Introducing the BackBone Bonanza

With a household of friends, where the rainbow ends

On this land, we put our brand, Cartwright is the name

Fortune smiled the day we filed the Ponderosa claim

Here in the West, we're livin' the best - Bonanza

With the friendliest, fightenist, lovingest band

That ever set foot in the Promised Land

And we're happier than them all

That's why we call it - Bonanza ... Bonanza ... Bonanza

Bonanza!

Bonanza Theme Song, Ray Evans & Jay Livingston (1959)

After riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in 2021, I set out to create a Great Divide type of experience right here in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Over the next two years, I spent most of my cycling energy scouting hundreds of rough roads, abandoned roads, and near roads in and around the Black Hills, adding to my ever expanding data base. Eventually,  I stitched together the cross-state 421 mile BackBone Grande, my signature bikepacking route that I published in 2023 and rode later that year. In the years since, I created a variety of looped bikepacking routes to showcase the very best of our Black Hills and surrounding prairie.

See, e.g., BackBone Breakout (90 miles); BackBone Buffet (205 miles); BackBone Grande (421 miles) and Double Grande (481 miles), (together forming a 902 mile loop). See, also, Black Hills Bounty Routes (various distances, but generally 4-6 days). 

Now, I finally completed the BackBone Bonanza, a new 424 mile loop that combines parts of the BackBone Breakout, BackBone Buffet, BackBone Grande, and BackBone Double Grande with new connectors. Here's a RideWithGPS file - BackBone Bonanza.

As with the other nested loops, the BackBone Bonanza starts in Hill City, follows the first bit of the the BackBone Breakout and BackBone Buffet, bursts out of the Northern Black Hills on the BackBone Grande, sling-shots around on a new connector and back into the Black Hills on the BackBone Double Grande, stretches further into the Southern Hill on another new connector, and eventually climbs back to Hill City on the BackBone Grande and BackBone Buffet.

Here's a brief breakdown of the BackBone Bonanza.

Hill City Start (northbound)

1. BackBone Grande to 196th Street, north of Spearfish - 113 miles/113 total

2. NEW from 196th to Boundary Road to connect with BackBone Double Grande - 25 miles/138 total

3. BackBone Double Grande from Boundary Road to Pleasant Valley Road - 184 miles/322 total

4. NEW from Pleasant Valley Road to Boland Ridge Road to connect with Grande - 30 miles/352 total

5. BackBone Grande from Boland Ridge Road to Custer - 31 miles/383 total

6. BackBone Buffet from Custer to Hill City - 41 miles/424 total

Total = 424 miles/32,922' gain

Those familiar with the family of BackBone bikepacking routes will recognize the names of many of those rough roads in the BackBone Bonanza. I connected some favorite sections of favorite routes to create a unique 424 mile loop that covers much of the Black Hills, with a short jaunt into the surrounding prairie. 

I can't wait to ride it.

At a touring pace of 40-50 miles/day, the BackBone Bonanza will take 8-10 days. At a slightly more robust pace of 60-70 miles/day, it will be 6-7 days.

Of course, one can always go faster, even much faster, if that's your jam. You do you.

The BackBone Bonanza, and the rest of the BackBone bikepacking route family, are out there waiting for you.

Bonanza Theme Song (1959).

Bonanza Theme Song, Johnny Cash (1962)