Tour Mt. Rushmore And Badlands Bike Tour | Visit United States of America

Meals

All breakfasts 5 lunches 5 dinners

Guide

Our guides are selected and trained for unparalleled personal service. Their backgrounds vary, but all share a love for the outdoors and, most importantly, a desire to help people make the most of their vacation. There are several ski instructors, a political analyst, an Emmy-winning journalist, and a college professor, among others. Almost all are college graduates. All are mature adults with expertise in leading our tours and extensive knowledge of the region we travel through. Almost all of last year’s guides will be returning to lead our trips again, so you can count on having experienced leaders who love what they do.

Accommodation

Our regional expertise, constant re-evaluation of last year’s inns, and continuing search for the best experience ensures that our lodging is always among the finest the area has to offer. By limiting the number of guests on each trip, we expand our choices and are able to fit into some smaller, award-winning bed and breakfasts and country inns that wouldn’t be able to accommodate a group of 25 or more. On this trip stay at: Red Rock River Resort State Game Lodge Sylvan Lake Lodge Holiday Inn Express Gold Dust Lodging is based upon two people to a room with a private bath. If you’re traveling solo on any of our trips, we’ll assign you a roommate of the same gender and often of the same age bracket. There is no extra charge if we can’t find you a roommate, even if you sign up the day before the trip starts. You can guarantee yourself a private room and bath if you pay the Single Room Fee. Occasionally a room with two beds consists of one bed plus a rollaway bed or sofa bed. Call our office to see if this is applicable to the trip and date you select.

Not included:

Flights

Insurance

Start planning your experience

Day 1 Ride The Haunting, Beautiful Badlands Where Saber-Tooth Tiger Once Roamed.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Ride The Haunting, Beautiful Badlands Where Saber-Tooth Tiger Once Roamed.

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, which tops the list of ’5 Best Spa Hotels in South Dakota.’

44.3 mi. +1886 ft / -2274 ft
Day 2 Mammoth, Bison, Burros And Bluebirds. And A Doozie Of A Cave.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Mammoth, 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 world’s largest caves: Wind Cave, famous for unusual ’boxwork’ and ’frostwork’ formations. Pedal on to Custer State Park, where scenic loops wind through its 71,000 acres. Today, bicycle the Wildlife Loop in the southern section of the park. Prairie and ponderosa pine-studded hills are home to some 1,300 bison, as well as pronghorn antelope, mountain goat, deer, elk, wild turkey and a band of friendly burros.

31.9 mi. +2598 ft / -2532 ft (or more)
Day 3 Ride Custer State Park’S Rugged Granite Mountains, Through 11 Tunnels And Into The Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Today.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Ride Custer State Park’S Rugged Granite Mountains, Through 11 Tunnels And Into The Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Today.

Bicycle Custer State Park’s Northern Loop today. 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’.

46.7 mi. +6,296 ft / -4,212 ft (or less)
Day 4 Hike Black Elk Peak, Visit Crazy Horse, Ride To Hill City...Or Just Relax.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Hike Black Elk Peak, Visit Crazy Horse, Ride To Hill City...Or Just Relax.

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.

Black Elk Peak Hike: 7.5 mi. +1,383 ft / -1,380 ft
Day 5 Ride The Famed Mickelson Trail To Deadwood And Release Your Inner Outlaw.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Ride The Famed Mickelson Trail 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. Ride here today on the famed Mickelson Trail and unleash your inner outlaw! Dinner is 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.

57.7 mi +2642 ft / -4376 ft
Day 6 Ride Spearfish Canyon Then Across State Lines To Devils Tower National Monument.
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Ride Spearfish Canyon Then Across State Lines To Devils Tower National Monument.

Begin the day with a leisurely ride through Spearfish Canyon. Bicycling Magazine named Spearfish Canyon one of the country’s Top 50 Scenic Bike Paths. 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 heading to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. 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.

AM route: 37.1 mi. +1,079 ft / -2,541 ft
Day 7 Ride Nemo Road, One Of The Best-Kept Secrets In South Dakota, Back To Rapid City
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Ride Nemo Road, One Of The Best-Kept Secrets In South Dakota, Back To Rapid City

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.

42.6 miles · +2,605 ft / -3,776 ft

7 days tour

Mt. Rushmore And Badlands Bike Tour

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Start planning your experience

Itinerary of your trip Mt. Rushmore And Badlands Bike Tour

Ride The Haunting, Beautiful Badlands Where Saber-Tooth Tiger Once Roamed.

Mammoth, Bison, Burros And Bluebirds. And A Doozie Of A Cave.

Ride Custer State Park’S Rugged Granite Mountains, Through 11 Tunnels And Into The Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Today.

Hike Black Elk Peak, Visit Crazy Horse, Ride To Hill City...Or Just Relax.

Ride The Famed Mickelson Trail To Deadwood And Release Your Inner Outlaw.

Ride Spearfish Canyon Then Across State Lines To Devils Tower National Monument.

Ride Nemo Road, One Of The Best-Kept Secrets In South Dakota, Back To Rapid City

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