A Summer Ride in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Beyond

By Ed Tahaney - August 24, 2015

The image above was taken from the front fender of my 2015 Harley-Davidson Road Glide tester about five miles outside of Sturgis, South Dakota on the afternoon of Monday, August 3, 2015.

I had just ridden just over 1300 miles from Los Angeles, California over two and a half days in order to reach the 75th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on its official opening day.

There were thousands of motorcycles on the highways around Sturgis and it felt good to be surrounded by the noise of so many rumbling engines. That constant sound of Harley engines continued and followed me all week long.

The Black Hills mountain range starts in western South Dakota and stretches into eastern Wyoming. Harney Peak is the range’s highest point and reaches 7,244 feet. They should consider renaming it Harley’s Peak during the motorcycle rally.

Every town around Sturgis was also packed with motorcycles, choppers, trikes and custom bikes. Hill City (above) near Mount Rushmore was no exception and welcomed bikers on its main drag, which was closed to four wheel traffic.

The world would definitely be a much cooler place if everyone rode a motorcycle. There were so many on the road it really felt that way at times.

State Highway 789 in Wyoming, south of Thermopolis, is a great ride along side of the Wind River Reservation. Lots of twists and curves on the road and plenty of great scenery too.

You can check out more photos of my ride in the gallery below and read more of our Sturgis coverage here.