In 2004 I made two trips to the Dakotas to work on updates for my Black Hills and Badlands trail guide. On the first trip in May with Jean we completed ND’s Maah Daah Hey Trail by backpacking (Maah Daah Hey South Backpack), I rode the new Buffalo Gap mountain bike trail, and then we drove down to the Black Hills where we hiked the new Dugout Gulch Trail in Wyoming. For the rest of that trip, we mostly checked up familiar trails in the southern hills, near Custer and Wind Cave parks.
For the next trip in September, I went solo as Jean’s school
year had started, and I expected to join some friends for Colorado peak bagging
at the end of the trip. I’d again brought my mountain bike and rode some new
trail on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland near Badlands National Park. But
most of this trip was again checking trail conditions, this time concentrating
on the Centennial Trail and other trails in SD’s Black Hills National Forest. The
riding and hiking was great, but the guidebook project didn’t go through. My
publisher was soon to hit rough times, first the guidebook revision project was
cancelled, then the company went out of business. This report describes a new ride
for me that I planned to add to the guide. While my latest 1999 edition of the
Black Hills and Badlands trail guide is long out of print, portions of it are
still available through Google books.
Loop A-L-K around the Sundance Trails
The Bearlodge Mountains are essentially an outlier of the Black Hills, but are even more isolated and less used. During my time living in Lead, SD I’d gone to the nearby Carson Draw ski trails to ski a couple times, and did one mountain bike ride listed my copy of “A Mountain Biker’s Guide to the Black Hills” by Horning and Marriott. That June 1988 ride happened to be a loop centered around the Sheepnose, but there were no designated trails then. About the time I left the Hills in 1993 the BHNF was expanding the Carson Draw trails to the east to Sundance CG and the north to Sheepnose, and calling the new system the Sundance Trails. I didn’t get a chance to hike or ride those trails before I left, but chipped away at them on return trips with Jean in 97, 04, and 06. The latter two rides were scenic and fun enough to warrant inclusion in the guide as new rides.
The Sundance trail system remains the only one in the Black
Hills where I have not completed all the trails. One of these days I’ll return
for Ogden Ridge, Tent Canyon Ridge, Edge and the two quarry spurs that I have
left to hike!
This ride is a loop down Ogden Creek, and up the Sheepnose
and Richardson Fire trails in the northern part of the area. I had good weather
and good conditions, and a ride that was a whole lot of fun. Ogden Creek at the
start was a nice gentle downhill, with only a few rough sections at the creek
crossings. The canyon was really pretty, especially the lower section near the
Sheepnose Trail junction. At that junction I took a 1.8 mile side trip south to
complete all of the Ogden Creek Trail. That’s part of guidebook work, sometimes
you need to explore side trails, and that can add up in your daily mileage. I’d
ride 15 miles to describe a ten mile guidebook loop, luckily the side trip was
flat, easy riding.
The Sheepnose Trail started with a couple of steep, sharp
switchbacks. Then it went up a broad open ridge where I lost the trail for a
bit. The trail was on a dip slope, where the mountainside follows along the top
of a single inclined rock layer, in this case limestone. The Sundance Trails
always seem little used, even compared to other outlying trails in the Black
Hills, and this trail had just faded out. Eventually I climbed up to a red
layer, then a sandy one with the trail becoming better defined where it had
hosted old truck traffic. The grade eased up after I turned onto the Richardson
Fire Trail. After a short section of flat riding, I hit an open gate, beyond
which the trail had been improved by laying down coarse gravel. This was
probably done as part of recent timber sale. But timber sales always mess up trail
systems. It seems the first thing the loggers do is remove all the road and trail
markers. At some point my trail also became BHNF Road 858 and was also signed
for Peterson Spring, along a side trail which I did not visit.
The west side of the loop became very hard to follow, with
new, presumably logging, roads confusing the map, and some conflicting signs.
At one point I rode up Richardson Draw past a few confusing forks, led by a sign
that seemed to have been misplaced. Normally, I wouldn’t have included such a
mixed up trail in my guidebook, but I knew the Bearlodge Ranger District had
recently completed their timber sale, and that their recreation ranger was
likely to have the trails in shape for the next season. On our next ride here
in 2006 we indeed had no troubles with trail marking.
Eventually I found my way back to the Richardson/Ogden Creek
junction at its bridge over Ogden Creek,
I finished retracing my route on a short climb back to the car. I really
liked the loop as a bike ride, and Ogden Creek Trail is pretty enough to be a
hiking trail. With easy access to Reuter Campground, the Sundance Trail system
has the potential to be a popular area. But there just aren’t many people out
that way (I’d only seen one car all day and no foot or bike tracks on the loop),
and there’s enough diverse and high quality riding to satisfy most folks in the
main Black Hills.
On the current (2022) BHNF travel map most of this loop is
still shown as non-motorized. However, the west side of Richardson Fire Trail,
the upper section of Ogden Creek Trail, and a connector via Peterson Spring are
all roads open seasonally. 
The 2022 Black Hills National Forest Travel Map.
My ten day trip to the Hills ended on a down note. After
biking on the Centennial Trail near Legion and Iron Creek, I headed over to
Jewel Cave National Monument to hike the loop trail there. I decided to spend
my last night camping, knowing the next night that I’d be staying in a motel in
Denver after picking up my friends for our Colorado trip. The next morning, I
did a brief ride on the BHNF Hell Canyon loop, then headed off on the long
drive to the Denver Airport. After checking into the motel, I called Jean and
got some bad news. My friends all now had conflicts at work, and none would be
making the trip. So, after a quick solo hike up Mt Massive as a consolation
prize, it was time to start the long drive back east.
Here's the draft chapter I wrote to the Ogden Creek and
Richardson Fire loop.
Ogden Creek and Richardson Fire
Trail Loop - Sundance Trails
BEARLODGE
RANGER DISTRICT,
BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST
Description: A
beautiful rugged and diverse loop through the Bearlodge Mountains for
experienced mountain bikers.
General Location: Five miles north of Sundance, Wyoming.
Highlights:
Solitude, vistas, and a variety of challenges.
Access: From Interstate
90, take Exit 185 west of Sundance. Turn
left onto U.S. 14 for one mile before turning north onto BHNF Road 838 (Warren
Peak Road). Drive past Reuter Campground at 2.7 miles and turn right onto
gravel BHNF Road 839 at 6.5 miles. At 7.7 miles reach the start of the Upper
Ogden and Ogden Creek trails. Continue down Road 839, which from this point is
also part of the Ogden Creek Trail, and park at the Ogden Creek Trailhead at
8.8 miles. The trailhead contains a signboard and parking area only.
Distance: The
Ogden Creek-Richardson Fire trails loop is 10.0 miles around. The entire
Sundance-Carson Draw trail system covers over 50 miles.
Maps: Black Hills
National Forest Carson Draw and Sundance Trails, and page 158.
One of the Black Hills National Forest's largest trail
systems covers the southern end of the Bearlodge Mountains. The 50 mile long
system attracts horsemen, mountain bikers, and hikers to an area known as the
Sundance Burn, named after a 1936 blaze, which burned 8,200 acres. Much of the current trail system was
originally built as access roads for firefighters battling that blaze. Riders
now come to the area for views stretching from the Black Hills to the Bearlodge,
and for spectacular riding over challenging terrain. Former Bearlodge Ranger
District trails specialist Jerry Hagen considered the Ogden Creek-Tent Canyon
Ridge loop to be the area's most scenic ride.
A loop
around the Ogden Creek and Richardson Fire trails illustrates much of what the
Bearlodge has to offer mountain bikers. The scenery is fantastic, particularly
when the approach of winter brings forth the golden yellows of aspen groves.
There is plenty of the climbing and challenging terrain that technical riders
seek. And if you want to test your map your map reading skills, this is also
the place. Much of this area was logged through 2004 and that program led to
the disappearance of many of the system’s trail signs. Hopefully, the BHNF will
bring this signage back to their usual high standards.
From the
end of the road at the trailhead, ride south downhill on the Ogden Creek Trail,
which here is an old two track road. At 0.2 mile reach a wooden bridge and the
junction with the southwest end of the Richardson Fire Trail to the north. The
trail next follows the creek closely through an area where cattle graze. It
then moves to the north slope and then swings below the “pearly gates” a pair
of massive white cliffs and continue to descend down the beautiful canyon.
At 2.8 miles reach the end of the downhill at a
signed T-junction with the Sheepnose Trail on the left. To the right the Ogden
Ridge Trail is 0.4 mile, and the Tent Canyon Trail junction is 0.9 mile on the
Ogden Creek Trail. Turn left at the junction onto the Sheepnose Trail and soon
pass an abandoned spur trail to a spring on the right. Beyond this point the
trail along the broad open ridge is obscure but generally follows the crest of
the ridge. The grade lessens as the climb progresses and by the time the trail
reaches an area with bright red soil the trail begins to follow an old two
track road. Reach a signed junction with the Richardson Fire Trail (here called
“Peterson”) at 4.3 miles. This is also BHNF Road 858.
Keep left
at the intersection and stay left again at a junction with a grassy two track
road. Enjoy some flat, easy riding. At 5.0 miles a road joins on the right at a
gate beyond which the trail has been improved for use by timber trucks. At 5.6
miles a side road leads left to Peterson Spring. Ignore two unsigned grassy
roads leading right then left to the junction with a road signed as BHNF Road
830 at 6.6 miles. Turn left on this road and then left again onto BHNF Road 874
at 6.9 miles. Be aware, these two junctions do not match the current BHNF trail
maps. Ride gently downhill on Road 874, which is also still part of the
Richardson Fire Trail, passing two side roads on the right and one on the left.
Reach the end of a logged area where the trail bends sharply to the right and
maintenance on the road ends.
Misplaced sign for Richardson Fire Trail.
At 8.7
miles reach the first sign for the Richardson Fire Trail since its east
junction with the Sheepnose Trail. As luck would have it, as of 2004, the sign
sends riders off course. The sign points to a sharp right turn up a two track
road that is not the Richardson Fire Trail. The correct route continues ahead,
and bears left at a split and soon begins a steep descent into Richardson
Creek. At 9.1 miles in the bottom of the Richardson Creek turn left on marked
Snowmobile Trail B. Follow the snowmobile trail down and to the east until
reaching the bridge at the junction of the Richardson Fire and Ogden Creek
trails at 9.8 miles. Turn right at the bridge up Ogden Creek Trail to close the
loop at the trailhead at 10.0 miles.
Though very
poorly marked at the time of this ride, this loop is one of the best rides in
the Bearlodge. Until the BHNF repairs the damage to the trail markers and signs
in this area, this ride should only be attempted by those with good map reading
skills.
