Passes & Canyons Blog

I just did a four-part series on Examiner.com about what it’s like in Sturgis and the surrounding area during Bike Week. Rather than just copy all that stuff here I’m going to give you a synopsis and links so you can go there and read it if you’re interested.

Part 1: The decision to go, getting there, swarms of bikes flood the highways, settling in at home base in Rapid City, partying in Rapid.

Part 2: The Black Hills are the reason bikers love the area, Iron Mountain Road, pig-tail bridges, bikers everywhere.

Part 3: Into the epicenter, the Sturgis scene, hitting the Full Throttle.

Part 4: The campgrounds, big-name entertainment, thoughts on a return trip.

I don’t claim to be an authoritative voice on the Sturgis experience; this is just one person’s description of one visit. But at least it should begin to answer the question, “What’s it really like?”. Feel free to offer your own experiences in a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker wannabe if you put your pony-tail back in the drawer after you get home.

Right about now the Sturgis Bike Week festivities are at full tilt, and the Black Hills are alive with the sound of Harleys.

Not the OFMC, however. We’ve already done our summer ride this year and besides, we went to Sturgis two years ago. It was an incredible experience. It was something you have to see and feel at least once in your life if you have an pretensions of being a red-blooded American biker.

But it was also something that even the most hard-core Harley riders among us said, once we got home, that they had no interest in ever doing again.

That photo, by the way, is of the OFMC and friends at the Crazy Horse Lodge during the 2006 rally.

Fast forward two years. We’re wrapping up this year’s trip and talking about next year and what place is a large part of the group thinking about? Sturgis.

It seems, they tell us, that we did it wrong.

“I told some guys that we stayed in Rapid City and they said that was ridiculous. The rally isn’t happening in Rapid, it’s happening in the campgrounds!” Or words to that effect.

The campgrounds, in case you’re unaware, are these private facilities where you don’t just park the RV or set up the tent and then ride into Sturgis. The campgrounds, like the Buffalo Chip for example, are self-contained communities with food and drink and entertainment. Big time entertainment.

Performing this year at the Buffalo Chip you have groups like Foghat, Guess Who, Blind Melon, Alice Cooper, Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sugarland, and ZZ Top, to name only the better known. And admission is part of your basic fee to stay in the campground.

The campgrounds are where the real partying goes on. I can’t speak from experience but the word is that the roar of motorcycles is constant, night and day. Some campgrounds work to ensure a more peaceful environment but that only means you hear the more muffled roar from the campgrounds across the way.

So that’s the scoop. From one visit being enough for a lifetime we’ve come full turn to eyeing another trip to the rally. Who’d a thunk?

Not next year, though. Next year we’re doing the Beartooth.

Biker Quote for Today

Actual experience beats half-assed assumptions and prejudice.