Northern Hills — The Mickelson Trail & Terry Peak

Two days of rail-trail cycling and high-country hiking in the northern Black Hills, built around the George S. Mickelson Trail — the 109-mile crushed-limestone rail-to-trail that follows the old Burlington railroad grade through the heart of the hills at grades no steeper than four percent. Day one rolls out from the tiny crossroads of Rochford deep in the pine forest, spinning through meadows, along Rapid Creek, and over reclaimed railroad trestles on the gentlest and most remote stretch of the whole trail. Day two climbs to the roof of the northern hills at Terry Peak — at 7,064 feet one of the highest summits in the range and the high point of the northern Black Hills — for wide-open views across four states, then explores the ridgeline forest trails above the old mining town of Lead before the return south. Nights are spent in Lead, the mile-high former gold-mining town clinging to the mountainside above the historic Homestake mine. The route stays deliberately in the high forest and on the peaks, apart from the tourist corridors below.