Sturgis Rally & The Old West

Take the airport shuttle to your hotel. If you have time, take the light-rail train into downtown Denver’s historic Union station and explore the city centre around 16^th Street and enjoy all the wonderful shops, restaurants and nightlife downtown Denver has to offer. Just don’t over-do it – altitude can really affect you here, and get a good night’s rest to begin adjusting to it.

After breakfast, collect your Harleys. Head into the Rocky Mountain foothills for some great riding to set the tone of your self-guided Sturgis Rally & Old West tour.  Lovely sweeping roads rise to over 2000 m for the next 75 or so miles. Your lunch stop should be the 5* hotel that inspired and was the filming location for Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’.

Descending out of the mountains and foothills reveals the open grassland and great plains. Turning North toward Cheyenne you’ll pass by Pawnee National Grasslands, home to the Sage grouse and the endangered Black-footed Ferret.  In Cheyenne there’s the Frontier Days Old West Museum’s collection of horse-drawn vehicles, Indian costumes, rodeo mementoes and even a rustic saloon. Also an important stop on the transcontinental railway’s Union Pacific Line.

On your way North toward Rapid City South Dakota, be sure to stop and see Fort Laramie. Founded in 1854 and with 22 original structures remaining, it’s the oldest and most important U.S. Calvary outpost in Wyoming. Now a national historic site, 22 original structures remain. Close by is Register Cliff, where pioneers ‘signed in’ on the soft sandstone walls of the cliff. Look out for the Oregon Trail Ruts, where pioneer wagons carved deep tracks in the soft sandstone above the North Platte River. Following the old stagecoach route, continue north towards Thunder Basin National Grassland. Then head into South Dakota and onto the interstate for your ride into Rapid City.

For the next 4 days of your self-guided Sturgis Rally tour you’ll have time to experience all the excitement of the world’s biggest Harley event to the max! Discover nearby Badlands National Park, the former gold mining districts of Lead and Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse monument, Custer State Park’s wild Buffalo herds and the Black Hills. Take in some of the events happening like Thunder Road, the hill climb, the “burnout pit” or drag racing. Perhaps enjoy a headliner concert out at the infamous Buffalo Chip campground in the evening. Do some shopping around town at the hundreds of vendors for that one-of-a-kind souvenir or tee-shirt. There’s more than enough to see and do, you won’t get bored here!

Leave Sturgis behind and ride the pioneer trails to the Devil’s Tower, important in the legends of native Americans and a landmark for the pioneers, and the first national monument in the USA. If it looks familiar, it was used as the site where the spaceships landed in the film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. Then head southwest past the largest coal mining region in the USA and across the plains to Casper. With luck you can follow Custer’s footsteps (not too closely!) just watch out for Sioux warriors! Casper, your stop for the night, was a major settlement in the 19^th century. This is the crossroads of the Oregon Trail, California and Mormon Trail as well as the Pony Express mail route. Casper’s wealth is founded on uranium, bentonite (used as drilling “mud” in oil and gas wells) and oil, and the city has a mineralogical museum with some fascinating fossils, and the famous Nicolaysen Art Museum. And if you have time, why not visit Deluxe Harley-Davidson, Wyoming’s largest dealership.

The Rocky Mountains Massif looms ever larger as you head south to Rawlins. Once an infamous cattle town, where 120 years ago the locals lynched and skinned the region’s most notorious outlaw, ‘Big Nose’ George Parrot. Just don’t get caught speeding! The wonderful Views and outstanding scenery don’t seem to end today. Your final hour or so is along the Snowy Range Scenic Byway with curve after curve bringing you into the ski resort town of Steamboat Springs. You are now in the heart of the mountains.

Your final leg of this self-guided Sturgis Rally & Old West tour is all about fantastic mountain road motorcycling. Take the road south over Rabbit Ears pass through Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest to the small town of Kremmling. At Moose Café treat yourself to a real slice of hometown Colorado. You’ll continue up the Colorado River valley to Hot Sulphur Springs, with its 22 thermal pools and quaint local museum. Continuing past Lake Granby cross the continental divide and onto Trail Ridge Road Pass. America’s highest paved pass is over 12,000 feet (3700 m) with some great roads and spectacular views. It’s then a ride down into Estes Park via Rocky Mountain National Park for lunch. Take a break before heading back to Denver. After returning your motorcycles, tonight you can have a last meal in America, and a celebratory drink – that was some experience!

If there’s time for some last-minute shopping and sightseeing, Denver’s 16^th St Mall is a must. Then it is off to the airport and the flight back home. Enjoy your memories of a fantastic self-guided Sturgis Rally and Badlands tour.