Sturgis 2015
#1
11-13-2015, 09:51 PM
Sturgis 2015
Who went to the 75th Black Hills Rally?
The trip was originally planned to go up through Michigan on the way but due to being delayed a few days I had to reverse the trip. This has worked out for me a couple of times, planning the Sturgis Rally trip to start a week ahead of time leaves the option to be delayed a week and still make the rally on time.
I left at night with a light rain because of the daytime heat and rode up US 45 and 51 most of the way the first leg of the trip and headed West from Peoria the next day.
Spent the night at a motel in Peoria for some break from the bad weather that was rolling through. The next day I rode into Rapid City where the KOA was full but the overflow tent area was great. It is right next to the showers and they had free pancakes the next morning.
The next day riding down to Keystone I was right there at the best roads in the Black Hills for a full day of riding through the park before the big crowds got there. Iron Mountain, Hood Tunnel Road, Needles, Wildlife loop and finally up to Spearfish Canyon.
I went to Full Throttle for a few hours and arrived at the Chip at 2 AM. I bought a pass for Monday and got in on that so I actually got two nights for the price of one. A little known trick for the Chip that idiots that come in at 2 AM take advantage of.
I headed into town the next morning for breakfast but with the traffic I made it for lunch. I should of eaten at the campground but I wanted to get on out there. The sound of all the bikes leaving for the day makes it hard to resist. I got my oil changed and hit the road for some more riding starting at Spearfish and ending up riding Iron Mountain and Needles again. I hung out in Custer and Hill City a bit and then headed to Deadwood.
That night at the Chip there was a crazy thunderstorm that destroyed some tents and everyone around me had a lot of water in their tents. My old Oryx 2 held up good and did not leak any water. There is a lot to be said for good tents. I decided to leave the Chip and didn't really have a plan for that night other than riding the hills all day and looking for a spot later. I went down South and made the Wind Cave Tour which was pretty impressive. There were a lot of riders on Needles and Iron Mountain.
I stayed at the Lake campground on Playhouse Rd in Custer State Park. It's a very reasonable place for a one night stay. Just call on the phone and they will set you up with a campsite somewhere in the area for $19 plus $7 for non residents and tax. Maybe I got lucky, not sure but they had two campgrounds with sites available that night when I called at 6 PM. The rain was coming in so I was hoping to get something close by but it ended up being back on the other end of the park. I made it before the rain came in.
After riding through the park again the next morning I had ridden all of the roads at least twice and it was time to start heading out West. The rally seemed to be in full force by then as I went into town to get a new back tire the traffic had not let up much. I made another pass through Deadwood and Spearfish Canyon and headed up to Devils Tower. I saw a burnout contest in Sundance. I have never understood why that is so popular, anyway it's fun to watch. I think the guy pushing his bike down the road with a flat tire was wondering what he had done. The KOA at Devils Tower is great, full but with a lot of tent space they called the overflow area. It was a good time to do laundry and watch close encounters of the third kind in the face of the tower before the big rain started.
The next day I rode up to the Tower and walked around it. I went to Hullett for a little while. Hullett is a nice little town where the Rally is in full force most of the week now. That afternoon I rode on over to Buffalo to my friends house and spent the night there. We had some great steaks.
The next day I was off to Cody. Nice weather and the Big Horns were awesome as usual. They had a fire raging up there that they had been fighting for a week. I stopped at Medicine Mountain and took the long trek up to the wheel. I was able to make it into Cody for the awesome buffet dinner and the street show at The Irma. Unfortunately they were full so I spent the night a Buffalo Bills State Park at the Reservoir. The West camping area has showers, just be aware of the sprinklers when you setup your tent. It was not really an issue since it was raining again that night but if it's not you could get a surprise in your open tent.
The next morning I was riding to Yellowstone via the Corkscrew Bridge. When I got to the bridge I stopped for some pictures of the bridge or at least pretending to be stopping for that so I could put some more clothes on. It suddenly got cold and a huge rain storm appeared to be in the route I was heading. It's hard to tell in the mountains where your headed.
I turned around a couple of times to ride the bridge from both directions because there is something awesome about it. After I continued on I ran right into the rain and sleet at the top so I pulled over and put on the rain suit. Probably overkill since I had my jacket on but the hood was nice in the cold ice and rain. It pays off to be prepared. A couple of guys on a bike pulled up, one in a sweatshirt the other had on a light coat. No riding gear or bags and they had their phones down their pants to keep them dry. I'm not sure if that even works. I told them they needed to go ahead and get down off of the peak and at least it won't be freezing cold. I followed them down and they made it but stopped they again in the rain. I went on down to the Lodge and had lunch. When I left there the weather was good but still cloudy. I rode over to Old Faithful and spent some time there at the Lodge. I rode up to Signal Mountain in the Tetons that evening. I stayed at the Signal Mountain campground and ate at the Signal Mountain Lodge. I was going to Jackson Hole the next morning but it was in the clouds at the time.
The next day after heading down towards Jackson and deciding to avoid the fog or whatever it was I went around the lake and stopped by the canyon. The weather was great by the time I got there and I made it to Cooke City for lunch, had just enough time to make the run down Chief Joseph and over to Red Lodge by dark. I went to Cody on Chief Joseph and then headed back up Chief Joseph back to 212 and over the pass. The weather was great but there was a couple of ominous looking clouds hanging around. No rain fell. I hung out in Red Lodge for a few minutes and decided to ride on to Billings and get a motel there for the night.
The following day feeling like I had just started a new trip I went over to the Badlands and rode through the huge Roosevelt park there. It got late pretty quick so the next stop over for the night was a little motel in Jamestown.
The next morning I got on out of town quick and the next thing I knew I was motoring over the highrise bridge in Duluth. I followed the coast road but decided to bypass Copper Harbor this time running low on time and long on miles. I rolled into Marquette in the evening and they were just starting up a HOG rally that I was unaware of.
Heading on East I was looking for a campground. It was getting dark when I found a couple of National Forest campgrounds in The Ottawa way back in the forest by a lake. The place turned out to be great but the road was bad and it was really dark. I was expecting bears but had no problem. I think it's mostly hunters and fishermen, truck campers fifth wheels and one idiot with a tent.
Back out on the highway I rolled into Sault Ste Marie in time for lunch and rode around town a bit before heading South to Mackinaw City where I ran into a lot of riders headed to Marquette. I looked like one of them but I was going the wrong way. Naturally we were all hanging out at the ice cream shoppe and pizza place. I got a room there in Mackinaw City for the night and toured the fort the next morning. I decided to save the Island for the next trip and rolled on out of town the next afternoon.
Hitting the Highlands along the coast I located and rode the Tunnel of Trees road which I had found before on an earlier trip. At the South end of this great road is Harbour Springs where an awesome car show just happened to be waiting for me when I got there.
By the time I got to Traverse City it was raining so I just blowed on through there and started the trip home. When I got to Detroit late that night I was surprised by a car burning in the middle of the road. I was planning to ride on through to Mobile form there on the Interstate since I was out of time. I would have made it all the way but the weather got bad up ahead and I decided to get a room just South of Montgomery and ride in the next day.
Naturally it was raining the next day but not severe thunderstorm weather so I was able to roll on to the house. I made it back in time to make the 600 mile drive back to work.
This was probably not the best trip I've been on but they are all unique and I've never been on a bad one.
Now, the problem is where to go next?
The trip was originally planned to go up through Michigan on the way but due to being delayed a few days I had to reverse the trip. This has worked out for me a couple of times, planning the Sturgis Rally trip to start a week ahead of time leaves the option to be delayed a week and still make the rally on time.
I left at night with a light rain because of the daytime heat and rode up US 45 and 51 most of the way the first leg of the trip and headed West from Peoria the next day.
Spent the night at a motel in Peoria for some break from the bad weather that was rolling through. The next day I rode into Rapid City where the KOA was full but the overflow tent area was great. It is right next to the showers and they had free pancakes the next morning.
The next day riding down to Keystone I was right there at the best roads in the Black Hills for a full day of riding through the park before the big crowds got there. Iron Mountain, Hood Tunnel Road, Needles, Wildlife loop and finally up to Spearfish Canyon.
I went to Full Throttle for a few hours and arrived at the Chip at 2 AM. I bought a pass for Monday and got in on that so I actually got two nights for the price of one. A little known trick for the Chip that idiots that come in at 2 AM take advantage of.
I headed into town the next morning for breakfast but with the traffic I made it for lunch. I should of eaten at the campground but I wanted to get on out there. The sound of all the bikes leaving for the day makes it hard to resist. I got my oil changed and hit the road for some more riding starting at Spearfish and ending up riding Iron Mountain and Needles again. I hung out in Custer and Hill City a bit and then headed to Deadwood.
That night at the Chip there was a crazy thunderstorm that destroyed some tents and everyone around me had a lot of water in their tents. My old Oryx 2 held up good and did not leak any water. There is a lot to be said for good tents. I decided to leave the Chip and didn't really have a plan for that night other than riding the hills all day and looking for a spot later. I went down South and made the Wind Cave Tour which was pretty impressive. There were a lot of riders on Needles and Iron Mountain.
I stayed at the Lake campground on Playhouse Rd in Custer State Park. It's a very reasonable place for a one night stay. Just call on the phone and they will set you up with a campsite somewhere in the area for $19 plus $7 for non residents and tax. Maybe I got lucky, not sure but they had two campgrounds with sites available that night when I called at 6 PM. The rain was coming in so I was hoping to get something close by but it ended up being back on the other end of the park. I made it before the rain came in.
After riding through the park again the next morning I had ridden all of the roads at least twice and it was time to start heading out West. The rally seemed to be in full force by then as I went into town to get a new back tire the traffic had not let up much. I made another pass through Deadwood and Spearfish Canyon and headed up to Devils Tower. I saw a burnout contest in Sundance. I have never understood why that is so popular, anyway it's fun to watch. I think the guy pushing his bike down the road with a flat tire was wondering what he had done. The KOA at Devils Tower is great, full but with a lot of tent space they called the overflow area. It was a good time to do laundry and watch close encounters of the third kind in the face of the tower before the big rain started.
The next day I rode up to the Tower and walked around it. I went to Hullett for a little while. Hullett is a nice little town where the Rally is in full force most of the week now. That afternoon I rode on over to Buffalo to my friends house and spent the night there. We had some great steaks.
The next day I was off to Cody. Nice weather and the Big Horns were awesome as usual. They had a fire raging up there that they had been fighting for a week. I stopped at Medicine Mountain and took the long trek up to the wheel. I was able to make it into Cody for the awesome buffet dinner and the street show at The Irma. Unfortunately they were full so I spent the night a Buffalo Bills State Park at the Reservoir. The West camping area has showers, just be aware of the sprinklers when you setup your tent. It was not really an issue since it was raining again that night but if it's not you could get a surprise in your open tent.
The next morning I was riding to Yellowstone via the Corkscrew Bridge. When I got to the bridge I stopped for some pictures of the bridge or at least pretending to be stopping for that so I could put some more clothes on. It suddenly got cold and a huge rain storm appeared to be in the route I was heading. It's hard to tell in the mountains where your headed.
I turned around a couple of times to ride the bridge from both directions because there is something awesome about it. After I continued on I ran right into the rain and sleet at the top so I pulled over and put on the rain suit. Probably overkill since I had my jacket on but the hood was nice in the cold ice and rain. It pays off to be prepared. A couple of guys on a bike pulled up, one in a sweatshirt the other had on a light coat. No riding gear or bags and they had their phones down their pants to keep them dry. I'm not sure if that even works. I told them they needed to go ahead and get down off of the peak and at least it won't be freezing cold. I followed them down and they made it but stopped they again in the rain. I went on down to the Lodge and had lunch. When I left there the weather was good but still cloudy. I rode over to Old Faithful and spent some time there at the Lodge. I rode up to Signal Mountain in the Tetons that evening. I stayed at the Signal Mountain campground and ate at the Signal Mountain Lodge. I was going to Jackson Hole the next morning but it was in the clouds at the time.
The next day after heading down towards Jackson and deciding to avoid the fog or whatever it was I went around the lake and stopped by the canyon. The weather was great by the time I got there and I made it to Cooke City for lunch, had just enough time to make the run down Chief Joseph and over to Red Lodge by dark. I went to Cody on Chief Joseph and then headed back up Chief Joseph back to 212 and over the pass. The weather was great but there was a couple of ominous looking clouds hanging around. No rain fell. I hung out in Red Lodge for a few minutes and decided to ride on to Billings and get a motel there for the night.
The following day feeling like I had just started a new trip I went over to the Badlands and rode through the huge Roosevelt park there. It got late pretty quick so the next stop over for the night was a little motel in Jamestown.
The next morning I got on out of town quick and the next thing I knew I was motoring over the highrise bridge in Duluth. I followed the coast road but decided to bypass Copper Harbor this time running low on time and long on miles. I rolled into Marquette in the evening and they were just starting up a HOG rally that I was unaware of.
Heading on East I was looking for a campground. It was getting dark when I found a couple of National Forest campgrounds in The Ottawa way back in the forest by a lake. The place turned out to be great but the road was bad and it was really dark. I was expecting bears but had no problem. I think it's mostly hunters and fishermen, truck campers fifth wheels and one idiot with a tent.
Back out on the highway I rolled into Sault Ste Marie in time for lunch and rode around town a bit before heading South to Mackinaw City where I ran into a lot of riders headed to Marquette. I looked like one of them but I was going the wrong way. Naturally we were all hanging out at the ice cream shoppe and pizza place. I got a room there in Mackinaw City for the night and toured the fort the next morning. I decided to save the Island for the next trip and rolled on out of town the next afternoon.
Hitting the Highlands along the coast I located and rode the Tunnel of Trees road which I had found before on an earlier trip. At the South end of this great road is Harbour Springs where an awesome car show just happened to be waiting for me when I got there.
By the time I got to Traverse City it was raining so I just blowed on through there and started the trip home. When I got to Detroit late that night I was surprised by a car burning in the middle of the road. I was planning to ride on through to Mobile form there on the Interstate since I was out of time. I would have made it all the way but the weather got bad up ahead and I decided to get a room just South of Montgomery and ride in the next day.
Naturally it was raining the next day but not severe thunderstorm weather so I was able to roll on to the house. I made it back in time to make the 600 mile drive back to work.
This was probably not the best trip I've been on but they are all unique and I've never been on a bad one.
Now, the problem is where to go next?
Last edited by ironheaddave; 11-14-2015 at 07:47 PM.
#7
11-14-2015, 07:02 PM
