I started to put this in comments and decided it'd be better as a post.
As far as rates and places to stay. The rates at Sylvan are high. We've camped at the Sylvan Lake campsite as well as others nearby. If the weather is at all bad and if people are tired at nite, which they will be, a motel/cabin is very nice. The nearest town to Rushmore is Keystone which is very touristy.
A nice town 10 miles away is Hill City and rooms in a motel there are about $75 per nite in May. Hill City has some cute little restaurants and a great outdoor shop called Granite Sports. A slightly closer place to Sylvan is here and you can see it's not in a town. Here's a page listing places to stay in Hill City. I think we'll do most of our climbing near Rushmore because there are a lot more sport routes there. Sylvan area has many sport routes but is more known for trad routes. The Needles and other areas nearby are almost all trad. It's also likely even if we didn't stay in Hill City, we'd drive there to eat, shop, sightsee.
If May is a problem for you, let's do it in June. I'm just anxious to go soon and go often. Weather in May can be iffy but late May is better - see here. After Memorial Day it's more touristy but there are few climbers at any time; especially if you're there during weekdays. I was there once - by accident - during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. I camped 2 miles from Rushmore, saw maybe 5-6 climbers, ate in Hill City with no wait and had no problem with crowds. Maybe all the climbers and hikers were scared of the bikers.
9 comments:
We would prefer June because if we go that weekend in May, we will leave 4 days later for our hiking trip in France, seems a little tight. Mel found a good campground in the park, Sylvan Lake. We can walk to climbing. There are 3 sites left for the June 19-22 weekend. Less driving around.
Let's talk at VE.
ok, but talk to Mel, she has more opinions than I do (about this anyway). I wonder if Julianne is back she was going to get her membership today. I wonder if Aaron made it back from his party in decent shape.. oh no my mouse died.
phew, I had a spare had to climb the back of the computer route, it's a 5.6
Oh I got distracted, Cute Cabins!!
I think the best thing to do is for everyone to just post the dates they'd prefer to go. Then anyone who wants to go, can coordinate dates. I'm quite flexible and my preference is always to go, whenever possible, during weekdays. Places are less crowded and it's easier to get around. I understand others don't have the flexibility I do. My preferred climbing area is Rushmore because it's all sport climbing and big diversity of difficulties. The best/classic climbs at Sylvan and Needles are trad. I used to only lead trad. Haven't done so in about 3 years. It appears as though Mel wants to climb mostly in Needles and Sylvan and would use guide. Which is a good idea. So this is probably not my trip. Maybe we'll be able to go other times.
Oh no no no, we are just talking, she is doing that the end of June for family vacation. I want a Wednesday Rocks trip and that includes you. I think rushmore sounds awesome. So you stay in Hill City?
I like the cute cabins you found. I'm open.
Liz is right. Me and my family are going in July and top roping in the area right behind the Sylvan lake.
Let's all talk on Wednesday. It'd be fun to stay in a cabin at Sylvan, let's see how many want to go in on that. No worries on this end. There's plenty to do out there, plenty of places to stay and lots of fun to be had.
I want to come!! I am looking forward to doing some outdoor climbing this summer in places besides Taylor's Falls. That's the only place I've ever outdoor climbed. Let's go! (Joel will probably like it to, if it's somewhere in nature.)
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