The Black Hills BackBone Double Grande.
A new rough road bikepacking route that winds from the North Dakota/South Dakota border to Camp Crook, cuts across the southeastern corner of Montana, and climbs into northeastern Wyoming to Devil's Tower National Monument. It then climbs higher into the Bear Lodge Mountains, drops into Sundance, re-enters the Black Hills zig-zagging along the barely populated Wyoming/South Dakota border, climbs to Lookout Towers atop Warren Peak, Cement Ridge, Flag Mountain, and Elk Mountain, dives into the canyons of the far southwestern reaches of the Black Hills, and descends onto grasslands streaking to the South Dakota/Nebraska border.
The BackBone Double Grande is 481 miles of remote, rough road bikepacking, with very few re-supply opportunities, limited water sources, and practically no cell service for many, many miles. The "roads" include USFS Primary, Secondary, and Low Standard Roads, roads closed to motorized traffic, abandoned roads, trails, and lesser paths. There's very little pavement. Note that there is almost 30,000' of elevation gain, mostly on rougher forest service roads. For me, this is a route for a mountain bike with mountain bike gearing and 2.2" or wider tires.
More details ahead later this year, with section-by-section reports and images. For now, here's a digital map. BackBone Double Grande.
The BackBone Double Grande is for experienced, self-sufficient, well-prepared bikepackers. Not for the casual rider. Not for the toe-dipper. Not for the uninitiated.
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| The BackBone Double Grande drops into Red Bird Canyon on USFS Low Standard Road 376. |
The real magic of the BackBone Double Grande emerges when connecting it to the BackBone Grande.
The Double Grande start at the North Dakota/South Dakota border is the northern terminus of the BackBone Grande. The Double Grande finish at the Nebraska/South Dakota border is the southern terminus of the BackBone Grande.
Combining the 481 mile BackBone Double Grande with the 421 mile BackBone Grande forms one big, bad, remote road bikepacking experience through the best of our Black Hills and surrounding prairie.
This has been a long time coming.
I created my original BackBone Grande route specifically for bikepacking the best rough roads across the State of South Dakota along the spine of the Black Hills and across the surrounding prairie. See, Introducing the BackBone Grande. By its very nature, it was a point-to-point route, like its inspiration, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. See, Yes, Point-to-Point.
Almost immediately after publishing the BackBone Grande in January 2023, however, I began receiving requests for a return route, i.e., to create a loop from the finish at the North Dakota border back to the start at the Nebraska border. But I just wanted to ride the route, not in bits and pieces over years, but as a through-ride accumulating miles, challenges, thoughts, and emotions as continuously presented. I needed a single, long through-ride to fully experience the BackBone Grande.
So, in June 2023, I rode the first through-ride of the BackBone Grande with bikepacking buddy Paul Brasby. See, BackBone Grande - The First Through-Ride. I loved it. Afterward, I tweaked a couple of stretches and later added more amazing tracks through Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. See, e.g., The Challenge of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Eventually, I created a Page compiling all my BackBone Grande posts to help others intrigued by the possibility of such an experience. BackBone Grande Page.
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| Abandoned two-track, now barely one-track, leading to Hell Canyon, just north of Jewel Cave National Monument. Part of the BackBone Double Grande. |
With the BackBone Grande completed in every way, I finally started to visualize a return route, which I decided to call the "BackBone Double Grande." Unlike the BackBone Grande, this return route would not be limited to the State of South Dakota, so I looked westward into a sliver of Montana and chunks of Wyoming. And I decided to amp up the logistical challenges by venturing more remote than the BackBone Grande. This would not be "more of the same," but a markedly different experience, not for the uninitiated. See, BackBone Double Grande - A Work In Progress.
Since late Summer of 2023, I researched possible routes by scouring digital and paper maps, reviewing reports and images of prior rides by myself and others, and, most importantly, physically scouting possibilities by Jeep and by Jones. The bikepacking options out here are an outright embarrassment of riches.
All that takes time. For example, just to drive highways to the Nebraska border near Ardmore is a solid 2 hours one-way from Rapid City. The North Dakota border start is about 3 hours one-way. Areas further west and more remote take longer.
But the real time sink is scouting as many roads and near-roads as possible to select and connect the very best for the intended route. With virtually unlimited mapped and unmapped tracks spider-webbing the public lands of the Black Hills National Forest, that can be a never-ending task. Out in the prairie, with a high percentage of land privately owned, the options of public roads and paths shrink dramatically. But it all still takes time.
So, since 2023, I have continued to piece together a BackBone Double Grande route. Sometimes, all roads that I follow lead to nothing particularly unique or even to dead-ends. Sometimes, scouting for other routes, like the new BackBone Buffet or the next Black Hills Bounty, leads me to roads and trails that I am compelled to include on the Double Grande. See, e.g., Red Bird Canyon.
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| Looking back on USFS Low Standard Road 818.1A near the summit of Elk Mountain. (image by Paul Brasby) |
Now, three years after introducing the BackBone Grande bikepacking route, I'm finally introducing the BackBone Double Grande.
It's all out there.
Time for a through-ride.
