Sturgis, SD or Bust

[slickrick]

Hello,

Anybody trikers been at the big rally that is held there in August? Would like to know anything anybody would like to share about it.

Thanks

 

[Ohio Eddie]

Been there many, many times, last trip was in 2012, planning on going in 2014 for the 75th anniversary. We RV out and usually get there the week before and stay the week of the Rally, lots of fun.

 

[Doug D.]

Was there in 2012. Rode up and back, two days each way. Spent the five days in between roaming the Black Hills and Wyoming, some of the most beautiful country I'd ever seen. Rode a total of 3000 miles in nine days, round trip.

Every little town we visited in SD had it's own ralley going on, and the number of bikes on the road was mind blowing! The roar of engines seemed to never end, even well into the night. Sturgis itself was a blast! Great food, great music and great scenary to boot! You'll see every type and style of bike you can imagine, and the cross-section of folks that attend the ralley is amazing! You name it, you'll see it! For me, it was an experience of a lifetime. Can't wait to do it again!

We (my riding partner and I) plan to return next year, this time staying in Wall, SD. Last year, we stayed at a little place called Thunder Cove in Deadwood. Great place, and very reasonable!

 

[oneup]

even Australian riders make it to sturgis. my wife add i did it this year. met up with one of my riding friends from back home while we were staying in rapid city. we also did, among many other places, Milwaukee. if your interested theres a post in the trike travel section. http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/17394-jeff-and-elise-in-the-USA over 12000 klms in total. i would love to do it all over.

had a few issues with posting pics so the pics dont start properly till a page or so in.

 

[Keystone]

Sturgis will be what you want it to be. From the very mild to the extremely wild. I'm on the mild side. We stay at Crooked Creek in Hill City because it is normally cooler in the hills and we like the quite nights.

 

[1800 06 Champion Trike]

We have been out there many times, last being 2011 and will be going back next year.
Always like to get there by Friday, then go downtown on saturday for about 3 or 4 hours to buy t shirts, look around and leave.
The rest of the time we ride the whole area.
Have also gone out to Cody, Yellowstone, Beartooth, Chief Joesph, Cooke City, Red Lodge first and then hit Sturgis.

 

[pcombe]

I lived for many years in Newcastle, Wyoming on the western end of the hills and know the Blck hills very well as they were my playground.

Newcastle was 60 miles from sturgis so it was easy to go over for day trips.
I used to camp in the campgrounds for the party and excitement, I stayed in Buffalo chip many years.
I guess i got older as most of us do and decided that Sturgis was like the zoo!
Everyone should visit the zoo one a year, but i got tired of trying to sleep with the animals!

I will let you in on the best kept secret in the black hills:

Above the town of Newcastle on the road to Deadwood,SD. there is a junction called four corners. It splits right there and heads toward Sundance, Wy.
If you turn right there, across from the small general store located at four corners and head east for 4.5 miles down a very well maintained gravel road there is a place called mallo camp. It is owned by Weston County.

There is a small motel at Mallo camp that was once a housing unit for Russian and Americans scientists doing seismic studies.
This little motel has 6 rooms on one side with a family kitchen just like your home and a nice large visiting area that was the home of the Russian scientists.
On the other side of the building are ten rooms with a commercial kitchen.
And a nice visiting area.
You would be amazed at what you can reserve the entire place for, or just one side or the other. Or just one room. You would be 40 miles from the zoo!
You could bring your own groceries and they supply utensils etc.
I know this for a fact because i once ran the place.
You can look up the info on goggle or goggle the Newcastle phone book.
Hows that for info?

I have plenty of friends i can stay with if i go over so have at it and it will no longer be a secret!
P.S. It is a gorgeous, out of the way, secluded, pine forest surrounded, little piece of tranquility.
Just don't expect a large selection of T.V. stations and you may have to sacrifice watching a game, and when i left there were only televisions in the visiting area.

 

[pcombe]

By the way for those of you who indulge in snow machines?
The motel sits right on the groomed trail system that runs through the hills.
If you were to secure a B.L.M. map, you could use the back trails to get you right into the outskirts of Deadwood.
just make darn sure your prepared because there isn't much out there, Don't get me wrong you can get to allot of places on those groomed trails just don't put yourself in a position of vulnerability ok?

I know a couple more secrets if those don't suit you?


10/6/13
Ok!
Now i have a little time slick i will tell you another secret.( refer to my first post).

I used to ride my tour glide in and out of there as i lived in a nice log house and had to, no big deal ok?

When you reach Mallo Camp, go past the motel and at the bottom of the hill you will run into a big private lodge and thirteen cabins. (forget about staying there as they are always booked a few years in advance to church camps and family reunions.)
Turn left and head up beaver creek road about a half mile where you will find a sweet little beaver pond and fishing hole, You will cross a cattle guard (that marks the border of south Dakota)and go up about 1/4 mile and on the right side of this gravel road you are on is a small forest service campground that sits right on the creek, in a nice canyon.
This campground has well water available and a forest service improved outhouse facility, and about ten camping spots where you could park a camper or pitch a tent.
Its a forest service campground so the nightly rent is usually about $10.00 .
You are in a beautiful place surrounded by forest and defiantly out of the rat race.

Don't be surprised to share your surroundings with deer and elk ok?

 

[slickrick]

Hi,
I want to thank everyone for the suggestions and info. I hope to see the sights (Bad lands, Mt. Rushmore or ??) and the rally (all those bikes) and thinking about camping most of the time. I see prices are jacked up anywhere around Strugis during the rally. How far do you have to go to get away from the hike in prices? Also is there any trike rallies in or around Wisconsin?

Ok all in the cold weather region stay warm.

 

[pcombe]

Hi,
I want to thank everyone for the suggestions and info. I hope to see the sights (Bad lands, Mt. Rushmore or ??) and the rally (all those bikes) and thinking about camping most of the time. I see prices are jacked up anywhere around Strugis during the rally. How far do you have to go to get away from the hike in prices? Also is there any trike rallies in or around Wisconsin?

Ok all in the cold weather region stay warm.

I got a few secrets for camp places to within about 35-45 miles from sturgis rick.
You would normally need to make reservations for quite a ways out, but you may get lucky closer in?

 

[Keystone]

Crooked Creek just south of Hill City is @ $30 a night during the Rally.

 

[werewolf]

We made the run this year for the first time.
It was short visit due to a family death.
Two days up from central Kansas.
Two days there.
Two days back.
Not running hard, about 350 miles a day.

Make your reservations NOW.
We stayed at Motel 6 in Rapid City.
Clean, bare bones, and not bad for $130 a night.

I budgeted the whole trip at $200 a day.
We were just a shade under that for six days.
That included gas, motels, food etc.

We rode down to Mt Rushmore and did the Iron Mt Road.
Next time we will do the Needles Highway and probably Devils Tower.

Find someone who has been already been there, they will have all sorts of ideas and suggestions.

We are going to try for Yellowstone next year, with maybe a stop on the way back.
Yellowstone just fell at a bad time this year.
PS make your reservations EARLY there also
it is cheaper to stay in the park

 

[pcombe]

:Shrug: Rick,Here is another couple ways to do this trip!

If you head out of Newcastle,Wyoming, the highway immediately ascends about 5000 ft. in elevation and the forest begins right as you leave town.

On hwy 85 (on the way to deadwood) 8 miles up the highway is a place called theThumbUp flying V.

Otherwise known as the castle of the black hills.ThumbUp
:Coffee: The flying V is owned by the Napolitano family( nice folks) and has its history dating back to the 1800's and was first built for the hotshots that owned The once bustling town of Cambria (ruins now, only a few building foundations to be seen).
Cambria was all about underground coal mines that served as a source of coal for the early railroads. It once had three mines, and a managery of railroad trestles that wound around on many levels of this deep narrow canyon and the housing was built on the cliffs above the town.
:LordHelp:

The residents had a series of three levels of assent or descent 500 steps each to reach the bottom of the canyon. ( wanna keep in shape? or look forward to going home at the end of your shift?)
It had about 3,000? souls inhabiting the place and was also a place where the Indians traded, outlaws shunned, and was a stop for the pony express.
And did not have a single bar but boasted several Churches, and the bootleggers ran their trade outside of the town, rather than face a miners court.
It was a place of happiness often tinged by death and disablement and despair because of dangerous mining practices that took place before the man counted. ( i once wrote a paper on Cambria for college and had a chance to read the surviving journals of the towns doctors as well as accounts of its residences. (that paper is on file at the Newcastle museum)

The flying V has served many roles through the annuals of history as a ThumbUphunting lodge,:blush: brothel etc.

pepper The food is excellent, The lodge made of black Hills Granite,is ornate, There are rooms to be had and for your purpose (camping) there is a nice big Field behind the lodge to set up your tent and traditionally has been offered for free by the Napoitano family. and you are about 50 miles from Sturgis.

Now if that ain't cool, you tell me what is and we'll write a song about it.

Also you are close :Shrug:enough to Newcastle to provide you with any other needs!

Heading up the highway (when you come to the four corners where you could either head to Sundance, (toward devils tower) or turn right to Mallo Camp)
There is a small general store( named four corners) and restaurant that also has a few rooms to rent. The folks are nice enough and you will have no problem getting along with them but there is something about them that chaps my backside!:kpzxvq:

You are about forty miles from Sturgis in the black hills, Highway 85 is gorgeous, also treacherous, 10ay attention to speed limits as i have come across to many drunks on bikes during the rally who found out the hard way that there are curves that decrease in radius when you get into them.)

Two miles up the road on the right side is a place called Dampiers lodge, :Shrug: I don't know much about them except they have a nice set up with cabins.

three miles up from there is a little dive ( and i do mean a dive that i LIKE) called Buckhorn bar and grill.pepperpepperpepperpepper
Buckhorn Bar is also the only building in the town of Buckhorn, and is a favorite watering hole during the rally.ThumbUp
They do have cabins that are nothing to write home about. And a big field that extends into the Forrest behind the bar. I don't have a cost estimate:Shrug: but you are about 35 miles from Sturgis.
:xszpv: Be aware that you are up high and the temps. are cold at night, you are a couple miles from the border of south Dakota and right at the mouth of whats called ice box canyon and i bet you can guess why?

Anyway Rick, The western Hills are a good place to base yourself out of.:AllGood: