Going to the Black Hills of South Dakota

[Eagle]

We will be traveling to the Black Hills of South Dakota and staying at the Rafter J Bar Ranch campground just south of Hill City on August 9-10 -11th during the Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Been to the Sturgis Rally many, many times - first time in 1963.

Looking forward to another wonderful time touring thru the Black Hills and rubbing elbows with some of the finer people in life .... campers and motorcycle riders.

This will be the first time ever I've hauled my motorcycle to the Rally in a camper .... the Fun Finder xt276. These bones are just getting to old for the tent program anymore.

Looking forward to a wonderful time.

[roy]

Enjoy your trip!! I might go there one day but I don't ride Harley's or cruisers so it's never been on my immediate bucket list of go to places. I'd still like to go experience it one day though. I'm a rider at heart so I will ride there if I go. Love to go ride in the Black Hills area.

We head west for a two weeks in August then a week in Key West, Fl. in late October.

[Eagle]

roy,

You sure don't need a HD to go since you will see every style and type of bike there from Vespa scooters to a Honda 50 to dirt bikes to home made 3 wheelers with V-8 motors ... and $80,000 custom "bar bikes" too.

One year, a fellow with more money than Chase Manhattan Bank had one that was plated in 24 K gold.

Lots of 'off road' trails to ride with a dirt bike or 4 wheeler too.

[judb]

We spent 3 enjoyable days in the Black Hills on our return trip from Alaska last week. We stayed at the Rafter J in 2010 and found it to be a great RV park. It is quieter and a roomier than the Crooked Creek Resort we stayed at this year.
Have a great visit!

[Eagle]

Originally Posted by judb

We spent 3 enjoyable days in the Black Hills on our return trip from Alaska last week. We stayed at the Rafter J in 2010 and found it to be a great RV park. It is quieter and a roomier than the Crooked Creek Resort we stayed at this year.
Have a great visit!

We had a wonderful time. The campgound was great in all aspects and very quiet. It is quite a distance from Strugis - over an hours ride - so hindered our ability to stay late in Sturgis to watch the bikes/people as didn't want to drive thru the hills that distabce in the dark. To many deer moving around!

I noticed a sale bill posted in Hill City from the Crooked Creek Resort (camped/tented there several years ago) if you want to invest $2 million dollars. But, it seems all the land/houses in the hills are very, very high priced IMHO. There is an auction upcoming for some over 100 acres in the Black Hills (mostly valley grass land I think) and it's expected to bring $10 - $12 million dollars. The indians are trying to raise enough money to "buy it back" per a newspaper article.

In my opinon, there were far fewer attendees for the Sturgis Bike Rally this year....or most only stayed a day or two and left.
A few observations made this year:
1. Not nearly as many bikes in Sturgis nor throught out the hills.
2. A definate reduction in the number of vendors.
3. Traffic (car or motorcycle) in Sturgis and in the Hills was down dramatically from the last several years.
4. A huge increase in the number of three wheelers. It seemed like for every 10 -15 two wheeled motorcycles, there was a Harley Tri-Glide.
5. Not near the congestion at gas stations anywhere.
6. For the first time in years during the Rally, motels had VACANCY signs illuminated in Keystone, Deadwood, Rapid City and most of the campgrounds one could view from the roads had vacant sites.
7. A severe lack of the 'yuppies' riding their $50,000 - $80,000 custom built 'bar bikes' in flip flops/sandels - shorts and cut down "T" shirts.
8. Riding thru the Hills - Custer State Park, Wind Cave State Park, the needles highway, and other roads from Sturgis to Rapid City to Hot Springs; noticed the vast majority of the riders were more grey in color.......self included! LOL

And our Fun Finder functioned perfectly w/no problems traveling to, when there or on the trip home.