Cheyenne River Breaks

[Jud]

The past weekend was a splendid one for trail riding in the Cheyenne River Breaks. I drove out on Friday with Jeff Ecker from Kansas, meeting him at Canistota, leaving my van in a farmyard, and continuing in a single vehicle. We arrived in time to have a few glasses of rye whisky over store ice before digging into a spectacular roast pig, Croatian-style.

On Saturday morning we tried out some new single track cut through the bottoms of a couple of cedar draws. The guys who got out a couple of days earlier had been busy with chain saws to clear a few new riding areas. In the afternoon, 19 riders took the ride down to the Cheyenne River. Borrowed Bike Hill had eroded badly; the old lines to the top were washed out, and no one was able to ride up the face, although a few guys made the summit by going around and up the shoulder of the hill along a fence line.

On Sunday, we got on the road early. I was able to pick up the Vikings game on the radio, and made it back to the Cities in time for dinner.

Sorry, no pics.

[loingrader]

so where are the cheyenne river breaks?  how much riding area is there?

[Jud]

so where are the cheyenne river breaks?  how much riding area is there?

North of Wall, up around Creighton. Where I go to trail ride is private land, a cattle ranch, not really well-suited to big DS bikes. I only go in there with an invitation from the rancher, maybe a couple of times a year. But north of Creighton, you can get down to the river on a couple of roads that go through some ranches, gated in places, but that I think are public, continuations of town or county roads that are not posted, at least. In addition, there is all kinds of cool DS (gravel road and 2-track) past that, from Creighton up to Pedro, the Rose Cemetry, Four Corners bridge.

In fact, there is a lot of stuff worth seeing east of the Hills proper. You can find some really nice rides up on the Cheyenne River and Stand Rock reservations (Thunder Butte, Black Horse). There are a lot of rides as well down on the Pine Ridge rez, around Cuny table and elsewhere. You probably know Scenic, Sage Creek Road and Sheep Mountain Table. I have barely scratched the surface. Almost every time I  come out to S.D., I find new stuff, and notice more roads that warrant exploration.