July 10 Lusk, Wyoming to Hot Springs, South Dakota

Welcome to South Dakota.  How would you like your heat, dry or humid?

Spot the trees

Today’s route was fairly easy to follow: ride north for 46 miles, turn right, ride east another 46 miles. (Still, one of our riders missed the turn).  Along the way, you leave Wyoming and enter South Dakota. On the last long hill before leaving Wyoming, I looked ahead and counted all the trees I could see.  On the right side of the road, I didn’t see any trees at all out to the horizon.  On the left side of the road, I saw one lone tree. I thought, “Hmm… the left side seems to be the shady side.”  The change in terrain is almost immediate as you enter South Dakota.  All of sudden, you start seeing pine trees and rocky outcroppings instead of long, rolling, grassy knolls.  Tomorrow, we’ll enter the Black Hills, one of the prettiest and best kept secrets in America. Unfortunately, the Black Hills contain a lot of hills so we’ll be doing a lot of climbing.

Whereas Lusk was all about ranching and agriculture, Hot Springs is more about tourism.  There really are hot springs in the area and they were enjoyed by the Sioux and Cheyenne long before we arrived.  Hot Springs is also the gateway to the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, and various other attractions, like a wooly mammoth and a number of weird and wonderful caves.   Perhaps because of the economic differences, there are also demographic differences.  For every 100 females over the age of 18 in Hot Springs, there are 106.7 males.  In Lusk, on the other hand, there are only 74.7 males for every 100 females.  Perhaps that’s why Horace Mann said, “Go west, young man.”

Day’s distance: 93.9 miles (151.1 km)
Average speed: 17.5 mph (28.2 kph)
Day’s climb: 2,880 feet (877.2 meters)
Total distance: 1,595.1 miles (2,567.1 km)