Me and my buddy are planning to fly into Billings,MT this August and ride Beartooth and Yellowstone for a day or two then drive over to Rapid City,SD and do all the "loops" that are available over there . Can anyone give me any advice on any of the places along the way? I guess we're renting bikes from Billings HD and Rapid City HD . Has anyone fished in Yellowstone in the lake? Im planning on staying at the Best Western Town and Country , Best Western Clocktower Inn and Lake Lodge cabins in Yellowstone.Ill probably be rolling into Sturgis 4 days after the rally, hopefully most of the folks are gone by this time. Any comments?

 

the housing in yellowstone is very old and poorly maintained...i would try to stay outside of the park if possible. going to be lots of tourists until after labor day. sturgis should be pretty quiet by then.

 

There's a lot of real estate in between the areas you mentioned.
You could easily do two weeks (out of Billings) to do GNP, YNP, the Tetons, Cody, WY, Chief Joseph Hwy, Bear Tooth Pass and then head east towards Rapid City, etc.

In 2010, we trailered to Billings and did the stuff above.
After the GNP tour, we spent a few nights in West Yellowstone (kind of pricey) and toured to Jackson Hole, WY, and then went through the park and spent two days in Cody, WY before heading back to Billings.

We trailered back to Sundance, WY for a night and rode to the Devil's Tour, loaded the bikes up the following morning and went to Hill City for one night and did Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial.

The next morning we loaded up and drove through the Badlands Loop on the way home.

As for the Sturgis Rally, I've seen lots of folks heading home as early Wednesday. You can get some good prices on shirts, caps, etc., and the crowd gets smaller.

Some folks don't like trailering, but it provides the means to see a lot more beautiful scenery while avoiding many, many miles of boring, and sometimes unbearable, hot riding.

 

The only reason I considered staying in the park is so I have enough time to see stuff. I don't know if it possible to go back and forth to Billings each day from the park.

 

Stay in West Yellowstone, it's right outside the gate to the park. Lots of motels there.

 

Lora of motels in west yellowstone. Beautiful country in there. Cooke city is also another place to stay.

 

From Billings head to Red Lodge. It's a nice easy ride. Then you will make the choice of going over The Bear Tooth Highway. That's all you need to do on day one.
A must stay is in Cook City. It ain't no city but it is great. From there you can spit into
Y stone.

 

Thanks, Everyone has great suggestions . Looks like its going to be an interesting stay

 

Trip is booked and here's the low down. Billings on 8/10, Cody on 8/11 and 8/12. then Sturgis from 8/13-8/17. Gonna do Beartooth to Chief Joseph into Cody and then back to Billings thru Yellowstone . Gonna use Best Western Kelly, Legacy Suites in Cody and Seven Presidents Best Western in Rapid City.

 

Catch the rodeo in Cody one night.