Count: Bikers visited Rushmore in record numbers

By Steve Miller, Journal staff

A record number of motorcycles rolled into Mount Rushmore National Memorial during the Sturgis motorcycle rally, a feat that one Rushmore official even finds a little hard to believe.

Rushmore workers counted 104,861 motorcycles coming into the memorial over an 11-day period surrounding the rally, up 27 percent from 82,388 in 2006 and the previous record of 82,466 bikes in 2005, according to Rushmore chief ranger Mike Pflaum.

Pflaum said the record number this year surprised and puzzled him. “It’s a big jump.”

Mount Rushmore has people who physically count the number of motorcycles coming into the memorial, but Pflaum said the high figure this year has him scratching his head.

“Am I certain about the numbers? No. These numbers are done with human counts,” he said. “There’s always room for error.”

However, he said, if the counters made an error, he doesn’t know how.

Many longtime rally observers thought motorcycle traffic this year, especially in the Sturgis area, was down from 2006, which, in turn, was down from 2005.

However, the state Department of Transportation’s pneumatic traffic counters at all of the main roads into Sturgis showed a 2.7 percent increase in traffic over 2006.

State sales-tax figures for temporary rally vendors showed a 4 percent drop for Sturgis and the Northern Hills but a 21 percent increase for rally vendors in the Southern Hills, a figure more in line with the jump in Rushmore visitation during the rally.

In any case, Pflaum said, the motorcycle count at Rushmore this year indicates that numbers were up. “They may be right,” Pflaum said about the count at Rushmore this year. “We realize there has been a lot more activity in the southern and central hills.”

Rushmore has always been a popular destination for bikers visiting the Black Hills during the rally.

Pflaum said Rushmore uses an equation of 1.45 riders per motorcycle, based on surveys done at the memorial several years ago. That would mean more than 150,000 riders visited the memorial during the rally.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com