Day 25 - Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills

We slept in this morning - well, kind of - I got up at 3:30 to do my work and then went back to bed until 7:30am. We did a load of wash and then headed down I-90 to Rapid City to see Mt. Rushmore and ride through Custer State Park. Mt. Rushmore is what one would expect, a spectacular achievement turned into a tourist spectacle. We took the mandatory photo (pic), had an ice cream cone and headed out of the area.

From there we took US16a through the Black hills National Forest and encountered some of the best twisties ever. On two occasions we did a complete 360 degree turn to the right climbing to pass over a bridge over the road we had just traveled. The second time it was more like a 720 degree spiral to the right with two such bridges! Never in my life have I seen anything like that. It almost made you dizzy! Apart from that, there were many 10 and 15 mph switchbacks, true "peg scrapers," and a couple of one lane tunnels (pic)! While it is hard to make out in the photo, you can see the president's faces on Mt. Rushmore through the tunnel.

We continued on 16a through the Custer State Park. By the way, the park has nothing to do with the defeat of Gen. George Custer at the hands of the Sioux, as Little Big Horn in Wyoming. Whatever - the park is spectacular and its roads are as full of twisties as described above.

After Custer State park, we took the Needles Highway (SD 87) to Sylvan Lake. Once again, the road was full of twists and turns, and at the summit were the most spectacular rock formations (pics). I don't know how they were formed, nor how they remain standing! And while there were no 360 turns as in Black Hills National Forest ride, there were very tight twisties and one lane tunnels that were even narrower (pic). One particular 10 mph turn took a significant chunk of chrome off my left foot board. I definitely found the "limit of my lean angle" as Jerry Paladino would say. I was thrilled - Suzanne was, shall I say, "less than amused."

At Sylvan Lake we turned onto US16/385 toward Deadwood. The road was fast and scenic, but not as memorable as what we had just gone through. From Deadwood we took 14a back to Sturgis. We spent 6 hours on the loop and covered 160 miles. I now understand the real reason people come to Sturgis - the riding is phenomenal!

After arriving back at the motel, we took a tour of Sturgis, where we will spend all of tomorrow. There are more vendor tents than you can shake a stick at - plus some interesting looking saloons! It is now close to 5pm Mountain time and you know what that means!! Cheers!