Day 5-

Our first morning at "base camp" for the Hills.

What a great place. This pic was with morning dew still on the windshield...






...it was still in the upper 40's when we went for a little 15 mile putt around the local area. Here we are headed back to camp to get ready for a day out, exploring the roads between Cheyenne Crossing, Deadwood and Spearfish.







As we were getting ready to leave for the day, you can see the hail falling...







...Mary got a photo of me looking at the stuff, thinking, "WHAT is this, and why isn't it melting?" lol







On the road now. There are miles of nice sweepers (and some tighter curves) between camp and Lead...







...there is nothing like flying through roads like this, what a great place to ride...








..."look ma, no hands". 







There is some road work going on around Lead & Deadwood...getting ready for the Sturgis rally.







Riding down the main drag in Deadwood. We parked and did a bit of walking around the shops...







...then headed back the way we came, toward Spearfish Canyon. Neither Mary nor I wanted to go into a hole in the side of a mountain, seems like riding a motorcycle is Much Safer than that. lol

As we left Deadwood, we got hailed on again. That is not a dirty lens on Mary's camera. lol






But it did not last long, soon we were seeing some blue sky, along with some less wet clouds!







Running the same sweepers again, opposite direction. Mary In The Mirror!







We're in Spearfish Canyon now...






...it is the perfect combination of a fun road to ride, along with amazing views.







A look back-







It is stunningly picturesque...








...which is one of the reasons it is one of Mary's favorite roads to ride.







While it is short, it offers some great sweepers...







...and a few tighter curves as well. 

Spearfish Canyon...






...what a great day to be riding it...







...Mary is getting a ton of great cloud pics...








...we're both really enjoying the road & the views.








It is a classic American scenic byway.








Old Hydro Electro Plant-








Don't want to jinx myself, but as far as the speed limit, I ride at the speed that is safe for the road conditions and the traffic...







...and there's been very little traffic, and very little 35 mph speeds today. 








Caught the waterfall on the fly. We'll stop for a better pic on the way back.







Absolutely amazing road to appreciate....both the riding and the views!

It's cold today....




...but with the electric jackets, the views and...






...the lack of traffic, the high 40's/low 50's are totally worth it!





Here we are in Spearfish. First time we need to do a bit of grocery shopping this trip, and what better way to do it than a round trip via Spearfish Canyon.






This is a motel that we stayed in for 3 or 4 days about 5 years ago.





Downtown Main Street...lots of good memories of this town-





Shopping's done, back riding Spearfish Canyon, the opposite direction.





Leaned over, coming out of a sharp curve...







...this is a road that just begs to be ridden in a "spirited" manner. 






I don't know how many times we'd have to ride it to get tired of it.

What a great road, the curves and the views-




Stopped at the waterfall....






...for Mary to get a photo...





...and one more, looking back as we ride away.





This is my kind of road...





...the scenery is endless...





...and the curves just keep coming.




We were really fortunate for nice cool weather and a relatively traffic free day! 



Just stunning!!!

Looking up the side of the canyon wall from the bike...





...the photo's don't really show how steep and tall they are. Quite a sight in person!





What a day it has been...thru Cheyenne Crossing, over the hill, thru Lead, to Deadwood. Back thru Lead and over the curvy hill again, back thru Cheyenne Crossing.

Then up thru Spearfish Canyon...a bit of nostalgia wandering around Spearfish a bit. Then back thru the Canyon again. 


Now we've gone thru Cheyenne Crossing a 3rd time and are on the 5 mile narrow road leading to our "camp" site.

This is one of 6 wooden bridges we cross on this road.




It is a very nice, picturesque ribbon of asphalt. The last half mile before camp is a nice hard-packed gravel road.





Back at our "own little private lake"...







...we went for a walk around the lake...






...the stream is quite cold and moving quickly.






Great way to wrap up a fantastic day of riding!

Day 6 HERE