Quick trip to the Black Hills (with pics)

[JFeisty]

My wife and I were able to talk my mother-in-law into taking the kids for a few days and we decided to take a quick trip to the Black Hills (we're in Omaha, NE). I grew up in Newcastle, WY which is on the edge of the Hills and my parents still live there. We thought it would be fun to go riding out there with them. Originally the plan was to make it out there in one day...I don't think I would have had too much of a problem making the 650 mile trip in one shot, but we quickly found out that the passenger seat isn't the most comfortable thing in the world so we decided to make it a 2 day trip there and 2 days back. That only left us ONE day in the Hills, but ya gotta take what you're given, right? The highways here near Omaha are nothing but straight roads so riding that one day in the Hills was so much fun!

On the way out there we took highways that ran along side I-80 until just west of North Platte, NE at which point we went up to Scottsbluff, NE then crossed over into Wyoming and up to Newcastle. On the way back we went from Newcastle to Custer, SD then down through Hot Springs, SD then down to Alliance, NE. Then we took Hwy 2 east to some small town I don't remember, then down to North Platte, NE to stay the night. Then the same highways back to Omaha. 1540 miles total in 5 days. I always enjoy looking at other peoples' trip pics so I thought I'd share some of mine. We stopped in Sturgis (on our ONE day in the Hills) and walked around for a while in the calm before the storm. ha ha. I didn't think to take pictures of some of the "famous" places like The Dungeon....sorry. But here are some other pics:

Chimney Rock near Scottsbluff, NE



We parked alongside the road in Spearfish Canyon (near Spearfish, SD) to look at a waterfall:

The waterfall:


This is at a scenic lookout about 1/2 mile from where I grew up:

Same lookout (minus me):

[JFeisty]

On the way to Custer, SD from Newcastle, WY:



Pics of free-roaming buffalo near Hot Springs, SD:


The cloud cover made for some cool weather:


And, of course, Carhenge near Alliance, NE. Yep, those are real cars!

[Hawg Fan]

Great pics..... thank you.

[polecat]

Thanx for the pictures, Awesome The Black Hills are great. My family of 4 just returned from vacation in the Hills. My bucketlist has a Motorcycle trip to hills on it.(Needles Hwy,Devils Tower,Spearfish Canyon,Iron Mtn road. Thanks for sharing

[sablesurfer]

Cool pics...I lived in Spearfish for a while. Would love to take the bike back there sometime.

[chuck943]

Wow looks like a really cool ride. Thanks for sharing.

[Hawk 95-01]

Yeah awsome pics, a great way to spend 5 day's. Oh and a nice steed you got there.

[Slow Ride]

Thanks for the pics, glad you had a safe ride.

[PSNinja]

Very cool. Drove through the Hills a few years ago. Beautiful part of the country. We got stopped by a herd of bison in Custer State Park.

Thanks for sharing your trip!

[redcap]

great pics... love the Sioux area and especially carhenge!!!!

[internet_bully]

Originally Posted by polecat

Thanx for the pictures, Awesome The Black Hills are great. My family of 4 just returned from vacation in the Hills. My bucketlist has a Motorcycle trip to hills on it.(Needles Hwy,Devils Tower,Spearfish Canyon,Iron Mtn road. Thanks for sharing

Needles Hwy and Iron Mtn road are a MUST on a bike. If you really want to have fun on those roads it is best not to go during tourist season. Nothing worse than getting stuck behind a class A motor home with someone that doesn't know how to drive and not being able to pass in the curves. Bolder Canyon and Vanocker Canyon are also very nice and fun on a bike. The hills really can't be fully appreciated unless you have a guide that knows the less traveled roads and how fast the turns really can be taken safely. I have a friend that lives near Rapid City and I go visit him 3-4 times a year just for that reason.

Someday I will travel to TN and ride the dragon.

[olov-d]

Scernery great - wife HOT!

[artz]

another great trip that I long to take. Thanx for the pics !

[Nomadinator]

Awesome pics!

Ok, the official "out west" savings jar has begun....

[OrlandoArbie]

Thanks for sharing. I concur about Spearfish Canyon -- it's beautiful!

[anamosity]

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing them.
Never heard of the Carhenge deal before. That is a little weird.

[JFeisty]

Originally Posted by PSNinja

Very cool. Drove through the Hills a few years ago. Beautiful part of the country. We got stopped by a herd of bison in Custer State Park.

Thanks for sharing your trip!

My parents got stuck in the middle of a herd of buffalo one time in Custer State Park. My dad thought it would be a good idea to rev his engine to scare them away so they could continue down the road. Yeah....one buffalo didn't like that and started snorting and stomping his feet. Scared the bejezus out of my parents. lol

[wild_deuce03]

Those are some awesome pics. Guess I have another place to add to my "Get to before I die" list. It's beautiful out there!

[JFeisty]

Originally Posted by internet_bully

Needles Hwy and Iron Mtn road are a MUST on a bike. If you really want to have fun on those roads it is best not to go during tourist season. Nothing worse than getting stuck behind a class A motor home with someone that doesn't know how to drive and not being able to pass in the curves.

That's why we didn't do either of those this time. I can remember as a kid having to sit for like 30 minutes because a freakin' tour bus decided to stop in the middle of one of the tunnels and let all the passengers out so they could walk out of the tunnel to take pictures of the bus inside it. Grrrrrr.

[JFeisty]

Originally Posted by anamosity

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing them.
Never heard of the Carhenge deal before. That is a little weird.

It IS a little weird. I must say that for me it wasn't that impressive...but it's just one of those things that I had to visit just because it's so different.