Blackhills Car vs UTV

[ptrenken]

for all you rvers that travel to the blackhills in a motorhome, is it better to haul a car or a utv, I cant do both. is there a central campground were I can drive a utv on the roads to the main attractions like deadwood, mount rushmore, etc. I would think it would be cheaper to rent a car then utv but if I could get away*with it I would prefer not to rent a car. also what is the best time of year to avoid crowds.
thanks

[Woodchopper]

Originally Posted by ptrenken

for all you rvers that travel to the blackhills in a motorhome, is it better to haul a car or a utv, I cant do both. is there a central campground were I can drive a utv on the roads to the main attractions like deadwood, mount rushmore, etc. I would think it would be cheaper to rent a car then utv but if I could get away*with it I would prefer not to rent a car. also what is the best time of year to avoid crowds.
thanks

ptrenken
You can take a tour bus from some of the RV parks in the area but I don't think you can use a UTV/ATV on the public highways and roads.
However there are over 650 miles of ATV trails in the Black Hills National forest.
See: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/black...telprdb5203036

[rk911]

Originally Posted by ptrenken

for all you rvers that travel to the blackhills in a motorhome, is it better to haul a car or a utv, I cant do both. is there a central campground were I can drive a utv on the roads to the main attractions like deadwood, mount rushmore, etc. I would think it would be cheaper to rent a car then utv but if I could get away*with it I would prefer not to rent a car. also what is the best time of year to avoid crowds.
thanks

is your UTV street legal, license plates, lighting, etc? if so you should be fine. I'm guessing it's not so renting a car is an option.

IMO the best time to see the hills is sept/oct, especially late sept.early oct during the annual custer state park buffalo roundup. no dates have been announced for the sept event. I'd avoid the hills during the Sturgis bike rally, august 7-13. 500,000-bikers will take over the area in and around Sturgis.

stuff to do? lots. but the hills cover a massive area...nearly 8500-sq miles, larger than some eastern states. even from a centrally located campground getting from there to wherever will be a long drive on mainly 2-lane roads.think of the hills as two distinct areas...north and south. we like the southern hills more than the northern but plan to spend some time in each rather than commuting from one campground.

things I would not miss:

- Mt Rushmore in Keystone
- Devils Tower (roughly 90-120-minutes away in NE Wyoming)
- Hot Springs, SD for the Mammoth Site and Wild Horse Sanctuary
- Jewel Cave
- Wind Cave NP (back country roads open to Jeeps, not sure abt ATVs)
- Custer State Park/Wild Animal Loop Road, Game Lodge Campground
- Lead, SD (Homestake gold mine tour)
- Spearfish Canyon (far west side of the hills)
- Needles Highway

unless you're really into Indian culture there's really not much to see at the Crazy Horse site. you can easily see the progress on the carving from the highway. and the Deadwood/Mt. Moriah cemetery tour is worth taking but otherwise all we found in Deadwood was gambling and trinkets.

the best place to set up home in the southern hills is Custer State Park, specificially the Game Lodge Campground although there are many others to choose from. if you want FHU I'd check out Fort WeLikIt (We Like It) in Custer, SD.

if you're coming from the east be sure to stop at the Badlands NP off I-90. at the eastern entry point there is a Miniuteman Missle site which, as of a couple of years ago, offered a tour to a nearby missle silo. and kitchy as it might be a stop in Wall, SD for the famous Wall Drug is a must. there are two FHU RV parks in Wall, Arrow and Sleepy Hollow. we've used both and prefer Sleepy Hollow. both are within walking distance of "downtown" Wall.

the hills are my favorite place in the world and I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

[MGrawe]

We are based out of the Rapid City area and surprised me last year to learn that ATV/UTV are legal on all SD roads including interstates. Of course there are certain vehicle requirements such as lights and plates. Research Pennington County or Google SD vehicle requirements. Cold, snowy and windy here today but always looking for ward to the awesome BH summers.

[rk911]

Originally Posted by MGrawe

We are based out of the Rapid City area and surprised me last year to learn that ATV/UTV are legal on all SD roads including interstates. Of course there are certain vehicle requirements such as lights and plates. Research Pennington County or Google SD vehicle requirements. Cold, snowy and windy here today but always looking for ward to the awesome BH summers.

minimum speed on most interstates is 45-mph. can a ATV/UTV achieve that kind of speed? just wonderin'.

[palehorse89]

Originally Posted by rk911

minimum speed on most interstates is 45-mph. can a ATV/UTV achieve that kind of speed? just wonderin'.

Oh ya.........And higher.........

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[doc]

Just remember, when considering a car vs UTV, the Black Hills are not just a couple of hills. It is a long drive from Custer to Spearfish. Figure on at least 1.5 hours of driving on the shortest route. Big area, and it might be more comfortable/beneficial to take the car.

[MGrawe]

Originally Posted by rk911

minimum speed on most interstates is 45-mph. can a ATV/UTV achieve that kind of speed? just wonderin'.

True min is 45 and I have been passed on the interstate many times. I love motorcycle riding but some of these ATV/UTV going down the road with dirt/knobby tires at 70+ mph is crazy to me. But it's legal here so to each their own.

[Gladie]

As far as crowds......we spent 5 days in the Black Hills area August 18 - 22, 2015 on the return trip from Alaska, and it wasn't crowded at all. The evening ceremony at Mount Rushmore was only half full. Sturgis was extremely quiet, Needles Hwy was a pleasant drive in our Jeep, Custer State Park was also fairly quiet.

[inlineskater]

We stayed at Steel Wheels Campground south of Deadwood and ATV'd out of there. It would be tough to see everything with just an atv/utv, but the trails are a lot of fun. We ran all over and it was awesome. Great Campground, well run and clean. Several pull thru's. They rent atv/utv's at the campground. Don't know the price. They had very nice machines.

[ptrenken]

I agree that a car would be much more comfortable driving on the roads, but I do like going on trails and seeing places that can not be seen by driving a car. I been to many trail systems in the US such as Utah, Wisconsin, Tennessee. is the trails in south Dakota like them or not

[inlineskater]

At the Steel Wheel Campground they had a color highlighted map of the trails. That was invaluable. We took pictures on our phones and then blew them up to see the details. It really worked well. The map you get a some of the bars and gas stations is pretty hard to read. The people at Steel Wheel took and highlighted the best trails and which type of road or trail they were. The trails are not marked real well. Some trails are wide and great and others just wide enough for our UTV to get thru. A couple trails we went on had trees down and we had 4 couple along which was good to move the obstacles in the trail. We had a blast. Don't miss Custer's Peak Trail. Beautiful scenery. We were there in the fall when the leaves were turning.

[TonyMac]

UTV -- not for me. I need ac and heat is good too and shade and protection from dust and helmets mess up my hair and windows up/windows down, your choice and I hate yelling to the person seated 2 feet away and music is not the whine of a rotax engine and what you gonna do with 72 hp and there shall be rain and my ZR2 will go anywhere I want and can you flat tow a UTV at 69 mph. Blaaaa....