We are riding out to rushmore end of june and staying in spearfish,The hotel we picked was nearly full now or thats what they said,and the rooms cost more each day it gets closer to sturgis week.and they want a two month notice to cancel.Cant wait to see it all ,not sure about the 1580 miles one way though.

 

Say hi to my grandpa ..he was a carver on the mt and his ashes are spread over it Hap Anderson was his name also only injury on the mt was the tram car accident yep my Grandpa

 

Depends how far you might have to travel. Rapid will def.have rooms. Closer might get dicey on weekends.

 

Stayed in Hill City last summer at the Lantern Inn:

http://www.lanterninn.com/

Owners are super nice people, Charlie and Janet

If you are in Hill City for dinner, you gotta try the Alpine Inn! Easy walk from the motel to everything in downtown Hill City.

 

I have to second the Alpine Inn, we stayed in Deadwood for three days last year, and rode everywhere we wanted to from there. We stopped in Hill City for lunch when we did the Mt. Rushmore, Needles Highway ride. If you like Brats, they have a great lunch special. We found the ride better from the north to the south (for fun factor only) on Needles Highway, for the view of Mt. Rushmore, south to north is the best. One of the best parts is when the road splits to single lane only, it is alot of fun to fling the bike left and right to make all of the little curves without worrying about on coming traffic.

 

Be sure to ride Spearfish canyon both directions!

Don

 

Totally agree with jimclaypool's recommendation. The wife and I stayed at the Lantern Inn at Hill City in Aug09. Great owners, great accomodations, great location, clean rooms at a reasonable rate. Make sure you check out the 'Old Hill City Road' that runs between Hill City & Keystone.

 

A group of us went last July 14-15 and got rooms at the Holiday Inn in Sturgis, no reservations.

 

We stayed at Sylvan Lake Lodge in the cabins last summer while at Sturgis. Check it out, it's right up by Mt. Rushmore. Great food at the lodge but kinda spendy.

 

try to visit Mt. Rushmore at dusk when they have the lighting ceremony, extremely patriotic and moving