South Dakota

[lofsfire]

I took my boys on a trip to South Dakota in the Mount Rushmore area.
June 8th to 15th
2523.5 Total miles
49h09m "Time Elapsed" per truck's trip odometer
The 8th was all driving stopping about 60 miles outside of the Bad Lands.
9th Badlands Mount Rushmore at night

10th Mount Rushmore during the day, Iron Mountain Road, Custard State Park Wildlife Loop, and Needles Highway scenic drives. (Clockwise)

I found snow!

11th Crazy Horse & Iron Mountain Road(south to north counterclockwise)

12th Devil's Tower & Spearfish Canyon

 

[lofsfire]

13th Side x side ride through Hannah Creek area to Roughlock Falls Road, and night in Deadwood

This trial was ok, Lots of the trails were complete like driving down a creek bed. This one was a mix with some larger rocks but mainly smaller ones.

This was near the area where the final scenes of "Dance with Wolfs" was filmed.

The Beral Cut you were able to bottle yourself they showed you how to measure the prof etc. It was something cool as a remembrance...

14th Sturgis and start to drive home right after we crossed the Missouri River on I-90

15th Wisconsin Dells - The Wilderness Resort - always a fun time! We normally stay at the Wilderness so this was not new but I found a great deal on our room. We have normally stayed with friends at the Wilderness on the lakes which are larger condos. This time I found a deal at the Wilderness Glacier Bay. We had 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and two bathrooms... King bed, the other room had a Queen with a twin bunk above it and the Living room had a queen Murphy bed if you needed it. (It was a last-minute booking but it was still $100 cheaper than the Standerd 2 queen room on the hotel side.)

So has anyone been on an SxS out in South Dakota in the Lead, Deadwood area? As you saw we decided to rent a Polaris General on the 13th. We had a good time but we all agreed that we liked the sleds better... LOL I think the biggest complaint was most of the trails we went down were rock. The ones that were small rocks like a gravel road were fine but the true trails were like 4" to 8" diameter rocks and it made for a hell of a bumpy ride... It just got old after some time. It was worse than riding down a trail that had not been groomed in weeks on a Saturday!

So my question is should we give it another shot in Mi or Wi or is this just the type of ride to expect? I was thinking it would be more of a sandy base for the trail in MI or Wi. These same trails were ones that are sled trails in the winter. Of course with a few feet of snow, the big rocks are not a problem...

 

[dfattack]

Awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing

 

[pclark]

Awesome area, I spent some time out there a few years ago. Crazy Horse was definitely strange and probably won’t ever be finished. Very scenic around Rushmore.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

You can thank yourself for making life-long memories with your boys. Awesome pics and a good story too. Thanks for sharing!

 

[m8man]

So cool to see those pics

 

[rph130]

Great pics Jason. Looks like you guys had a great trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

[saber1]

Did the exact same trip 10 yrs ago except we did a 2 wkr that included Yellow stone and Grand Tetons love the west think everyone should do it at least once America such a diverse country u could spend a life time exploring and never go anywhere else .Make the memories now once kids get older harder to do it as a family.

 

[mezz]

13th Side x side ride through Hannah Creek area to Roughlock Falls Road, and night in Deadwood

This trial was ok, Lots of the trails were complete like driving down a creek bed. This one was a mix with some larger rocks but mainly smaller ones.

This was near the area where the final scenes of "Dance with Wolfs" was filmed.

The Beral Cut you were able to bottle yourself they showed you how to measure the prof etc. It was something cool as a remembrance...

14th Sturgis and start to drive home right after we crossed the Missouri River on I-90

15th Wisconsin Dells - The Wilderness Resort - always a fun time! We normally stay at the Wilderness so this was not new but I found a great deal on our room. We have normally stayed with friends at the Wilderness on the lakes which are larger condos. This time I found a deal at the Wilderness Glacier Bay. We had 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and two bathrooms... King bed, the other room had a Queen with a twin bunk above it and the Living room had a queen Murphy bed if you needed it. (It was a last-minute booking but it was still $100 cheaper than the Standerd 2 queen room on the hotel side.)

The ones that were small rocks like a gravel road were fine but the true trails were like 4" to 8" diameter rocks and it made for a hell of a bumpy ride... It just got old after some time. It was worse than riding down a trail that had not been groomed in weeks on a Saturday!

So my question is should we give it another shot in Mi or Wi or is this just the type of ride to expect? I was thinking it would be more of a sandy base for the trail in MI or Wi. These same trails were ones that are sled trails in the winter. Of course with a few feet of snow, the big rocks are not a problem...

Here in the Keweenaw, the trails will be primarily sand, gravel mix with some rocky areas, not a real issue like in the mountain areas. Nice pics.

 

[lofsfire]

Awesome area, I spent some time out there a few years ago. Crazy Horse was definitely strange and probably won’t ever be finished. Very scenic around Rushmore.

I asked that questions to a few different workers. All gave different answers. I was not expecting a finish date, but figured they would have goals posted somewhere. They said the hand was just finished up. now the arm would be worked on. They also said they do not have plans for any more explosives to be used. They are in more of the large detail work phase. The mass removal for basic shaping is done.

Great pics Jason. Looks like you guys had a great trip. Thanks for sharing.

It was a great trip!

Did the exact same trip 10 yrs ago except we did a 2 wkr that included Yellow stone and Grand Tetons love the west think everyone should do it at least once America such a diverse country u could spend a life time exploring and never go anywhere else .Make the memories now once kids get older harder to do it as a family.

My thoughts exactly! My oldest graduates next year so, we will see. Right now he says he rather go on a trip than have a graduation party... I'm thinking Yellowstone and Grand Tetons is a good possibility.

You can thank yourself for making life-long memories with your boys. Awesome pics and a good story too. Thanks for sharing!

That is my goal for them!

 

[pclark]

I think they are self funded, I believe I paid $10 for tour 5-6 years ago.

 

[600_RMK_144]

We've been to The Hills 20+ times on sleds. Our absolute favorite place to ride when they have good snow! A couple years ago, we finally did our first trip out there seeing green instead of white. Did the UTVs for a day and really didn't care for it either. For starters, the trails were not marked well at all. It was tuff getting around. Trails are marked so well for winter use, I kind of expected the same in the summer, but that definitely was not the case. Luckily I knew the area well enough to make it over to Trailshead Lodge. They sell a map of the area which helped a bunch with navigating the area. They made it because they've had so many visitors complain that they can't figure out how to navigate the trails. Something about one being ran by the Federal Government while the other is State ran (according to Trailshead owners). One of the pics I shared is of the Dances with Wolves film-site...

Long story short, I'm with you on it being more fun in the winter.

 

[lofsfire]

I think they are self funded, I believe I paid $10 for tour 5-6 years ago.

Yes, it's now $30 to park... and have access to the main grounds. If you want an up-close tour at the base it's additional I want to say another 30 or 40 pp but not sure. Then they offered a private tour to the top for $150pp. But you are correct it all comes from the money they generate and donations. They said someone donated a crane that is expected to be at the top sometime before July 1st...

We've been to The Hills 20+ times on sleds. Our absolute favorite place to ride when they have good snow! A couple years ago, we finally did our first trip out there seeing green instead of white. Did the UTVs for a day and really didn't care for it either. For starters, the trails were not marked well at all. It was tuff getting around. Trails are marked so well for winter use, I kind of expected the same in the summer, but that definitely was not the case. Luckily I knew the area well enough to make it over to Trailshead Lodge. They sell a map of the area which helped a bunch with navigating the area. They made it because they've had so many visitors complain that they can't figure out how to navigate the trails. Something about one being ran by the Federal Government while the other is State ran (according to Trailshead owners). One of the pics I shared is of the Dances with Wolves film-site...

Long story short, I'm with you on it being more fun in the winter.

I think I remember seeing pictures you have posted in the past??? I do think it would be cool to go back out in the winter...

You are correct about the trails not being marked well. The funny thing is that I had no problem finding sled trails... Those orange diamonds stand out! LOL Also, It was interesting to see the sled trail go straight over a field but the road turning and winding around before coming back to that same sled trail...

The picture of the boys in the SxS was taken in a width-restricted area. The guy at the rental place said the area I was going to was all marked well and if there was any restriction then that would have gates closed with post spaced at the max width. Well, the first gate I came to was wide open. We drove around and eventually found another gate closed so we turned around and headed back. We could then see on the Polaris Ride command GPS we were not far from the original gate that I entered through. We left and got back on the gravel road went down farther pasted the locked gate only to find another locked gate and a Y in the road but when looking on the GPS it showed just a loop heading back to the locked gate we were sitting at by a Y. So turned around at the same time some guy who actual new the area gave me a real map and found out I could proceed down the open leg of the Y and it would eventually lead us to Spearfish Cayon area... We end up putting around 85 miles in about 6.5 hours.

Also, good to know it was just the area... and the ride is different in the MI/Wi. I was also told by a person the other day that the General's ride is not set up for that area. and you need to get one of the performance models...

 

[timo]

Them SD pic's are sick.