We decided after breakfast to take in some of the amazing Black Hills scenery today, so the six of us headed out around 7:30am on Highway 16 to the town of Keystone where we stopped for a look around. The day was perfect for riding.
We branched off on to 16A for some great forest riding through the 71,000acre (28,733 ha) Custer State Park that also took in a scenic wildlife loop. We stopped along the way to take photos of bison, deer and wild mules.
We then continued on to Highway 87 and rode through a section called 'Needles' (named because of the needle shaped rock formations). This was great riding with tight corners and great scenery and narrow tunnels to ride through.
We then reconnected with highway 16 and rode down to look at the Crazy Horse Memorial. When it is complete, the statue of the Sioux warrior riding his war horse will be the world's largest sculpture. So far only the nine story high head is complete and work has commenced on the horse's head.
After a stop for lunch, Dave & Mary headed back to Rapid City to do an Aviation Museum Tour. They came across a bad accident on the way back involving 5 motorcycles. Two bikes were upside down and another three were on their sides - presumably trying to avoid the two that collided. Ambulances were present and traffic was backed up a fair way. Sobering stuff!
Maurie, Evan, Tracee & I fortunately went the other way and missed it. We continued on to Mount Rushmore. The giant sculpted heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt was completed in 1941 and took 14 years to complete.
We then decided to take Highway 385 through to Deadwood. This was lovely back road riding - although the motorcycle traffic was very heavy and slow going in places. We had a walk around Deadwood again and went to the section in Saloon 10 that is a preserved area of the exact location where Wild Bill Hickock was shot and read about the history of the event. We arrived back in Rapid City around 4:30pm after a very satisfying days riding.
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