Road trip planning from Seattle to the Black Hills - ideas and suggestions

[jacksonman]

Greetings!  My wife and I are going on a road trip on our new-to-us Norge from Seattle to the Black Hills.  So far I have planned the first night in Lewiston ID, then the Lolo Pass to Bozeman then to West Yellowstone for our second night.  Then see some of Yellowstone on our way to the Bear Tooth to Red Lodge, then SE to Greybull, WY for night 3.  Then cut through the Big Horns (not sure if the northern road or southern is preferred) and on to Spearfish, SD for night 4.  I know there will be some relatively high miles on some of these legs, but we have a timeline to keep.  So...

Who has suggestions on this trip?  First question I have is should we spend a couple hours touring the Seattle area (we're not familiar with Seattle), or hit the highway towards Coeur d'Alene then south to Lewiston ID?  Anything interesting from Red Lodge to the west side of the Big Horns, and which route through the Big Horns is best?  I'm familiar with the Black Hills.  This is a one time trip (I said that three years ago on a similar ride through Yellowstone  ), so I want to do it right!!

Thanks for all who can offer advice.

Paul

[Daniel Kalal]

so I want to do it right!!

- all the roads (save all the freeway you'll be on) or good, so you can't really go wrong.  Don't worry about getting "all the good ones."
- I'd skip Seattle if it meant you had time to take US20 across the top of WA.
- US12 across Idaho is a pretty route
- of the three (14A, 14, 16) crossings I'd favor 14 (Shell canyon), but they're all nice enough.
- try to replace all your freeway miles with the equiv. US highway.

[fotoguzzi]

Little Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument
Montana?

I've not been there but will go next timme I'm out west..

[wavedog]

When you stop in Lewiston be sure to take the time to ride the old Spiral hiway. Its short, but lots of fun. Think about taking the time to ride Rattlesnake grade also. Especially if this is a one time trip. Lolo is a nice ride. Beartooth pass and Chief Joseph hiway are really good rides. Whatever you do it will be a great ride. Have fun.

[cloudbase]

Check out the Chief Joseph Highway in Wyoming.

[dilligaf]

Take the

to

and take the Yellowhead HWY to
 
and turn south


and the Black Hills

and do the ride back in reverse. 
Matt

[jacksonman]

  :1:

 JM , you stated a familiarity with the Black Hills , have you visited the Wind Cave ?

  Dusty

Yes, I toured the Wind Cave two years ago with my daughter.  Pretty wild.  I love the Black Hills!  Needles, Pigtails, Spearfish Canyon - looking forward to this trip for sure!

[Karl Von]

I rode from St Pete FL to Seattle and back.  On the way out we sent through Wall SD, the Badlands, the Iron Mount Road, My Rushmore, Big Horn Pass Yellowstone and the Cascades Mtns, on the way back we hit the  Crater Lake, Lava Beds National Park on the CA-Oregon boarder, Devils Tower, Utah Salt basin and ran up through Vale.   The Badlands, Crater Lake and the Lava Beds were amazing.
Big Horn Pass and the Iron Mountain road had great scenery.

Enjoy the trip

[rodekyll]

Can't go wrong with your route this time of year.

Two hours to tour Seattle should get you from anywhere on the Seattle freeways to an off ramp.  I'd pass on the Puget Sound corridor altogether and beat feed east. 

Someone mentioned the No. Cascades highway.  It's a world-class bike route.  I take it whenever I can work it into my trip plan.

[Charles in Lake Charles]

Red Lodge to Worland, Wyo to Buffalo, Wyoming via US 16 (Bighorn National Forest) is also a good route. 

[jacksonman]

Thanks for all the advice  .  We had a great time on our new-to-us Norge.  Dave from Moto International in Seattle is awesome  !  We had to shorten up our first day so it was I90 to Coeur d'Alene, then to Lewiston so we could do the Lolo to Missoula.  Then we shortened day two by skipping West Yellowstone so we spent the second night in Bozeman then shot over to Red Lodge for the Beartooth to Chief Joseph and into Cody for dinner, then to Greybull for our third night (awesome people at the Historic Hotel Greybull).  Then route 14 from Shell to Sheridan through the Bighorns - more awesomeness!  Then some more freeway time to get to Spearfish SD for night 4 and fillet dinner at the amazing Alpine Inn in Hill City.  We saw some rain in the Hills, which seems to be common for the area, then after pealing off the Needles, Custer, and Iron Mountain pigtails and tunnels, it was off towards home with a final nap in Chamberlain SD.  All totaled, 2,350 miles.  All fantastic, except the dang cross wind from Sioux Falls to Worthington MN.  And the 4 miles or so of fresh oil and gravel on the Chief Joseph.  Wish we had another night or two so we could have spent less time on the interstates, but our schedule did not permit.

[travelingbyguzzi]

Do NOT take I90 to Coeur d'alaine. Take I90 east to milepost 110 and then I82 South to Kennewick (tri-cities) then US12 to Clarkston. Or I90 to milepost 137 and US26 east. Much better riding. About 300 miles-80 miles less than going to Coeur d'alaine. Get out of Seattle as quick as you can, depending on what time your business with Dave is over.

[Scott of the Sahara]

I am glad you had a great trip. I find that the Norge loves to go fast and is very comfortable at freeway speeds. I, however, do not like the big trucks and find the slower pace of back roads more to my liking. 2300 miles two up is really good.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  If you go to the Custer battlefield,  go a few miles east to What used to be just a one room post office at Garry Owen.
 It is now a major gas stop, restruant, and Museum, about the battle.  It is owned by the Indians and tells the story from their
 point of view.  A beautiful rest stop and should not be missed.

[Tom]

I like I90 better than 80 or 70.  The landscape seems better for highway droning. 

[rodekyll]

I camped out at Gary Owen one night waiting for the gas station to open.  They shut off the pumps at night, but the loudspeaker keeps reciting the battle story .  . . over and over and over and over.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  It didn't used to do that the times I have been there.  Maybe it's a form of revenge.
 I used to stop there when it was just a one room post office, then on one cross country trip it was all built up.
 Each time I go there it is a bit bigger with more.  I believe they did it all with Indian money and refused federal money so that
 they would not be subject to federal ideas about what they could say or show in the museum.
  The Crazy Horse museum and memorial is done the same way.  It is even bigger, much bigger.
 When done the Crazy Horse statue should be visible from space.