- Distance: 45.1 Miles (72.58 km)
- Rating: 4-A, Intensely technical corners with a glorious backdrop with wandering herds of wildlife. Ratings Explained »
- Travel: Either direction for best results
- Start: Junction of SD-16 and the Wildlife Loop Road
- End: Junction of SD-87 and SD-16
- Fuel: None on the route, but there is gas a few miles to west in Custer, SD
- Along the Way: This is Custer State Park, so there's a lot to see and do along the way. Don't be in such a hurry to take advantage of the spectacular riding to miss the sights along the way.
- Highlights: The southern end of route, where it connects with SD-385 is some of the best riding imaginable. Be sure to go out of your way to ride these corners.
- Advisories: This is a State Park with a "wildlife" loop, so don't get too crazy. There are lots of animals milling about including large herds of roaming bison. We've been charged at and chased, so be careful. There's also going to be the typical "park" traffic to be careful of.
Summary
Once you enter Custer State Park, take the first turn south onto the Wildlife Loop Road. The road will meander for a bit then cross a massive valley where you can expect to see the lions share of the wildlife. Be particularly mindful of the bison as they will charge motorcycles. Loud pipes seem to exacerbate the problem, we recommend a willingness to lane-split to avoid confrontations even though local law enforcement may not agree.
Lots of rolling hills and the road meanders around and over hills, through gully's and draws as it makes its way back towards SD-87. As you can imagine, the topography and narrow, two-lane road makes for fantastic riding. When it connects back to SD-87 the road will widen, you'll be tempted to turn north and head back into the heart of the Black Hills, but that would be stupid. Instead, turn south and enjoy. The road is wider and the asphalt is in better condition, which is saying something because all the roads here seem to be nearly perfect. Slow corners sweep gloriously through tree's and hills before the terrain, and the road, becomes even more technical with circling, bridging pigtails and enough elevation change to make Laguna Seca's corkscrew jealous.
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Rate This Road
Have you ridden this road? How would you rate it? With one star meaning you thought this was a super-lame road with very little value, to five stars meaning that you felt like this was the mother of all roads - a road by which other roads should be judged.
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Ratings Explained
The CanyonChasers road rating is two parts. The first part, numbers 1 through 5, describe how technical the road is, with number 1 being a gently sweeping road and number five being very technical with challenging corners. The second part of the rating is a letter, A, B, C, D and F. The letter describes the quality of the road surface with A being perfect, pristine smooth and F being degraded, bumpy and crumbly. Rolling joints, tar-stips or "gummy worms" will drop the road one letter grade.
This road information is for planning and recreational purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the CanyonChasers ratings. Ratings may not be applicable to all riders, all bikes and all skill levels.