South Dakota Ride Day 2 (continued) - Needles Hwy

August 22, 2009
Fort Collins, CO

Part 3 - Deadwood and Lead and back to Sturgis

Coming out of Spearfish Canyon we took the road (I think it was still 14A) heading into Lead (pronounced Leed) and Deadwood. This also was a fun ride, not only because of the wonderful scenery off the road but because of the classic cars we met coming around every curve. We slowed down sometimes so some of them would go around us. Add a few dozen motorcycles to the mix and well - it was downright entertaining. This was a perplexing circumstance, I had a difficult time deciding what the subject of the photo should be... haha! Decisions. Decisisons. Everyone should have that problem I guess.

We rode through the busy town of Lead then to Deadwood and back to Lead via a loop and back through Deadwood again. Both Lead and Deadwood are located in a scenic, hilly area with streets that wind around steep hills. It would be worth a trip back just to view the architecture in both towns. Lead is home to a couple of historic gold mines, the Broken Boot and the Home Stake. Both offer tours. We didn't get a very good glimpse of Deadwood's downtown - too busy. Today, both towns were packed with people. We happened to arrive during an event called Kool Deadwood Nights, a huge vintage car show and rally. Both towns had car shows going. At least, that explained all the cars touring the hills. About this time, we were looking for a place to eat and were sorry we didn't stop at the places we saw along the road before entering the towns. We rode through to the end of Deadwood where we found a traffic jam and good many more people on their way to the casinos. We decided to ride on through and take our chances in Sturgis.

Slideshow of Lead and Deadwood

Back to Sturgis via Boulder Canyon
We rode beautiful Boulder Canyon back into Sturgis, where we stopped at the Dairy Queen for burgers and ice cream. Worst DQ burger we've ever had. Yikth! Now, one reason we weren't getting off and strolling the towns is my left foot was giving me grief. All of a sudden, a knot (call it a bone spur or bunion or hell it may be a carbunkle) popped up on the side of my foot and was becoming quite painful. I had Tim cut a slit in the webbing hoping that would help relieve the pressure and not completely destroy the boot. It did help - for a little while. Afterwards, we rode back to downtown Sturgis where we shopped at Hot Leathers and a few of the t-shirt stands. On the sidewalks of Sturgis, is a brick walkway. You can purchase bricks and have them personalized with a memorial or other sentiment. Very kool.

Part 4 - Vanocker Canyon out of Sturgis to Hill City

We rode scenic Vanocker Canyon out of Sturgis heading south toward one of the other must-do items on our list. We wanted to ride Needles Highway which allegedly features tunnels, one lane bridges, hairpin curves and slender granite pinnacles stabbing the sky. Oh boy!

A few miles out of Sturgis, I had Tim pull over again because my darn foot was killing me. This time I said cut a big hole in the leather of my boot. That's right, this gimpy-footed biker chic said cut a hole in my $150 H-D boots and let's ride. He cut an X in the section of the boot that was the problem, I tried it on, said that should do and we rode on. Well, it did the trick. It looks like hell, but it's better than the alternative.

Before riding the Needles Highway we passed through the cozy town of Hill City, where we stopped for gas and a cool drink (tea). Getting there was a ride down yet another road we will never forget.

Part 5 - Needles Highway There's a reason the Black Hills are widely known as a biker mecca. I know I have mentioned what we call oh-my-god roads here in Colorado... Well, South Dakota has more than a few oh-my-god roads. It's a consensus, the Needles highway was our favorite ride this weekend with Iron Mountain Road running a hard second. Actually, it is hard to tell which one is which - who cares - just ride them. If we had more time, we would have ridden them again. The slide show follows but most of the good stuff (tunnels and so forth) is in the movie I will make of the video clips so consider it a teaser...

Needles Highway Ride – Black Hills - South Dakota – August 2009

Part 6 - The ride back to Hot Springs took us through the edge of Custer State Park. This is an easy ride through rolling green hills and grasslands where the deer and the antelope play and the buffalo roam. We saw several deer, pronghorn antelope, a few buffalo, cottontail rabbits and several wild turkey.

The sun was low in the sky when we finally arrived back at our lodging. We freshened up and walked next door to The Branding Iron Restaurant where Tim enjoyed a steak and I had shrimp, both decent dinners.

Needless to say, we were sorry to see the day end... we had so much fun, it's hard to describe it all. 282 miles of beautiful road, 4 canyons, 4 great towns, a whole day of riding the Black Hills of South Dakota - does it get any better than this?

Well, I don't know... Badlands here we come... grin.

Deadwood, South Dakota
Lead, South Dakota