South Dakota's George S. Mickelson Trail is a 109 mile multiuse recreational trail running through the heart of the Black Hills. One of the United States' premier Rails to Trails projects, it began in 1983 after Burlington Northern Railroad Company abandoned the railroad. A group of Black Hills citizens then organized a grassroots movement to convert the abandoned railroad grade into a recreational trail. In 1998, the trail was officially dedicated and named in honor of the late George S. Mickelson, South Dakota's 28th Governor and a staunch proponent of the trail system. The crushed limestone trail meanders through ponderosa pine forests, over mountainous streams, and across narrow valleys, connecting the communities of Edgemont, Custer, Hill City, Mystic, Rochford, Lead, and Deadwood.