Spearfish, SD to Devil’s Tower, WY, Through Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood to Custer, SD

219.06 Miles | 4:51 Riding Time

It’s Tuesday, July 23, 2024, and it’s Day 104 of my cross country motorcycle trip.

Ever since Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I’ve wanted to visit Devil’s Tower. Admittedly, I wanted to make a model of it out of mashed potatoes as well. This morning, I was going to go check it out.

Whenever I’m approaching a landmark, I always wonder around which turn or over which hill will I have my first glimpse of it. I wonder what the first people to see this thing off in the distance thought. It’s big, and it’s bigger than anything around it. Nature is pretty cool.

Back to Spearfish, where I rode Spearfish Canyon. You’ll have to trust me that it’s a beautiful ride, because my camera got tilted up and I didn’t notice. So, I have about two hours of mostly the tops of trees. I grabbed some of salvageable shots of the canyon walls and Bridal Veil Falls. What you don’t get to see is the town of Deadwood, and the construction on RT-385 South to Custer. You can trust me that it was not pleasant waiting for the pilot vehicle and traversing the gravel and dirt for many miles.

Dinner in Custer at a local place was good, and I met a bunch of other bikers there. One couple was on a cross-country trip as well, and we became Facebook friends. They and another group of riders were staying at my hotel as well. It would not be the last time I saw all of these folks.

The Route