Anyone ever been to the Black Hills during Sturgis...when you aren't going for Sturgi

[Minnesota!]

Ugh. For some reason I thought Sturgis was later in August. So I booked our trip to the Black Hills last week. Decided to check today b/c hotels seemed kind of expensive. Sure enough...Sturgis is the exact same week we will be there. ugh.

So, we are really only interested in the tourist stuff - Mt Rushmore, Badlands, etc.

Are we going to be overrun with bikers, and all that goes along with Sturgis if we don't go TO Sturgis?? I have friends that go there each year and i KNOW what goes on and I am not in the mood for my kids to witness that..

We can't switch our dates...busy summer.

Thoughts???

DH said maybe we should just drive through SD and stay in WY or MT somewhere..just do Mt Rushmore as a day trip and find other things to do outside of SD.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Ugh. For some reason I thought Sturgis was later in August. So I booked our trip to the Black Hills last week. Decided to check today b/c hotels seemed kind of expensive. Sure enough...Sturgis is the exact same week we will be there. ugh.

So, we are really only interested in the tourist stuff - Mt Rushmore, Badlands, etc.

Are we going to be overrun with bikers, and all that goes along with Sturgis if we don't go TO Sturgis?? I have friends that go there each year and i KNOW what goes on and I am not in the mood for my kids to witness that..

We can't switch our dates...busy summer.

Thoughts???

DH said maybe we should just drive through SD and stay in WY or MT somewhere..just do Mt Rushmore as a day trip and find other things to do outside of SD.

My parents did this by accident one year. While the rest of the state isn't "overrun" with bikers, there are definitely more than normal. The only problem they ran into was the VERY elevated hotel room prices. They seriously paid $300 for one night at a Holiday Inn. They looked at Mt. Rushmore and then hightailed it back out of state. But they did pick up a nice Sturgis t-shirt for my DH before they got out of dodge.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yep, that's what clued me into the fact that maybe I was off on my Sturgis dates! Even the rinky dink mom and pop motels are going for $185/night. Grrrr. I can stay in the dorms at a college - 2 sets of bunkbeds, shared bathroom, no air, TV, or what not for $85/night

I think we are just going to do a day in Custer, then head to WY or MT. They can have my money...

 

[sdjen]

Hey there! I happen to live in Rapid City and can help a little bit.

The main places, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Badlands will be a little bit busier than normal but not too bad. If you stay away from Sturgis, you probably wont witness any non kid friendly behavior

I actually had company come from out of state last summer during the rally. I dont know how old your kids are but depending on what you were going to do, you may actually luck out. We did some family friendly things while they were here (Bear Country and Reptile Gardens among others) and they were actually less busy than a normal summer week. The staff there said that Sturgis week is actually slow for them because they are not things that bikers usually do.

There will be bikes all over the roads but as long as you drive carefully, you shouldnt have an issue. If you want to see a lot of bikes without going to Sturgis, you can do Keystone (right by Mt Rushmore) or Deadwood. They usually line the streets there but there are not many vendors or crazy behavior there - especially during the day.


Let me know if you need any more info or details. Have fun!!

 

[golfgal]

Last year there were 600,000 people that attended the rally, I would change your dates.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Hey there! I happen to live in Rapid City and can help a little bit.

The main places, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Badlands will be a little bit busier than normal but not too bad. If you stay away from Sturgis, you probably wont witness any non kid friendly behavior

I actually had company come from out of state last summer during the rally. I dont know how old your kids are but depending on what you were going to do, you may actually luck out. We did some family friendly things while they were here (Bear Country and Reptile Gardens among others) and they were actually less busy than a normal summer week. The staff there said that Sturgis week is actually slow for them because they are not things that bikers usually do.

There will be bikes all over the roads but as long as you drive carefully, you shouldnt have an issue. If you want to see a lot of bikes without going to Sturgis, you can do Keystone (right by Mt Rushmore) or Deadwood. They usually line the streets there but there are not many vendors or crazy behavior there - especially during the day.


Let me know if you need any more info or details. Have fun!!

We went there last year during rally week and would go again. We have three kids.
The family attractions are less crowded so it was really nice.
We camped in a trailer at the Hill City KOA.
We did go into Sturgis on a Tuesday afternoon for a couple of hours. It was cool.

The bikes on Iron Mountain Rd drove me nuts and I wasn't the one driving. That was my only complaint.

 

[NikitaZee]

Yeah, my sister and I took a road trip when we were in our 20's, and we wound up in the Black Hills during bike week. We went ahead and went to Sturgis since we were there anyway. There were more bikers around the restaurants and tourist-y places, but not too bad at all. I wouldn't cancel if I were you. The biggest thing I remember was having to be much more careful driving - there were a lot of bikes on the road and I wasn't used to driving on winding mountain roads.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yep, that's what clued me into the fact that maybe I was off on my Sturgis dates! Even the rinky dink mom and pop motels are going for $185/night. Grrrr. I can stay in the dorms at a college - 2 sets of bunkbeds, shared bathroom, no air, TV, or what not for $85/night

I think we are just going to do a day in Custer, then head to WY or MT. They can have my money...

Are the Custer prices higher that week? If not, we stayed in Custer State Park last year and loved it (but it wasn't Sturgis week).

 

[OhMari]

If you are able to change your dates do it.
People ride their bikes to South Dakota, trailer the bikes in, etc.
Traffic is very slow. We drove down to Laramie Colorado to get a room and our hotel was still filled with bikers.

 

[Squirlz]

We were driving from Denver to Mt. Rushmore last August on the Sunday that the Sturgis Rally ended. I'm really glad they were all going the other way. Lots of slow moving traffic. All the gas stations were filled with bikers loitering around the pumps.


We went to Rushmore and Crazy Horse and it wasn't bad there but given the choice I'd stay away from the area.

 

[Barbossa]

When in Sturgis, do as the Sturgi do.