Motorcycles in Black Hills, South Dakota

To start off, I have a little piece of advice.  I would not suggest being in Mount Rushmore and surrounding area the week of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  We arrived in Wall, South Dakota our 3rd night and thought we were staying at a "biker hotel."  Little did we know, this was just the beginning.  When I was booking hotels, I was very surprised how expensive the hotels were even an hour drive from Mount Rushmore.  Little did I know, it was also at the same time as what seemed like the worlds biggest biker get-together.  So that explains it a little.  


In our hotel, there was a garbage can (clean) with towels in it just for washing/polishing your bike so the hotel towels were kept white.  This is how intense this was.  Once we figured out what was going on around us, I did a little research online.  Here are some of the statistics I found...

• On average, there are 500 000 bikers in attendance
• This has been going on for 71 years
• There are around 100 marriage licenses issued every year
• In 2005, it made 15 million dollars
• In 2005, 705 tons of garbage was hauled
• In 2004, there were over 79 000 motorcycles

All of the bikers were very friendly, but they were everywhere.  And that is an understatement.  Swarming.  Dane compared it to a swarm of black flies.  So when you wonder why there are so many bikers in the photos, this is why.