Would like to hear from anyone that can provide some recommendations on riding from Sacramento to Sturgis and back. I have to go via Salt Lake to pick up other riders as well. Would also like recommendations on, route, average miles to ride in one day, hotels along the way, places to eat along the way, where to stay in Sturgis (camping), etc., Anything else. Lastly your experience with the weather!

 

from SLC you have a few options... do want more scenic and fun or quick and dirty?

 

Well with my son coming from Japan to join us I think he has in mind the scenic route. He also said something about going via Yellowstone if you have any info on that. Thanks for the help

 

Here is a slightly modified version of what we did a few years back... it was a killer ride with some amazing roads and beautiful sights.
If you have the time to go all the way up to the Canary Hot Springs in Yellowstone, do it... I never knew anything existed on earth like that!
Get up early before you leave Cody and spend some time at the Buffalo Bill Cody museum... it was suprisingly one of the coolest history buff museums I've been too short of Washington D.C.
If you start getting your hotels now, you shouldn't have a problem with lodging... try the Anvil in Jackson... not too shabby, close to everything, and good price for a resort town.
http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.c...1&locale=en_US

 

If you get to Yellowstone, you're going to kick yourself everytime somebody asks you if you rode the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph -- and that's going to be everytime you tell somebody who knows that you rode to Cody. Don't skip these roads.

If it were me, I think on the way out to Sturgis I would go up the west side of yellowstone (past Old Faithful to mammoth hot springs) then head east to Tower Junction and out the NE entrance to the park through Cooke City. Then take Chief Joseph highway down to Cody.

On the way back, go through Red Lodge, MT and up the Beartooth Highway, again entering the park through Cooke City. Then head down the west side of the park.

I haven't ridden from Sturgis to Red Lodge, so hopefully somebody else will chime in with the best way to get there. If I were doing it I'd go through Billings to visit friends and family, and stop by the Little Bighorn Battlefield monument.

Looks like a great ride. Have fun!