The Mickelson Trail cuts through the middle of the Black Hills. But it doesn’t connect to Mount Rushmore.
A new non-motorized path could change this. The Forest Service is taking public comments on the proposed Rushmore Connector Trail.
The path would zig-zag across national forest land, starting at Hill City and eventually ending at the Mount Rushmore parking lot.
Officials say SD Game, Fish & Parks applied for a permit to construct the roughly 16 mile trail about three years ago.
Scott Jacobson is public affairs officer for Black Hills National Forest Service.
“It allows folks that might want to take a trail over to Mount Rushmore an opportunity to do that, obviously it’s going to be non-motorized trail, so be horseback, hiking, biking that kind of thing, so it allows folks to have a different way of getting over to Mount Rushmore, so there’s a fair number of folks out there that would take advantage of this opportunity,” says Jacobson.
Jacobson says officials are taking public comments on the proposed trail over the next month.
He says a decision on the trail won’t come until sometime during the summer of 2017.
For more information on upcoming public meetings on the Rushmore Connector Trail click here.