South Dakota Trip - Bicycle Sculpture and Rail Trail

The Midwests Largest Bicycle Sculpture is located at the crossroads of highways 89 and US 385 at Pringle in South Dakota, along the route to Mount Rushmore from the south.  Google shows the same sculpture from the sky above and roadside photos taken a few years ago at the junction of Northern and Railway streets, click here. 

The piles of rusty bicycles can be a little intense, unless you are a bicyclist.  The fact someone arranged and welded this pile of rusty art in motion, and placed it in a public place for all to see is quite special.  If nothing else, it took a lot of time, much lifting, saving and rescuing old bicycles and careful assembling to create.  

The single bicycle at the top of the pile is created from parts of bicycles and steel finds. The other bicycles arranged and piled around the tower and the tires welded together create an artistic rendition of bicycles going somewhere, taking you to another place and time, a form of transportation not denied since youth first found it.

This Bicycle Sculpture site is along the George S. Mickelson Bicycle Trail bicycle trail which runs 109 miles throughout the Black Hills region, passing through 4 rock tunnels along the route.  $3 daily or $10 annual trail passes are required and can be found at many of the 14 trailheads along the trail. If found without a pass you will be fined.  The Trailheads include pit toilets, some have shelters and drinking water.  The mountain bike or fat tire gravel surface trail runs from Edgemont, SD to just past Deadwood, SD and is South Dakota's first Rail Trail conversion, finished in 1998.  There is no camping on the trail but lots of accommodations are available in the towns along the trail and there is a trail marked to Custer State Park for camping.  This looks like a nice bicycle tour through the Black Hills area.  For more information or to download a trail guide, click here.  There is a donation box for the Bicycle Sculpture along the bike trail.