In the Black Hills? No ATV/UTV? We’ve rented them & have some great tips!
Living in Iowa, it is more than likely that you will take your family on vacation in the Black Hills. It’s relatively close, it’s beautiful and there is literally an unlimited amount of things to do there. If after you’ve seen the Faces, the snakes and the bears and are wondering, “What next”? I would highly recommend renting a UTV and truly experiencing the Black Hills.
In my opinion, there are several ways to truly experience the Black Hills; each has their pros and cons.
The first is to hike in them. Hiking lets you take in every rock, leaf, bird and deer at a slow pace and you are doing it quietly with relative disturbance to the area. The negatives to hiking can be that it can be tiring (especially if you have children in the group) and that, while you are able to really soak in the views and area you hike through, you are only seeing a very small area in a single hike.
Another option is a vehicle road trip. I love road trips! They are an awesome way to see a lot of country in a fairly short amount of time. The problem with road trips in a vehicle is that if you can drive your vehicle there, so can everyone else and lots of people do. Wildlife sightings will be fewer and fellow human sightings will be higher. You will also be limited to designated roads or, if you have a pickup or other off-road vehicle- wider, well-traveled and legal-for-your-vehicle Forest Service Roads. Trust me….they can get awful hairy- even in a 4WD pickup!
If you want to get away from the crowds and see a lot of beautiful country on The Road Less Traveled, rent a UTV! We’ve done it twice and have had an absolute blast! Looking back, I attribute most of our great experience on the company that we rented the UTV from. I admit, our good fortune happened quite by accident. Last year, in 2017, we drove by Custer UTV Rentals, which was located in a campground outside of Custer, several times and mentioned that we should call them when we went on our excursion. We called several other rental places and Custer UVT Rentals had the best rates, were conveniently located for us and were friendly on the phone so we booked with them. We rented a 6-seater, which cost us $330 for 8 hours.
When we arrived, Tim, the owner, was friendly and very helpful getting the kids helmets and asking us what we were looking for on our 8-hour excursion. He provided us with Forest Service Trail Maps and also gave us what proved to be an invaluable recommendation, which was to download the Avenza Maps app onto our phones. This is a free app that shows all of the Forest Service Trails in the US and shows your location on the map as well. You just need to enable the Ranger District (name for the portion of the National Forest) that you will be traveling in and Tim was very helpful in walking us through which ones we needed. Just FYI, the Northern part of The Hills is in the Mystic District and the Southern part is in Hell Canyon.
In 2017 we went to all of the highlights that Tim recommended plus took lots of Forest Service roads that just plain looked like fun. That year we logged 210 miles in the 8 hours we were gone and even though we were spent at the end of the day, we couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces.
We knew we wanted to rent a UTV for another day trip in 2018 and found Tim had moved locations to Main Street in Hill City- same name, same owner, just a different location. We got more great service and recommendations of places to check out this year, and while we only managed to log 108 miles this year we had another epic trip!
What to Ask
In addition to the great service, here are some things that were included when we rented a unit with Custer UTV Rental- no matter who you rent from, make sure you ask if these things are included to be sure there are no Hidden Charges/Fees:
Helmets– Helmets are required by law for any rider under 18 years of age and recommend for all riders
Park Passes– A State Park Pass is on your UTV that allows access to Custer State Park, which is a beautiful ride, but an extra $30 if you need to buy your own pass.
Upfront Security Deposit– An additional upfront security deposit was not required with Custer UTV Rentals (some of the companies we called required up to $1000 upfront, refunded upon return of the UTV- un-wrecked of course). The fact of the matter is, if you are reckless and damage or destroy the unit, you’re going to have to pay for it. It might be covered by your Homeowner’s Insurance, it may not be (something to think about looking into beforehand), but in my opinion it’s nice not to have to put the deposit down upfront.
Cancellation Policy– Per their website, Custer UTV Rental’s Cancellation Policy is:
” Any cancellations must be made no later than 7 days prior to your reservation. If it is raining the day of your reservation, we can either reschedule or refund your reservation”.
We really didn’t ask any of the other company’s cancellation policies since we didn’t intend on booking with them, but definitely ask before you book. If it’s pouring rain, it will definitely dampen the fun of your trip.
What To Bring
We brought a 50 quart cooler with plenty of water, soda and a few beers. If you choose to consume alcohol on the trails, please do so responsibly for your own sake and that of others. And know that you can get a DUI on a UTV just the same as if you were in a vehicle.
We also brought TP secured in a Ziploc bag, sunscreen, a first aid kit, a battery pack cell phone charger with cord, lunch and snacks for the day. I highly recommend packing a lunch because even if you plan on eating out for lunch, there’s no telling where you might actually be when lunch time arrives- some of the trails are a lot slower going than others and might take twice as long to get the same distance. Better safe than sorry- especially if your kids get ‘hangry’ like mine can get!
Something else I would recommend that we didn’t bring is bug spray. Typically, you don’t need to worry about biting insects in The Hills. However, 2018 had a lot of rain in late June and they had a mosquito hatch that happened literally overnight. Few things will irritate you more than mosquitos harassing and biting the heck out of you, so better to have it and not need it than the alternative.
Other things to think about & consider
We checked the weather & booked our trip 3 days in advance when hot weather was forecasted. Many of the trails have water/mud holes to run through, which is great as long as you aren’t shivering from the cold afterwards.
Make sure you have the ‘hard copy’/paper map of the Forest Service trails as well as the Avenza app on your phone. My wife, Alisha, was the co-pilot and told me where to go and cross-referenced the two often. She that having both together was much more valuable than having just one or the other.
On those same lines, I mentioned above the we brought an extra cell phone charging source- make sure to bring one! Using any mapping app drains cell battery at a much faster rate and it would really suck to run out of battery on the trial.
As mentioned, there are many companies that rent UTV’s and we are getting no kick-back from recommending Custer UTV Rentals, but had a great experience with them & wanted to pass that along.
Their website is https://www.blackhillsatvadventures.com/ and they have a Facebook page as well.
So get out there & have fun!
Aim Small, Hit Big!
Dave