Black Hills Ride

[loingrader]

nice work jason.  so since fish-n-fry may be closed by that weekend, anyone got some suggestions of places to camp?  whispering pines? any others?

-bret

[fringefan]

The national cemetary exit has a camp group which only costs $6 but the best you metrosexuals can get is a outhouse and a stream.

[Hank]

Whistler / Deadwod gulch isn't even close to rustic, but a kick butt trail leaves right out the back.

[Hank]

I can live with a stream for a couple days 

[joedaddy]

On another 48 that friday/Saturday but would like to ride with you guys on Sunday if you'll still be riding.

[loingrader]

i'm planning on riding till 4pm or so on sunday.

any of you black hills locals want to volunteer to nail down the camping location/details?

fish-n-fry is my first choice, but they will not know until later whether they will be open that weekend or not.

after that, all i need is a place to pitch a tent.  i can clean my own drinking water, and don't need to shower for a few days. 

-bret

[fringefan]

The national Cemetary exit has a nice camp ground and it is just off the interstate or I think we could again find a place around deadwood or farther south.

There was that campground we passed just outside of Rochford (i think) that ran along the trail and had a stream running through it.

I think the cemetary exit would be the easiest to find and Sturgis is only a few miles away.

[The Yeti]

If we're gonna try to stay with the less expensive camping, we're probably best off sticking with this list of BH National Forest Campgrounds:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/recreation/camping/index.shtml

I'm thinking Boxelder Forks - 2 miles from Nemo (restaurant, store), pretty cool trails all around the Nemo area. More centrally located than Deadwood. Has drinking water, no showers. $15 per night/per site, up to 6 people...soooo (carry the one...), that's about $2.50 a night, per person. No reservations, but I don't think we'll have a problem that time of year. Dalton Lake is kinda cool, has fishing, and not too far from Nemo either.

Here's a big list of privately owned campgrounds in the Black Hills:

http://www.blackhillscampgrounds.com/

I'm not familiar with many (if any) of these. I'm not too familiar with camping around here in general, haven't done much in quite awhile, and back in the day, we only camped at Dalton most of the time...so, my knowledge is very limited. If any of these grab anyone's interest, let me know and I'll call to check 'em out.

I didn't camp at the Fish n Fry, so have no idea how it compares in price/ammenities...you guys that stayed there will have to make that call. But, we don't even know if they'll be open...........edit: just called and they said that Sept 15th is their last day.   

One question: on the above list, there's a column for "Open in Winter", for Boxelder Forks it has a "P"...I'm assuming that means "Partial"...so, what's partial??

Okay, just checked with Whistler Gulch in Deadwood...$18-$20 per tent, per night.   You think we can all cram into one really big tent??     They have showers, but no food, just a small convenience store.

What'cha all think?

[loingrader]

nice work promo!  boxelder forks sounds great to me.  remote, cheap, central locale, close to trails. 

what more could you want?

-bret

[The Yeti]

nice work promo!  boxelder forks sounds great to me.  remote, cheap, central locale, close to trails. 

what more could you want?

-bret

Yeah, and it's close to Nemo Guest Ranch, who has a pretty good little restaurant that's open year round, especially for breakfast. Last time I was there was quite some time ago, but they used to have pancakes as big as your plate! Cheap, too.

[fringefan]

Sounds good to me. I know places like Sheridan and Pactola run around 20 a night per site.

[The Yeti]

Just called NFS and there are only 3 sites open at Box Elder Forks that time of year (most NFS campgrounds close completly the week after Labor Day). Each site can accomodate 8 people. So, let's hope that all 3 sites are open when we get there. 

[loingrader]

if by some strange occurance, we don't have enough room for our tents, i'll volunteer to pitch my tent somewhere fairly close but outside of the box elder campground.  this is free and perfectly legal.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/blackhills/faq/index.shtml#q5

one month and counting...

-bret

[fringefan]

We won't have any problems. The Hills pretty much shuts down after labor day so I doubt we will have any problems and if we do it is easier to ask forgivness than ask permission

[The Yeti]

Yeah, I don't think anyone is even gonna check on us at all, pretty empty that time of year. I think we could probably use the whole campground without any trouble...