Riding the TSDAT in 2 days

[Bogus Jim]

Riding the TSDAT has been on my list for a while. I've explored a few of the South Dakota backroads between Rapid City, Mobridge, and Pierre, but nothing beyond that area, so the TSDAT seemed like a good way to see more of the state. My plan was to ride pavement on a Friday afternoon over to the eastern side of the route and then spend Saturday and Sunday riding the entire route back to Rapid City. The TSDAT is over 700 miles of gravel and dirt, so it would require a couple long days of riding, but I figured it should be doable.

I left Friday afternoon about 2 pm and headed out on highway 44. In spite of living in South Dakota for almost 15 years now, I've never traveled the length of highway 44 with either car or motorcycle. It's a pretty scenic road, and after riding it, I think I prefer it over highway 212, another east-west route across South Dakota. I met a few Harleys on the road, all heading west, which didn't make sense to me. I thought they would all be leaving the Sturgis Rally and heading east. I had about a 15-20 mph headwind the whole way, so my little 250cc was using a bit more gas than normal. I wanted to get to camp before dark so I didn't stop to take any photos except for this one, just east of Interior.




My camp site Friday night was Island Park, about 20 miles south of Mitchell. It was dark by the time I got the tent set up, and there were a few mosquitos buzzing around, so I fixed a gourmet Mountain House meal and hit the sack. Island Park is a quiet little campground, next to a creek that feeds into the James River. You won't need an alarm clock because the doves and woodpeckers will wake you up just before sunrise.

I was so anxious to get started Saturday that I almost forgot to take a picture of the campsite. About halfway through breaking down the tent, I remembered and took this photo.




As soon as I got all the gear strapped on and put my helmet on, it started to rain. I thought this was good timing, because it sucks to break camp in the rain, so if it's going to rain, I'd rather it starts after you're packed.

The first stretch of the TSDAT follows the James River down to Yankton. The rain continued all morning, and at times it was quite heavy. There are lots of trees along the river, so a couple times I pulled over and sat underneath the trees until the rain let up a bit.

I stopped in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery for a break; this tree was just the right height to park under for shelter from the rain. The rain stopped long enough to take this photo, then resumed a few minutes later. Seemed like just about everybody in the cemetery was named Geraldson.




After passing through Yankton and crossing the dam into Nebraska, I had been riding in moderate to heavy rain for 3 1/2 hours. I was a little worried about the condition of some of the dirt roads on the Nebraska side, but luckily the rain stopped and the sun started to come out. It was clear that this area had not received the heavy rain I'd just ridden through, but even so it was pretty slick and would not have been fun on a big bike.

I rode past a strange looking sign that said "Devil's Nest". About a quarter mile later, I glanced at the GPS and noticed that sleddog had put a waypoint here, and his tracks showed a turn off the main track. I figured I'd better go back and see what was there, or I'd be wondering about it for weeks, so I did a 180 and headed back.

I don't know the history behind Devil's Nest, but it looks to me like a resort community where things didn't quite go as planned. The whole area has a ghost town feel to it. There are multiple buildings for sale, some in good condition, some rather poor. At least a couple of the houses appear to be still occupied or perhaps used as summer cabins. I passed a family loading camping gear into an SUV at one of the houses. I followed the GPS tracks down an asphalt road that hadn't been maintained in years, and ended up at a small boat ramp. Here's a photo, looking across Lewis and Clark Lake, towards the South Dakota shoreline.




The sun was shining now, and after getting soaked all morning, I spent a few minutes down at the shoreline just enjoying the rays. Here's a shot of the Nebraska side. It's pretty, isn't it? If you had a few beers, and ignored the color of the water, you might think this is Hawaii.




I left Devil's Nest, and had ridden 2-3 miles, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed 4 raptors circling a hill side. I was curious why they were circling so low to the ground; usually they fly higher so they can spot prey. I saw what looked like a trail to the top of the hill so I pulled off the road and climbed the hill. The birds left when I reached the top, and I never figured out what they were doing, but I spotted this old tramway.




Here's a shot of the chairs. Lewis and Clark Lake is in the background, although I don't think the tramway runs all the way to the water. You can actually see the tramway on Google Earth, if you have the right coordinates.




I had to get used to these strange road numbers in Nebraska. They don't use 101st St., 102nd St., etc. Instead, numbers that seem arbitrary, like 533 and 888. This intersection has a certain symmetry, since 533 + 355 = 888.




I came across a sign that said "Slow Landslide". I must have been dehydrated or maybe a little tired, because the first thought that crossed my mind was "Wow, I've got to see this... usually landslides happen really fast". Then a half second later, "hey dummy, the sign means drive slowly, this is a landslide area". I stopped and took this photo of the river below the landslide area. If you like views of streams and rivers like this one, they're a dime a dozen on the TSDAT.




I got a chuckle out of this sign. I've seen the ones that say "Pavement Ends" but never one that says "Gravel Ends". A quarter mile or so past this sign, the road did indeed turn to dirt.




I took this shot just after crossing the Nebraska border, back into South Dakota. The entire horizon was blue with rain, and that was the direction I was riding. I considered whether I should ride more slowly, to try and miss the rain, or stay on schedule. I decided on the latter, because I really wanted to finish the TSDAT this weekend.




There are a lot of these minimum maintenance roads on the TSDAT. This one was relatively dry. Some were very muddy... a couple times, I almost got stuck in water a foot deep. I don't think this would've been fun on a big bike, at all. The mud really demanded 100% of your attention, if you wanted to stay upright.




I made it to Pickstown about 2:45 pm. I was still a long ways from the half way point, but I needed to make it there if I was going to ride the TSDAT in two days. I grabbed some fuel and took this photo of the stone church at Fort Randall. The roof looks to be in pretty good shape but someone needs to have a talk with whoever built the walls.




The rain had stopped now, and the roads were less muddy, so I rode the rest of the day a little faster than normal, without stopping for photos, to try and make the half way point by nightfall. The ride through the Rosebud Reservation was beautiful. In particular, there are a couple moments that stick in my mind.

The first was when I crested a hill about 5 miles west of the Missouri, and just south of highway 44. There was a large pasture of tall grass waving in the wind, and a herd of at least 3 dozen spotted ponies. I startled them just a bit, and they began a slow gallop across the pasture, strung out over a hundred yards or so. These animals were absolutely beautiful, and moving with such grace. I killed the engine and wondered if I was on a movie set, at the same time thinking I really should get the camera out and try to get a photo, but I sat there and just watched as they disappeared over the next hill.

The second was crossing the DeJong ranch. This is truly a gorgeous tract of land, with a road that descends from a plateau down to the White River. I rode through here slowly, but even at slow speed, I was so busy taking in the scenery that I nearly ran into a buck that jumped out of the trees and crossed the road in front of me. His antlers were covered in velvet and I remember thinking maybe it wouldn't hurt quite as bad if you hit a deer with velvet-covered antlers, but I suspect it probably wouldn't make any difference.

I made the half way point about 8 pm, just south of Pierre, and set up camp at a secret undisclosed location. I was hoping day 2 on the TSDAT would not be as wet as day 1, but that was not to be the case.


Here's the start of my day 2 on the TSDAT. This is not Photoshopped! The visibility was about 50 yards.




Riding with the visor down was not possible, because the moisture quickly beaded up and reduced visibility to zero. Riding with the visor up was also uncomfortable, as the water and drizzle kept hitting my eyes. I ended up opening the visor about an inch, then looking downwards through the opening. I couldn't see very far down the road using this method, but then I couldn't see very far anyway, due to the fog. I rode the first 3 hours at a speed of about 15-20 mph. I have no idea what was on this section of the TSDAT, because I literally couldn't see anything except 100 feet of road in front of me!

After about 3 hours, the fog started to clear, at least to the point where I could safely see the intersections on these rural roads. The drizzle had stopped, but the sun was not visible yet. Although I hadn't been able to see anything, I knew the route was taking me towards Midland. I found myself on a really fun trail, I believe Van Metre Road, although the latter half of it is more trail than road. This drops down towards the Bad River and the DM&E railroad.

Here's one of the railroad bridges across the Bad River.




And a shot of the bridge that I crossed, right next to the railroad bridge.




There are a lot of signs like this one on this section of the TSDAT. I looked around here for several minutes and could not see any signs of an Indian trail, but then the Indians are known for being stealthy so perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough.




Here's the Cheyenne River, snaking downstream of Wasta. Just before taking this photo, I had ridden another really fun road on the TSDAT, Trask Road. This also had one of the most treacherous sections, as there was a long downhill that was just 100% greasy mud. I made it down without dumping it, but the bike spent a fair amount of time sideways. 




I put a larger gas tank on the Yamaha this summer, an IMS 3.1 gallon. I was wondering how much of the 3.1 gallons was actually usable. When I filled in Wasta, the pump read 3.075 gallons. I'd say that's pretty good; according to my calculations, there were only about 3 ounces of fuel left in the tank and the bike was still running. I also got 70.5 mpg on this section of the route, no doubt due to the 3 hours I spent riding in the fog at 20 mph.




The TSDAT crosses I-90 twice. In this photo, I had just crossed the interstate for the 2nd time. The gravel road in the left of the photo is Anderson Hill Road, which is on the route. As they say, it is steeper than it looks in the photo. I put my bike in neutral, killed the engine, pushed off at the top, and hit a max speed of 47 mph on the way down! And coasted quite a ways onto the frontage road too.




Since I didn't get a photo of the 3 dozen horses galloping across the pasture earlier, I figured I'd better get at least one photo of some horses. I saw these on the way to the Sage Creek campground. They were not bothered by my motorcycle at all, in fact the one on the right with the stripe on her face, started to follow me down the hill as I rode away.




I was now on the last section of the TSDAT, and getting anxious to finish it by Sunday night. I took this photo looking west, as I rode down to Indian Creek. It looked like the entire Black Hills was getting heavy rain, and I still had to ride through Custer Park.




On the way down to Indian Creek, I met a couple ATV riders who said the creek was too full to cross. I decided to ride down and see for myself. I waded out until the water was almost over the tops of my boots. There was also a crust on the bottom, so if you twisted your foot a little, you could easily sink another 3 inches. This seemed like a bad combination. If the rear tire broke traction, you could quickly dig in a foot deep or more. I decided this was more than I wanted to tackle riding alone, and bypassed this trail with a few miles of pavement.

Back on the TSDAT, A little further south, on BIA 2, the sun was shining.




I continued on towards Buffalo Gap. I've been through this small town several times before, and have always noticed this nice building for sale. The orange color makes me think the building would be suitable for either a KTM dealership, or a Hooter's restaurant. I don't think either of those businesses would do very well in Buffalo Gap, though.




Once on the west side of Buffalo Gap, the sky looked more ominous than ever, and it became clear I was going to get really wet again. Even if I bailed and took highway 79 home, it looked like I would still get rained on, so I decided to go ahead and finish the TSDAT. As I headed north into Custer Park, the rain started, and it was coming down pretty heavy.

I came across a small herd of wild donkeys taking shelter underneath a tree. Next to the tree, on the road, were two minivans of tourists, with the windows open, leaning out and trying to get photos of the donkeys in the pouring rain. I looked at this and wondered who was smarter, the donkeys or the tourists? I thought about opening my tank bag, getting the camera out, and taking a photo of this whole scene, but then realized that me taking a photo of the tourists taking a photo of the donkeys in the pouring rain would probably make me stupider than both of them, so I rode on.

The rain stopped as I exited the west side of the park, and I took this photo of some low clouds in the trees. These low clouds and fog were everywhere, and it was kind of surreal riding out of the park.




Although the rain in the park had stopped, nature had one more treat in store for me. As I left Custer, it started raining again, and rained all the way from Custer to Rapid City. I actually didn't mind this, as riding in the rain on pavement tends to wash off a lot of mud on your bike, and I figured it was less mud in the driveway for me to clean up.

Back home... here's the final tally. 2 1/2 days of riding, 1128 miles. About 700 miles of dirt and gravel, and at least 300 of that was quite muddy.




In spite of all the rain and mud, I really enjoyed riding the TSDAT. I think I'll ride it again someday, and take a couple more days, and hopefully have nicer weather, so I can stop and take a few more photos. It really is a great way to see South Dakota.

It is a fair amount of work to create a route like this. Thanks to sleddog for creating the route and making it public.

[Lonesome Dave]

Thanks for the report, well done.  I'm glad I wimped out, taking the Wee might not have ended so well! 

[Fletch]

Sounds like a great ride!! I have to do this sometime... thanks for the report

[Hank]

I definitely want to do that too.   Thanks for the great report!

You really covered some ground considering the lost time in the fog and the mud!

[The Yeti]

Great report Jim!

I would love to do this 2-up with the wife. Would you say that it's doable (if it's not muddy that is)? And, since the wife is not much in to tent camping, are there accommodations along the route that we wouldn't have to get too far off track to get to each night?

You said sleddog created the route - do you have a link to the map/route/tracks?

Loved the report, good work man.

[Bogus Jim]

I would love to do this 2-up with the wife. Would you say that it's doable (if it's not muddy that is)? And, since the wife is not much in to tent camping, are there accommodations along the route that we wouldn't have to get too far off track to get to each night?

You said sleddog created the route - do you have a link to the map/route/tracks?

I think this route is just about perfect for big bikes or 2-up. There are a few ruts so you have to pay attention, but as long it's dry, it should be a fun and relaxed ride. The route also has an easier option, that skips the more technical Nebraska side, but I think even the Nebraska side would be fine.

You could do the whole route in motels, maybe with stops in Mitchell, Pickstown, Pierre. The stretch from Pierre to Custer might be an issue but I think there's a small motel in Wasta... not 100% sure it's still open. If not then Wall is not too far.

The tracks are posted at the very bottom of this thread... they might be posted somewhere else too, but this is where I grabbed them.

http://www.dakotadualsportriders.com/smf/index.php?topic=1284.0

[Bogus Jim]

I found this article on Devil's Nest tonight. So I guess it really is a ghost town! And the tramway was actually a ski lift.

http://journalstar.com/news/local/jim-mckee-not-all-of-nebraska-s-ghost-towns-are/article_35f74029-24dc-500d-92a3-12c513ef6b4f.html

[tannerc]

Nice report.
I want to get this route done someday.. It was on this years to do list and just havent got it done.

one of these days...

[The Yeti]

I would love to do this 2-up with the wife. Would you say that it's doable (if it's not muddy that is)? And, since the wife is not much in to tent camping, are there accommodations along the route that we wouldn't have to get too far off track to get to each night?

You said sleddog created the route - do you have a link to the map/route/tracks?

I think this route is just about perfect for big bikes or 2-up. There are a few ruts so you have to pay attention, but as long it's dry, it should be a fun and relaxed ride. The route also has an easier option, that skips the more technical Nebraska side, but I think even the Nebraska side would be fine.

You could do the whole route in motels, maybe with stops in Mitchell, Pickstown, Pierre. The stretch from Pierre to Custer might be an issue but I think there's a small motel in Wasta... not 100% sure it's still open. If not then Wall is not too far.

The tracks are posted at the very bottom of this thread... they might be posted somewhere else too, but this is where I grabbed them.

http://dev.dakotadualsportriders.com/smf/index.php?topic=1284.0

Thanks Jim!

[sleddog]

Great RR Jim. Wonderful Pics too!

It is a great way to see our State from the Backside! I'm glad there are others that enjoy the route.

I've ridden most of the current version of the TSDAT 2-up on a wee Strom. If it's dry it's not a problem. As mentioned a few ruts here & there but if you pay attention it's good.

Motels  are available in Mitchell, Yankton, Niobrara, NE, Pickstown, Bonesteel, Kennebec, Midland, (http://www.stroppelhotel.net/about-us) Wall,  & Custer area.

Sleddog

[greatbuffalo]

Thanks for the report Jim, great job.

I've been down to the Devils Nest property and even know a guy from Scotland who owns two of the lots that were sold in the 70's. It has had a very rocky past. A lot of money thrown away on a poorly conceived resort. If they could have made it go it would have been pretty cool. That area though, Yankton and up river, have been in a state of decline or stagnation since about the time it was conceived. There was also several out of state investors that must have had a lot of trust in Guenzel and Dixon for then to talk them into such a scheme, sight unseen. I had had the notion to go down there at some time and ski the hill if given enough snow. After rambling around the property it was determined that the trails are far too overgrown to attempt such a feat . One of the other things that was not considered was the lack of snow that area gets. They did however, have a snow making system in place but it was sorely lacking the coverage that would have been needed to cover the hill with adequate snow.

I think what needs to be done is a long weekend or short week plan be put in place sometime next year for a group ride. This was attempted, and completed for the most part by a small group from MN leading up to the Spring Rally. I think they started with 6 and ended up with three at the end. Many issues plagued that group, rain being one, and a significant BMW crash being another.

I think that would be great fun and camp on the way. A lot of these small towns along the way have city park campgrounds or camping close by. I guess if you were far enough away from civilization you could pitch a tent most anywhere and no one would raise a hair.

Would be something to discuss at the Fall Rally.

[ORedenbacher]

I'm guessing you needed hot water for your Mountain House.  If so, what cooker do you use? 

Hope to do this route when it's dry.  Looks like some good SD scenery! 

[Bogus Jim]

I'm guessing you needed hot water for your Mountain House.  If so, what cooker do you use? 

I use a Jetboil Flash. It will boil water in about 2-4 minutes, and packs reasonably small.