Utah, Yellowstone, and Deadwood Guided Motorcycle Tour

Fourteen days from Salt Lake City to Denver by way of almost everything in between. Thirteen nights, around 1,845 miles, guided throughout, taking in Moab, Flaming Gorge, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Sturgis and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Utah opens it, and the first few days are red rock throughout. Moab and Scenic Byway 128 along the Colorado River come first, then Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, where the quarry wall holds around 1,500 fossil bones still in the rock. Flaming Gorge and Grand Teton follow on the way to Jackson, then two nights inside Yellowstone with optional river rafting.

South Dakota is where the tour settles for a while. Billings leads to Deadwood, the old gold-rush town where Wild Bill Hickok was shot, and the tour stays three nights: one day out to Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse Memorial, another through Spearfish Canyon to Sturgis, and a third with the Badlands available as an option. Cheyenne follows, then the final ride crosses Rocky Mountain National Park, topping 11,000 feet, into Denver.

EAGLERIDER provides the motorcycle, the tour leader, all thirteen nights and a farewell dinner. Fuel, most meals and insurance are arranged separately. Riding days run from 125 to 290 miles, with three consecutive nights in Deadwood breaking the fortnight up nicely in the middle. For riders who want the great national parks and the Old West inside one guided fortnight, this covers more ground of genuine interest than almost anything else on the list.