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Mt Rushmore and Badlands

Summary

From the Badlands to Mt. Rushmore - a bike tour through time. Seven days biking, hiking and soaking in hot springs and history.

Road bike

7 days

310 km / 193 mi

$ 3,398.-

There are optional miles that can be ridden on many days.
All meals included, except 1 lunch and 1 dinner.
Hotels on this tour: Red Rock River Resort, State Game Lodge, Sylvan Lake Lodge,Deadwood Mountain Grand.
Please note: Spring tours $100 less than fall tours due to lodge pricing.
Ask for E-bike possibilities.

Gallery

Details

Type

Road bike

Duration

7 days

Level

Moderate

Support

Guided

Daily distance

60-80 km / 37-50 mi

Total distance

310 km / 193 mi

Climbing

7400 m / 24278 ft

Lodging

Deluxe, full board

Luggage transport

Daily luggage transfers

Bicycle

Included

Dates

12 May 2019 - 18 May 2019
19 May 2019 - 25 May 2019
26 May 2019 - 31 May 2019
01 Sep 2019 - 07 Sep 2019
08 Sep 2019 - 14 Sep 2019
15 Sep 2019 - 21 Sep 2019

Start

Rapid City (7:30 a.m.)

Finish

Rapid City (4 - 7 p.m.)

Transfer

Rapid City, South Dakota, 7:30 a.m.

Airport at start

Rapid City Regional Airport

Airport at finish

Rapid City Regional Airport

Prices

Price per person

The tour price per person

$ 3,398.-

high performance road bike

Orbea Avant M20D Carbon

$ 300.-

Optional

E-Bike

Electric bike (e-bike): zoom up the hills for $200 USD for the tour
We request at least 60 days advance notice for one of these below. Please note that e-bikes are not available in all locations.

$ 200.-

Optional

E-bike high end

Orbea Avant M20D high-end carbon fiber bike with compact Ultegra gearing.
We request at least 60 days advance notice for one of these below.

$ 300.-

Optional

Single supplement

If you travel alone a single supplement is charged. With some group tours you can avoid a single supplement by sharing a room with another rider.

$ 917.-

Itinerary

From the Badlands to the Black Hills, from a road they said couldn't be built to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, this amazing tour is crammed full of amazing history, amazing stories and great big views. Visit more National Parks and Historic Sites than most other tours. Ride to Crazy Horse Memorial and Deadwood, home of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Explore one of the world's largest caves. Ride to Devils Tower in Wyoming, famous for its role in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spring tour date bonuses: glorious wildflowers, plus sightings of buffalo calves, pronghorn kids and white-tail and mule deer fawns.

Day 1

Ride the haunting, ruggedly beautiful Badlands, where saber-tooth tiger once roamed.

The Badlands are a stunningly beautiful 244,000-acre preserve of mixed-grass prairie surrounding needled buttes, pinnacles and spires. Once blanketed by a warm, shallow sea, it contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here; today it's home to bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferret. Bicycle through its haunting beauty and spend tonight at the Red Rock River Resort.

Day 2

Bison, burros and bluebirds. And a doozie of a cave.
This morning, visit the active dig at Mammoth Hot Springs Site of South Dakota. This is the largest number of mammoth remains in the world! Keeping to the “largest in the World” theme, ride onward to explore one of the worlds largest caves: Wind Cave, famous for its unusual 'boxwork' and 'frostwork' formations. In the afternoon, head to Custer State Park, where unique and very scenic loop roads wind through its 71,000 acres. Today, pedal the Wildlife Loop Road in the southern section of the park. Prairie and Ponderosa pine-studded hills host some 1,300 bison, as well as pronghorn antelope, mountain goat, deer, elk, wild turkey and a band of friendly burros. Plan to explore the famous northern loop tomorrow.

Day 3

Ride the Iron Mountain Road and into the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial - the northern half of Custer State Park.

In 1922, South Dakota's Governor Peter Norbeck marked out these amazing roads on foot and on horseback. Carving through pine and spruce forests, bicycle through meadows surrounded by birch, aspen and rugged granite mountains and needle-like granite formations. Ride through 11 tunnels in all today, right up to stunning Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Said Governor Norbeck about these roads: "To do the scenery...full justice, you should simply get out and walk." (We think a bike is a pretty good alternative.)

Day 4

Hike Harney Peak, visit Crazy Horse, ride...or just relax.

Today: hike to Harney Peak, which at 7,200' of elevation is highest point east of the Rockies. Visit the Crazy Horse Memorial, world's largest sculpture-in-progress; ride to Hill City, a picturesque former mining town that is the oldest in Pennington County. Or just relax at the lake.

Day 5

Ride 50 miles to Deadwood and release your inner outlaw.

Deadwood, once a wild-and-wooly gold rush town that hosted the likes of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, is the Lawrence County seat and a National Historic Landmark District. Stay at the historic Deadwood Mountain Grand tonight and tomorrow. Enjoy tonight's dinner at Kevin Costner's Midnight Star Restaurant on equally historic Main Street.

Day 6

Ride across state lines to Devils Tower National Monument. Spend one more night in Deadwood.

Ride across the state lines into Wyoming, to Devils Tower National Monument, made famous by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Once you're sufficiently awed, we'll shuttle back to Deadwood for another night.

Day 7

Ride Spearfish Canyon. Then we'll take you back to Rapid City.

Today's ride is nothing short of breathtaking. Be awed by the thousand-foot-high limestone palisades in shades of brown, pink and gray towering over Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. Cyclists love the wide shoulders and uniform 3% grade, and Bicycling Magazine named Spearfish Canyon one of the top 50 scenic bike paths in the country. After the ride, we'll shuttle back to Rapid City for your return trip home.

Map & Routes

Map

Satellite

Bicycle

Orbea Avant road bike.
For all bicycles: you can choose from a variety of saddles.
If you like you can bring your own pedals.