Rochford Taxi

Twenty-five miles south of Deadwood, on gravel

Rochford is an unincorporated settlement on Forest Service Road 17, roughly 25 miles south of Deadwood in the Black Hills National Forest. There is no grocery store. There is no filling station. What there is, is the Mickelson Trail running straight through it and the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, which is the reason most people come.

We drive it. That is the short version of this page.

The saloon run

Moonshine Gulch is a pit stop for cyclists, ATV riders and motorcyclists, and it is the kind of place people plan a day around rather than pass through. The trouble is the ride home. Rochford is 25 miles of forest road from Deadwood, dark early, with no cell signal worth relying on, and it is not a drive to make after an afternoon at a saloon.

Book the collection time when you book the drop. If the afternoon runs long, text 605-717-1717 from the Moonshine Gulch car park and we will move it.

Mickelson Trail riders

Rochford sits between the Dumont and Mystic trailheads, which makes it a natural start or finish for a one-way ride. We will drop you at one end and collect you at the other so the day runs downhill and nobody has to pedal back to a parked car. The Mickelson Trail shuttle page covers how that is quoted.

Why a lot of drivers say no

Forest Service Road 17 is the kind of road that rideshare apps price badly and then cancel on. It is long, it is unpaved in stretches, and there is no return fare waiting at the far end. Northern Hills Taxi quotes Rochford as a flat round trip, agreed before you leave, because pretending it is a normal town run helps nobody.

What to know

• Book both legs. There is nothing to flag down in Rochford.
• Signal is unreliable. Agree the pickup time before you lose service, and text us when you have a bar.
• Flat round trip, quoted first. No surge for a late night or a busy weekend.
• Card or cash. Late-night fares are collected up front.

Book a Ride Ahead