South Dakota, USA

Mt. Rushmore & Badlands Bike Tour

DURATION

7 Days

PRICE

$3,940

LEVEL

BADV_AbilityLevel_IconsIntermediate

DAILY DISTANCE

30-60 Miles

INCLUDED ACTIVITIES

Cycling (bikes included) & Hiking

INCLUDED MEALS

All breakfasts. Two lunches and one dinner on your own.

Discover and explore what we ultimately strive for in a cycling vacation–which is to simply “Pedal Happy”.

Ride from the Badlands to the Black Hills. Pedal a road they said couldn’t be built, all the way to Mt. Rushmore. This amazing tour is crammed with history, stories, and great big views. Visit more National Parks and Historic Sites than on any other Bicycle Adventures tour. Ride to Crazy Horse Memorial and Deadwood, home of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Visit 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.

PEDAL HAPPY! – We have designated the cycling on this itinerary as “All Levels” because it is easy to give extra miles for those who want more, or to reduce the mileage (keeping the best parts, of course!) for folks who desire a more leisurely ride. The mileage and elevation statistics presented below are just for representation.

National Parks on this tour: Badlands National Park | Mt Rushmore National Memorial | Wind Cave National Park | Devils Tower National Monument

BIKES for Mickelson Trail: The Mickelson trail surface is mostly hard-packed and smooth crushed lime and gravel with some shorter sections of hard-packed dirt with some rocky bumps. We recommend bikes (road or flat bar) with 32mm or greater diameter tires. NOTE: Our extra small (XS) road bikes will only accommodate 28mm tires on the front.

This tour is operated under special use permit/s with the Badlands National Park, Mt Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park and Devils Tower National Monument. Bicycle Adventures is an equal opportunity provider.

Day 01

Bicycle through the haunting, beautiful Badlands where saber-tooth tigers once roamed.

Meals

– Lunch
– Dinner

Lodging

Red Rock River Resort

Distance

45 miles

Elevation

+1,886 ft / -2,274 ft

Meet in Rapid City. Shuttle out to Badlands National Park – a stunning 244,000-acre preserve of mixed-grass prairie punctuated with enormous needled buttes, pinnacles and spires. Once blanketed by a warm, shallow sea, it boasts one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. Today it’s home to bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, black-footed ferret, and awe-inspiring bison. Bicycle through its haunting beauty and spend tonight at the Red Rock River Resort. Take a little time to explore the history and red-brick architecture of the town of Hot Springs before walking to Silk Road for a privately hosted al fresco dinner.

Day 02

Mammoth, bison, burros, bluebirds ... and a doozie of a cave!

Meals

– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner

Lodging

State Game Lodge

Distance

44 miles (or less)

Elevation

+3727 ft / -3088 ft (or less)

This morning, visit the active dig at Mammoth Hot Springs Site which contains the largest number of mammoth remains in the world. Keeping to the ‘largest in the world’ theme for the day, we head from there on to one of the longest and most complex caves in the world: Wind Cave National Park. To the Lakota (Sioux) who live in the region, the cave is the sacred location where their ancestors first emerged from the underworld. Pioneers in the region did not discover it until 1881 when brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham heard wind rushing out from a 10-inch hole in the ground. According to the story, when Tom looked into the hole, the “wind” (exiting cave air) blew his hat right off his head! We ride through the Park – this is the first place we should see bison! – and have a chance to check out the Visitor’s Center and the Bingham’s original cave opening; there is not time to do the cave tour. Wind Cave is the first cave in the world to be designated a National Park. Continue riding to Custer State Park in the afternoon, where scenic loops wind through its 71,000 acres. Today, bicycle the Wildlife Loop in the southern section of the park. The prairies and ponderosa pine-studded hills here are home to some 1,300 bison, as well as pronghorn antelope, mountain goat, deer, elk, wild turkey and a band of friendly burros. Tomorrow: the northern loop road has some familiar faces in store. Stay tonight at the State Game Lodge.

Day 03

Pedal Custer State Park and the Needles Highway to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

Meals

– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner

Lodging

Sylvan Lake Lodge

Distance

47 miles (or less)

Elevation

+6,296 ft / -4,212 ft (or less)

Bicycle Custer State Park’s Northern Loop and Needles Highway – two of the most scenic (and challenging) rides on a tour that is chock-full of magnificent routes. In 1922, South Dakota’s Governor Peter Norbeck marked out the Iron Mountain Road on foot and on horseback. With its wooden ‘pigtail’ bridges and one-lane tunnels, it’s an architectural marvel carving through pine and spruce forests, meadows surrounded by birch and aspen, rugged granite mountains and more needle-like granite formations. Ride through 11 tunnels in all today, right up to stunning Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Back in 1922, Governor Norbeck advised, “To do the scenery…full justice, you should simply get out and walk.” But we think the bicycle is a great alternative. Lunch is on your own here, so spend as much time as you like. We spend the next two nights at Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Sylvan Lake Lodge – Custer State Park’s ‘Crown Jewel’.

Day 04

Hike Black Elk Peak and visit Crazy Horse. Ride...or just relax.

Meals

– Breakfast
– Dinner

Lodging

Sylvan Lake Lodge

Distance

Hike: 7.5 miles

Elevation

+1,383 ft / -1,380 ft

Today you have choices to make. In the morning, most folks join us for a hike to Black Elk Peak. At 7,200′ of elevation, it’s the highest point east of the Rockies, and the views are astounding. In the afternoon, visit Crazy Horse Memorial, the world’s largest sculpture-in-progress. This fascinating memorial has been under construction since 1948 and receives no government funding. It’s so large that if Mt. Rushmore could be moved, it would fit inside Crazy Horse’s shoulder! Or you can choose to take a ride to Hill City, a picturesque former mining town that is the oldest in Pennington County. Or just relax at the lake. Lunch is on your own.

Day 05

Ride the Mickelson Trail to Deadwood and release your inner outlaw!

Meals

– Breakfast
– Lunch

Lodging

Holiday Inn Express Gold Dust

Distance

58 miles (mostly hard-packed gravel)

Elevation

+2,642 ft / -4,376 ft

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. Ride here today on the famed Mickelson Trail and unleash your inner-outlaw! The Mickelson trail surface is mostly hard-packed and smooth crushed lime and gravel with some shorter sections of hard-packed dirt with some rocky bumps. Dinner’s on your own tonight, with plenty of restaurants to choose from and plenty to explore before and after. Stay at the Holiday Inn Express Gold Dust in Deadwood tonight and tomorrow.

Day 06

Cycle Spearfish Canyon to Devils Tower National Monument. Spend another night in Deadwood.

Meals

– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner

Lodging

Holiday Inn Express Gold Dust

Distance

63 miles (or less … or tackle a 100-mile century ride!)

Elevation

+2,575 ft / -4.428 ft (or +5,963 ft / -6,638 ft for the century)

If you want to tackle a century ride, today is the day – you can ride from Deadwood all the way to Devils Tower, Wyoming! Or begin your day in a more a leisurely fashion with a cruise through Spearfish Canyon. Bicycling Magazine named Spearfish Canyon one of the country’s Top 50 Scenic Bike Routes. Older than the Grand Canyon, the spectacular 1000-foot walls and limestone palisades of this creek-carved gorge offer some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Black Hills. Visit the Vore Buffalo Jump before pedaling on to Devils Tower National Monument. Visit the iconic landmark held sacred by Native Americans and made famous by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Ponder the various theories as to how it was formed while we load up bikes. Once you’re sufficiently awed, we will hop in the van to shuttle back to Deadwood.

Day 07

Take Nemo Road back to Rapid City.

Meals

– Breakfast
– Lunch

Distance

43 miles

Elevation

+2,605 ft / -3,776 ft

Known as one of the best-kept secrets in South Dakota, Nemo Road wends its way through lovely scenery with good shoulders and low traffic. Tie your bike to the hitching post outside the Guest Ranch Store in the town of Nemo for an historic photo opportunity. Finish the week on your bike (not in the van) riding the rest of the way back to Rapid City.

*Bicycle Adventures operates under special use permits while on Federal Lands managed by the National Forest Service (USDA), National Parks and Bureau of Land Management. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) To file a complaint of discrimination: write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Dates
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Availability
Dates
Single Supplement
Price
$1,064
This is not required. It is an optional fee to allow a solo traveler to guarantee a private room for the duration of the tour.
Dates
May 5, 2024
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$3,940
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Dates
May 12, 2024
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Limited
Dates
May 19, 2024
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$3,940
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Dates
May 26, 2024
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$3,940
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Aug 25, 2024
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$3,940
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Sep 1, 2024
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$3,940
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Dates
Sep 8, 2024
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$3,940
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Dates
Sep 15, 2024
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$3,940
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