Hills in the Hills

"Thar's gold in them thar hills!" mostly anonymous 19th Century prospectors proclaimed as they wound their way from eastern locales to the northern Black Hills. The gold drew men searching for riches like a moth to a flame. Some made it big; most did not.

By today's standards four billion dollars worth of gold came out of the Black Hills with a large amount of it mined from Homestake near Lead. Though Homestake no longer mines gold; particle physicists from around the world plan a new type of mining for Homestake -- now Sanford Laboratory. The mining consists of excavating large underground chambers and constructing super-sensitive physics experiments. The future of Homestake as America's flagship Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory should guarantee it a prominent place in the particle physics world for many years to come.

Gold fever disappeared about as fast as it arrived in The Hills as prospectors went their solitary ways. But, towns sprang up and civilization spread throughout the Black Hills as lumber, ranching and tourists replaced the gold seekers. Fairly recently, discoveries of a new type of gold perfuse the internet as local mountain bikers share the secrets of their Black Hills trails.

Lately, roadbiking, centered on The Hills, showcases the smooth blacktop, low traffic, incredible scenery and plentiful wildlife as one company, Dakota Bike Tours, leads the way.

Recently, Albuquerque transplant Jeff Patterson, opened a bike shop, Cranky Jeff's, in Rapid City and is ecstatic about the plentiful road biking.

Likely others will follow Jeff and discover the outstanding road biking saturating The Hills.

The equipment needed to mine the new gold are bicycles -- man's most efficient machine powered by good old fashioned muscles. These human-powered conveyances take the determined rider up into The Hills where the new gold just waits to be discovered.

For a rider basing out of Rapid City, one of the first places for discovering the new gold starts at about 3400 feet at Canyon Lake and follows up Park Drive and up Sheridan Lake Road, as a nice warmup to the eye-opening 6% grade up Catron. Just before the light on Highway 16 take the Service Road south toward Reptile Gardens. At Reptile Gardens hang a left on Neck Yoke and settle in as you pedal, mostly up, take a left on Rockerville Road and ride the rollers to Keystone. Refuel from the last 1000+ feet of climbing at Iron Mountain Coffee on mainstreet as you plan your nearly continuous 1200+ foot climb up scenic Iron Mountain Road to elevation 5460 where the new gold awaits you at the summit of the Norbeck Overlook.

Savor the view of Mt. Rushmore, Harney Peak and the eastern plains before pointing your iron steed down, down, down and rocketing through 3 tunnels hewn in 2.5 billion year old PreCambrian granite over 3 cleverly crafted pigtail bridges and along 2 single paths on the way back to Keystone. Regroup and retrace your trail back to Rapid but hang a left on Moon Meadows and jog over to Sheridan Lake Road before blasting back to Park Drive and eventually Canyon Lake.

As you coast down Sheridan Lake Road cogitate on the new gold you've discovered in the Black Hills and maybe, just maybe, one of your riding companions will exclaim:

"Thar's hills in them thar hills!"

Stats:

Under typical Hills spring weather (i.e., cool, partly becoming mostly cloudy) and incredibly light traffic I covered about 55 miles and climbed over 3400 feet last Wednesday.