Black Hills advice
- Thread starter shelby369
- Start date
Going to the black hills can be tricky. There is no time of the year where you are guaranteed good snow, especially if you want to take advantage of the offtrail opportunities. Going offtrail in the early part of the season can be risky as there is usually not enough snowpack to prevent hitting stumps and rocks, and the area tends to end early at the end of the season. Mid January to mid February seems to be the most reliable times, but you can't always count on that. We had to cancel a trip there that was scheduled for Feb 17 this year due to lack of snow. My advice would be to watch the snow conditions and not book too far in advance. Going in the middle of the week should make it easier to get last minute reservations.
As far as where to stay, Trailshead lodge is right in the middle of the trail system. Their cabins are nice enough, but they do not have kitchens at all. The lodge does have a restaurant/bar, but if you are looking for nightlife, a lot of people will stay in Deadwood or Lead. There are trails from there, but they are marginal or closed even more often, so some people will elect to stay there and trailer the 15 miles to Trailshead. They have a huge parking lot there and you can leave your sleds and trailer there overnight if you want. If you are looking to rent a house or cabin, there are quite a few in the Recreational Springs and Deer mountain area, but again, that is somewhat on the edge of the area, so you could still end up trailering if the snow conditions are not right.
I don't want to leave you with the impression that it is not a good destination. It is great there when the snow is good, The trail system is very scenic and they groom it every night. I believe they have 7 groomers for the 300 mile trail system. There are almost endless opportunities offtail with a lot of meadows, forest roads, and hills.
As far as where to stay, Trailshead lodge is right in the middle of the trail system. Their cabins are nice enough, but they do not have kitchens at all. The lodge does have a restaurant/bar, but if you are looking for nightlife, a lot of people will stay in Deadwood or Lead. There are trails from there, but they are marginal or closed even more often, so some people will elect to stay there and trailer the 15 miles to Trailshead. They have a huge parking lot there and you can leave your sleds and trailer there overnight if you want. If you are looking to rent a house or cabin, there are quite a few in the Recreational Springs and Deer mountain area, but again, that is somewhat on the edge of the area, so you could still end up trailering if the snow conditions are not right.
I don't want to leave you with the impression that it is not a good destination. It is great there when the snow is good, The trail system is very scenic and they groom it every night. I believe they have 7 groomers for the 300 mile trail system. There are almost endless opportunities offtail with a lot of meadows, forest roads, and hills.
I agree with the timing. I'd say plan for early Feb and you should be OK. We've been there 4 different times and have had fantastic riding, trails always super smooth, forest roads and off trail was always fun. We've stayed in Lead most of the time and had no issues riding out but you are riding out the same way each day. We also stayed at Spearfish canyon resort once and while its a beautiful ride out of there you're doing the same trip every day for quite a ways.
I went out there about two days after the great blizzard of 1998. Over 100" in four days in Lead, Deadwood area. We were able to ride out of Deadwood so that is where we stayed. I was in college and we planned the trip in about 3 hours as I was on spring break and we heard about the storm. Drove a $1000 pontiac grand prix pulling a $500 trailer with $10,000 worth of snowmobiles on it. Trails were great everyday, we did what we could off trail with our short tracks. Think we hit almost every trail they had and might of even hit a bar in Wyoming. Night life was awesome. We drank for free as long as we were gambling. Trailshead Lodge would be a great place to stay if Deadwood isnt accesible.
I have never has a prob ridding out of recreational springs . I have rented a great house across the road from them a few times .rec springs is a pretty close drive in to deadwood if u want night life pretty much the closest u can get with almost guaranteed snow to ride out from. they have a face book and post conditions . cant think of name but there are some cheep small cabins right on the road abut 1/2 mi before rec springs same side of street a google map search would prob have name on it if u zoomed .
I think trails head is quit a drive to deadwood at least 30 min if not more
if looking for a house 14 and whitetail dr is terry peek area lots and lots of homes for rent VRBO that is pretty much intersection that recreational springs is at just across street for food bar gas trail . closer to 14 the better even though the road is just hard pack snow. most very nice high end homes not cheep most under 300 a night but if u have a few guys who cares . I will always pay the few extra bucks for a nice home than some crap cramped resort cabin with no kitchen and a few old bunks or worse a dump motel. most of the time u are talking the diff of what 125 to 150 extra per guy for 3 or 4days and that is before u start figuring eating out instead of cooking good meals in the home
I think trails head is quit a drive to deadwood at least 30 min if not more
if looking for a house 14 and whitetail dr is terry peek area lots and lots of homes for rent VRBO that is pretty much intersection that recreational springs is at just across street for food bar gas trail . closer to 14 the better even though the road is just hard pack snow. most very nice high end homes not cheep most under 300 a night but if u have a few guys who cares . I will always pay the few extra bucks for a nice home than some crap cramped resort cabin with no kitchen and a few old bunks or worse a dump motel. most of the time u are talking the diff of what 125 to 150 extra per guy for 3 or 4days and that is before u start figuring eating out instead of cooking good meals in the home
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firefighter1
Active member
I took a week long trip out this year. Left on a Monday and came home on Friday. It was at the end of January when the midwest had the great melt down. We were going to cancel all together but decided to head to the Black Hills for a trip we always wanted to do but probably never would have. Everyone is correct about the snow, you have to really check conditions. Although we had great snow and they pick up 8-12" the day we arrived you still could not do any off trail which was fine as we are mostly trail riders now. The trails were excellent, they have 8 groomers that groom nightly for a total of 350 miles of trails. We all joked that we have never rode 400+ miles over 3 days and not hit a bump before. We stayed Trailhead lodge and it was nice but does not have kitchens like stated above. We rode over to Spearfish Canyon Lodge and that was really nice, if I go out again sometime I will stay there.
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Grant Hoar
New member
as long as your sled is legally registered in another state, no trail pass is needed
onlypolar4me
Member
Just curious, how busy was it? It's been alot of years since I was last out there.
firefighter1
Active member
We could ride most of the day and not see many sleds. I don't know if that's normal or not. They did have a decent amount of trailers in the parking lots.
xsledder
Active member
Amen to that brother!
lol it is one of the few times in life U will ever here me say the federal government is better at something.
but then when u can piss away north of a million on equipment and have a staff of 8 full time drivers for under 400 mi of trail it would be pretty hard to mess it up
xsledder
Active member
Isn't the groom done by the State? If so, look what you can do with the right state government.
hamburgchf
New member
Rode there a few years back,stayed in lead had to trailer out to trailheads some of the nicest riding you will find, ranks right up there with Yellowstone and Buffalo County Wis.
renagde, I was lucky to get in on that blizzard, we were heading for the big horns - the interstate was closed at Deadwood exit so we got a room at the super 8 then later moved to trails head- maybe the best snow ever for me -trails were 4 feet high ungroomed for the first two days -amazing- stayed for 7 nights