged supplies from Deadwood to Lead and to the miners at Homestake Mine, once the largest goldmine in the Western Hemisphere. This narrow-gauge track fell...
The Leonard Swanson Memorial Pathway, named for Rapid City's late, longtime public works director, is a sprawling eight mile system of paved bikeways that follows the path of Rapid Creek across the...
Skated from the Shopko in Custer to Custer State Park and back. $4 fee for the trail, there's a self-pay station at the trailhead in Custer State Park. The pavement is pretty rough most of the way, but since this is mostly used by cyclists it's probably fine for most users. The bridges are pretty bad too, several have big bumps on the transition from asphalt to wood and the parallel planks are sketchy. Views are pretty nice though, and Fort Custer is an interesting stop.
My wife and I along with my 80 year old father did trail in 3 days had a blast great trail will comeback and do it again
The tail is very well marked and easy to follow but that is about all that is easy, for a recumbent rider at least. I had some chain issues on the first day and thankfully we started in Deadwood. That meant the closest bike shop was 15 miles away in Spearfish, Rushmore Sports. The trip was delayed by a day and we started in Custer to Hot Springs. Mostly downhill but the trail material packed gravel and it is slow! Hot Springs required 11 miles on the highway with a good sized hill into town. Next we hired a shuttle to the Dumont trailhead. This section is by far the most scenic and 18 miles downhill to Hill City but there are 2 long (7 & 10 mile) slow climbs from there to Custer. Finally we drove to Edgemont and rode north to the HghWy 18 trailhead. Again it is a shallow grade hill but it is slow going. NOTE the trail has MANY washouts where it is deeply rutted across the path with deep, loose sand which make going up even slower and going down, at speed, really hairy.
This a gem of a trail for Rapid City. We always look for bike trails (RVing) as we travel, and this one is excellent...biked it 2x while staying at Lake Park RV (also excellent if u are RVing, btw.)
2 day ride starting in Deadwood, overnight in Hill City and on to Edgemont. Outstanding fall ride with a total of 8 other riders over 2 days. Mornings were cold but afternoons were into the 60s. Snow still present in N and NW facing slopes with the trail muddy in spots. Day 1 surface was firmer with smaller packed gravel. Rode 28mm tires and was fine all day. Day 2 changed to 35mm tires and found it helpful dealing with the freeze thaw mud. Overall one of the best R2T rides I have done. Trail maintenance and facilities were excellent! This is the sort of R2T other states should use as an example.
I did a 40 mile round trip on a hybrid, starting at Hill City. A local rider told me this was the nicest stretch of the trail. It took me through three of the four tunnels. Once you leave the Hill City outskirts, you're away from the highway and riding through some beautiful scenery.
This is a more challenging ride that most rail trails. The hills aren't steep, but they're long. Going north, you climb a long hill out of Hill City, reach a crest and then descend 7 miles before starting up and even longer hill.
It's hard to imagine a better managed trail than this. The the signage, the condition of the trail surface and the rest facilities are all excellent.
The guys who built this put a lot of thought and effort into it. Highly recommended.
With a free day during our dude’s trip “Out West”, we snagged the chance to ride 33 miles from Dumont to Hill City. We rented our hybrid bikes at the first-rate, family owned rental company in Hill City. Our guide took us via the “backroads” route to Dumont where she entertained us with trail stories and local history…. what a great start! Dumont’s TH was nicely unassuming with clean restrooms & potable water. We crossed the road and started our southerly journey 18-mile downhill. This section of the trail was our favorite. We wound through the valleys of fragrant wildflowers, tall dark pines, gently running streams and exposed rocky slopes. Our lunch stop was by Rochford’s TH which is south of the town across from the fire department. We switchbacked up to the Rochford Mall (a must stop) for a meal of pre-packaged sandwiches, frozen burritos and some cold sodas. Continuing downhill we crossed the signature trestle over Rapid Creek but we knew the good times were going to end and it did at the Mystic TH. The uphill grade is gentle and doable but there are no flat recovery sections, but you can stop “to take pictures” at Tunnels A & B. After the “real” summit, the trial runs downhill through prairie-like areas toward Hill City. Note: at the intersection of E. Main Street, cross the street and ride the Walnut Ave. sidewalk in front of the railroad museum until you re-enter the trail behind the Quality Inn. When you finish, hang around Hill City where you can goof around for a while and enjoy a well-earned drink & meal at one of their many fine restaurants.
My wife and I bikepacked the trail from Deadwood to Edgemont. We took two days with a camp stop at Crooked Creek RV Park in Hill City. (We had planned to use the Oreville Forest Service campgroud, but Crooked Creek is right on the trail and, since it was unseasonably warm, the prospect of using the shower was too good to pass up.) Stopping there made the first day about 50 miles and the second 59 miles.
The Mickelson Trail is terrific. We most liked the sections away from roads, but even when the trail is close to roads it is so much more relaxing than riding on the shoulder. The surface is mostly pretty firm although it rained hard the night we spent in Hill City and there were a few placed that had washed a little, but it was no problem. We were in bikepacking mode and carried too much water. The periodic trail heads and rest shelters are great for stretch and snack stops.
In all, a great experience and a great trail.
Another great section starting from Mystic trailhead. Nice scenery, tunnel, including a great little falls to explore. Mystic trailhead has a bike tool air station which we thought was pretty darn nice to provide. Something we've only seen along Urban trails. Thank You SD for a great experience.
Great green space bike path. We're from Wisconsin and stopped over to ride the trail last week. Well planned and a jewel for the city.
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