Everywhere my eyes wandered in the Black Hills of South Dakota looked like a big, glossy photo in a coffee table book. From chalky-sienna cliffs to robust pine forests, picturesque views are commonplace. The ATV riding was anything but. Our ATV riding group wanted to experience a South Dakota adventure, so we booked plane tickets and flew into the Rapid City airport one hot autumn afternoon. Before embarking upon our ATV ride, though, we contacted a local South Dakota ATV riding club, the Off-Road Riders, to guide us through the territory. The ATV trail system in this area is expansive and unmapped. So, with the promise of lunch, the good people of the Off-Road Riders Association took us for a ride.
Upon landing at the airport, we knew we had left big-city urban sprawl far behind. The airport stood alone amidst a backdrop of hazy sky and the Black Hills. We collected our gear from the luggage conveyor and loaded into a 15-passenger van. We drove from the airport through Rapid City, which is the most urbanized of the places we visited in South Dakota. It looks much like a town anywhere across the country, complete with strip malls and fast food restaurants. We then drove through Deadwood, a town with oodles of character. It boasts saloons with sawdust-covered floors, casinos and an “Old West” feel out on the cobblestone streets. Here we felt like gunslingers as we saloon-hopped and dined at Kevin Costner’s restaurant (yes, that Kevin Costner).
After a quick bout of sightseeing, we lodged in Lead, South Dakota. Lead is a stone’s throw from the buzz of Deadwood, and is a quaint settlement, nestled into the steep hillsides of the Black Hills. The morning after we’d arrived in the Black Hills, we had a fleet of ATVs waiting for us. But, to get to the quads and the planned riding area, we had to drive about 30 minutes to the town of Nemo. The great thing about this section of South Dakota is the towns are generally close together, so a short, half-hour trip could get us to a different locale.
The base camp for our ATV ride was the Nemo Guest Ranch, which offers cabins, snacks and outdoor adventure.The ranch also features horse stables for outdoorsmen who prefer four-legged rides to four-wheeled ones. Of course, we opted for the latter. Our first ATV adventure of the day led us across the highway from the ranch and straight up, so it seemed. We maneuvered our 4WD quads through narrow gates, around an eternal forest of trees and up the Black Hills. The scenery here is best enjoyed when not seated on a running quad – looking around while riding will get an ATV rider in a heap of trouble quickly.
After struggling our way up the hill for about an hour, we pulled off the ATV trail for a rest and some water. As we shut our quads off, we noticed a cave nestled below the beaten path. We carefully stepped down into the cave, which wasn’t easy in riding boots. The warmth of the day evaporated with every step downward and the shade and moisture in the cave gave us a chance to cool down. We rested only briefly in the cave, because our excitement to see what awaited us on the ATV trail spurred us back into action. We climbed out of the cave, hopped back upon our quads, re-helmeted and rode upward.
We motored up the ATV trail, encountering dead-fall logs and massive rocks along the way. Every foot of this trail presented a challenge requiring uninterrupted focus. There weren’t many chances to take in the surroundings, so we recommend making frequent stops to enjoy the landscape. As we crawled to the top of the mountain, at an elevation of around 4,000 feet, we again pulled off the ATV trail. The view was dizzying and beautiful. The lush pine forests stretched forever below us, and the hills swooped up gracefully from the valley where the Nemo Guest Ranch stands. With the clear, blue sky as a background, the view was astonishing. Looking down, though, was more of an adrenaline rush – the thought of falling from that cliff still jerks me from sleep every once in a while.
It took us an hour and a half to reach the highest elevation, and the descent took almost twice as long. That may seem mixed up, but trust us, going down isn’t always as easy as going up. This is not an excursion for first-time ATV riders. The downhill trail had us gripping the bars tighter than normal. And our eyes bulged in a couple of sections. And, I muttered a few things in my helmet during some hairy moments that I’m glad no one else heard. As we descended, we rode over piles of fallen logs and skidded and slid our way down the trail. Just when we thought we could catch our breath after the log slip-and-slide, we reached a step-down rock section. The rock walls of the hill were tight. There was enough room to fit a quad through this pass with about two inches of extra space on each side. Every step down, a total of six, was about a foot-and-a-half steep, which caused the ATV to teeter on its front wheels with each drop.
We wouldn’t let the Hills intimidate us, though. We focused on conquering them without being conquered ourselves.
In fact, we were so focused, and so deep in the wooded heart of the trails, that we didn’t notice storm clouds gathering above us. After the rocky steps, another log-fall section opened up before us, and the sky above unleashed a rain storm. The freshly watered logs rolled and slipped under the tires of our ATVs. The trail was tough when it was dry, and a steady rain made it even more difficult. Thankfully, the rain lightened just as we survived the last log fall and found a fire road to ride. After struggling over slick logs, slippery rocks and muddy trails, the soft, semi-wet sand of the fire road was a welcome relief. We rode this part of the trail exponentially faster than the technical parts. And, the sunshine returned to dry our gear before the ride was over.