Day 10. Riding in the Black Hills

We are spending 3 nights here in Keystone, South Dakota. This gives us a few days to slow down a bit and explore the area. So today we went riding! We had read about the incredible roads around here and we were not disappointed.

First, we rode the Needles Highway:

Making a few last minute adjustments

 Profile view

Then we hit the narrow twisty road amongst the needles themselves:

As we planned today's route we decided not to take the "wildlife loop" as we didn't particularly want to get up close and personal with the Bison.

We were quite happy to see this herd peacefully grazing.

But not quite so happy to meet up with this group on the road! 

As you can see I scooted ahead of Tom to take cover behind the pick up truck.

View from the bike cam

It would be an understatement to say that I was clenching the handlebars at this point.

After steering clear of the Bison, we made our way back towards Keystone via Iron Mountain Road, "the road that couldn't be built":

We rode through tunnels cut through the rock

Around several pigtail bridges that curled around almost 360 degrees

Until through one of the last tunnels we saw this...

We made a quick detour to Hill City - a lovely Western town:

Then back to the Powder House Lodge (which is very comfortable) for a quick supper in our room, then out back to Mount Rushmore for the Lighting Ceremony. This was a wonderful event filled with Patriotic fervor. Brought a tear to my eye, especially when they had Veterans from the audience come on to the stage to help with lowering the flag for the night. A perfect end to a perfect day.