Well, it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well, it's all right, even if the sun don't shine
Well, it's all right, we're going to the end of the line.
End Of The Line, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty (1989).
The BackBone Grande is my 420+ mile backroad bikepacking route across the State of South Dakota along the spine of the Black Hills and through the surrounding prairie. Inspired by my experience riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, I designed it to create that type of experience here in my back yard. Tracking rough roads that showcase the best of our scenery, history, culture, and wildlife, the BackBone Grande is a great ride on its own and as a shakedown for the GDMBR. For a collection of my stories all about it, go the BackBone Grande Page.
For those more visual learners, I've selected images along the route from various scouting trips, the first through-ride, and other rides. Here is my seventh installment of the BackBone Grande Visual Tour, from the town of Buffalo to the North Dakota border (miles 380-421).
From the cowboy town of Buffalo, the BackBone Grande continues to streak across the Northern Prairie on solid county gravel past large cattle ranches. Then, with the North Dakota border practically within sight, a fun Low Standard Road climbs to a forested, lumpy oasis in the midst of millions of acres of grassland. It's a lonely outcropping of Custer Gallatin National Forest, with the surprising Picnic Springs Campground waiting on top.
This isn't part of the Black Hills, but rather a farewell gift of a final, backcountry gem before the border.
Rolling out of Buffalo on Lyons Road (Old Highway 85). (image by Paul Brasby)
Further east on Lyons Road.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Turning north on Brown-Johnson Road.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Approaching a big ranch on Brown-Johnson Road.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Wily fox surveys from a unique vantage point.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Pondering the journey ahead on South Cave Road.
(image by Paul Brasby)
South Cave Road looks to be climbing toward some hills.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Surprising evergreen-topped lumps ahead along Tufte Road. What's that doing out here?
Tufte Road starts to climb up that valley.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Climbing in earnest on Tufte Road.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Turning off Tufte Road onto USFS Low Standard Road 3123. (image by Paul Brasby)
Another sweeping switchback on Road 3123. (image by Paul Brasby)
Topping out. (image by Paul Brasby)
Another curve leads to another pitch. (image by Paul Brasby)
It's not flat on top.
Still rolling around on Road 3123.
Road 3123. (image by Paul Brasby)
Approaching Fuller Pass.
A view from USFS Picnic Springs Campground in Custer Gallatin National Forest. It feels like you're back in the Black Hills.
No reservation, no fee, first-come-first-served USFS campground, with 9 sites and 2 group sites. Spring water, picnic tables, fire pits, and vault toilets.
Looking back toward Buffalo from Picnic Springs Campground.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Cresting Fuller Pass on Road 3123.
(image by Paul Brasby)
Time to descend.
Fuller Pass Road, USFS Low Standard Road 4113.
Dropping back onto the prairie on Fuller Pass Road. (image by Paul Brasby)
Final stretch to the border on Rhame Road. (image by Paul Brasby)
Mile 0. The border between South Dakota and North Dakota.
Will you leave me in peace while I get the job done
Can't you see I'm working
Oh, oh, I'm working on it
Oh, oh, I'm working on it
Working On It, Chris Rea (1989)
The BackBone Grande (blue line above) is complete. The BackBone DoubleGrande (red line above) is deep in beta testing, but will look something like this.
I created my 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 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.
Everybody loves bikepacking through Devil's Tower National Monument!
With the BackBone Grande completed in every way, I finally started to visualize a return route, what I decided to call the "BackBone DoubleGrande." 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.
Into the Fall of 2023 and continuing still, I have been researching 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.
Great spot for lunch in the Bear Lodge Mountains of Wyoming. (image by Kevin Fox)
All that takes time. For example, just to drive highways to the North Dakota border is about 3 hours one-way from Rapid City. The Nebraska border start of the BackBone Grande is a solid 2 hours one-way. Areas further west and more remote take even 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. In Black Hills National Forest, that may be a never-ending task, with virtually unlimited mapped and unmapped tracks spider-webbing the public lands of the Black Hills. 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.
Back in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota.
So, from the Fall of 2023, throughout 2024, and now into 2025, I have continued to piece together a BackBone DoubleGrande route. Sometimes, seemingly 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 DoubleGrande. See, e.g., Red Bird Canyon.
As shown in the map above, the BackBone DoubleGrande generally will wind from the North Dakota border at the end of the BackBone Grande to Camp Crook, cut across the southeastern corner of Montana, and climb into northeastern Wyoming at Devil's Tower National Monument. It then climbs further into the Bear Lodge Mountains, drops into Sundance, re-enters the Black Hills zig-zagging the Wyoming/South Dakota border, traverses the western reaches of the Black Hills, and descends into grasslands leading to the Nebraska border, connecting to the start of the BackBone Grande.
Red Bird Canyon in the Southern Black Hills.
As of now, the BackBone DoubleGrande totals 446.5 miles/27,373' elevation gain. For reference, the BackBone Grande totals 421.3 miles/23,875' elevation gain. Ride those two routes as one, big, bad loop of 867.8 miles/51,248' elevation gain.
Once completed, that will be one Grande way to experience the greater Black Hills area.
But there's still work to be done. ETA of published route - January 2026.
Ten years ago, I published the first post on this blog by introducing the Black Hills BackBone.
It was not a race, or public event, or "Grand Depart," or anything like that. It was just a route that I created to ride myself. Then I created this blog to document my journey, in part as a digital scrapbook and in part to share my experience with others. Three years later, I added the DoubleBackBone because, sometimes, more is more.
That all started another 10 years of exploring thousands of miles of gravel and dirt backcountry roads throughout the Black Hills and out into the surrounding prairie. And beyond. It's been a ride.
Here's a link to theBlack Hills BackBone & DoubleBackBone Page, which describes the routes in detail and links a series of posts sharing maps, images, logistics, and ride reports.
The broad shoulders of Flag Mountain reveal the granite peaks of the Central Black Hills.
Inspired by the cross-country routes of the TransAmerican Trail and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route of the Adventure Cycling Association, and by the cross-state races of the original TransIowa, Gut Check 212, and similar races, I wondered whether I could create a remote road route on primarily gravel and dirt roads that spanned the height of the State of South Dakota along the spine of the Black Hills. That whimsical daydream led to many hours of scouring maps, scouting back roads, and pedaling all over Western South Dakota. There seemed to be no end of options.
I struggled with this route, primarily because the Black Hills National Forest offers a staggering number of amazing roads to ride. Scouting a promising road invariably leads to more. At some point, I simply had to stop, prioritize, and choose. The Black Hills BackBone is the result. Here are the cue sheets, from the route first published in January 2015 and updated in 2017. Black Hills BackBone Cue Sheets. Here's a link to a RideWithGPS file that I created in 2021 from those cue sheets. Black Hills BackBone - 2021 Digital Map. And here's a Page with links to posts, photos and maps. Black Hills BackBone Page.
Riding into the sunset at the finish of our 2017 Black Hills BackBone. Rob Sorge, Dave Litzen, Shaun Arritola & Craig Groseth (photo by Corinne Sorge)
Over the years, many cyclists have asked about the BackBone and I know of several other attempts. For example, on a cold, rainy Memorial Day weekend in 2019, an intrepid group of eight cycling enthusiasts from Colorado made a run at it. On that particular weekend of difficult conditions, they rode about as much of the route as one reasonably could. They said they had a great time, particularly their Day 3 from O'Neil Pass to Custer, and have returned to ride Black Hills back roads every year since. New Friends On The BackBone.
The Black Hills BackBone is one memorable ride across the State of South Dakota.
But wait, there's more.
Miles and miles of remote back roads on the Black Hills DoubleBackBone. Self-sufficiency required.
Say you've ridden the Black Hills BackBone all the way to the STOP sign finish at the Nebraska border. A celebration is certainly in order, along with the photo or two. But then imagine turning pedals westerly on Dakota Line Road to access the Wild, Wild Western reaches of the Black Hills. Back there, a serpentine network of barely used gravel and dirt roads await for you to wind generally north for a return trip back to the North Dakota border.
Now, that's one big, bad loop. 330 miles to add to the BackBone, making over 640 miles, all told.
Sometimes, more is more. More rolling prairie patrolled by herds of cattle, buffalo, pronghorn, and elk. More obscure canyons scoured by flash floods. More twisty ridge lines climbing to soaring views. More hills stuffed with pine and aspen. More dirt near-roads connecting with Secondary Forest Service gravel. And even more remote than the easterly side of the loop, which is a bit hard to believe until you're out there.
The Black Hills DoubleBackBone, like the original BackBone, is just a route that I think is fun and challenging, however one chooses to experience it. Solo or group. One continuous ride, a series of days, or in sections over time. Self-supported, shuttled, or fully supported. Maybe some combination or even all of the above.
Can't wait to see what's around that corner on USFS Low Standard Road 376.
I love to scout back roads and near-roads. I'd be out there at very opportunity, no matter where I lived.
But I'm fortunate to live in Rapid City, South Dakota, the very gateway into Black Hills National Forest. The number and variety of public gravel and dirt roads here is staggering. I regularly set out to explore them, by Jones and by Jeep, and still find new-to-me gems. I love it.
Earlier this week, I scouted an area for my developing BackBone DoubleGrande bikepacking route and for a possible 2025 Black Hills Bounty ride. This area, north and west of Jewel Cave National Monument, still shows scars from the 2000 Jasper fire that burned more than 83,000 acres of forest. The spider web of roads and two tracks resulting from that fire fighting, and the on-going ranching and logging, create virtually limitless possibilities for riding. Every time I go back there, I find something new and amazing.
This time, I ran into dead-ends, where the maps showed that the road went through to connect with another road. I also encountered roads that went through, where the maps showed dead-ends. It was a challenging day to make some sense of it all and to sort through possible routes.
Then, late afternoon, after hours of annoyance with inaccurate maps and unmarked roads, I stumbled into Red Bird Canyon. Stunning. Simply stunning.
One way or another, this canyon will be part of the BackBone DoubleGrande and the possible 2025 Black Hills Bounty. And this is yet another reminder to keep at it. Eventually, it's all worthwhile.
Pictures fail to express the beauty of this 13 mile stretch of gold. But I felt compelled to share some here.
I can't wait to get back out there.
Climbing up to the ridge line above Spring Canyon on USFS Low Standard Road 280.
USFS Low Standard Road 376.3B tries to connect with Red Bird Canyon Road (376).
Entering Red Bird Canyon from the south on USFS Secondary Road 376.
A little further along northbound on USFS Secondary Road 376.
Canyon walls closing in on USFS Secondary Road 376.
Road roughens on what is now USFS Low Standard Road 376.
