After spending one night in Mitchell, we headed further west
for the Badlands in South Dakota.
South Dakota has more farms in the eastern part of the state (like
Iowa). After crossing the Missouri
River,
the terrain is much more open and you see as lot of cattle
ranches.
In some places, there is nothing for miles around.
And then, way off in the distance, we began to see
the Badlands.
We were staying at a KOA right outside the Badlands but had
to drive through part of the Badlands National Park to get there.
So, we got a glimpse of the Badlands even before we arrived
at the KOA where we were staying.
If our day trip through the Badlands the next day was
going to be anything like what we had just seen, we were going to be in for a real
treat!
Something I forgot to mention in an earlier post, is that we bought an "America the Beautiful" pass when we were visited the Lincoln Home Site in Springfield, Illinois. The America the Beautiful pass is good for one year from the date of issuance and costs $80. With it, you get entrance into most National Parks and Forests which can save you a lot of money...particularly if you think you will be visiting several national parks during a year. In some instances, you can even get discounts in other federally managed parks like Corp of Engineers campgrounds. We saved 50% on our camping fees at Coralville Lake with the pass. Our entrance fee to Badlands National Park: $0. (It would have cost us $15!) Woohoo!
Something I forgot to mention in an earlier post, is that we bought an "America the Beautiful" pass when we were visited the Lincoln Home Site in Springfield, Illinois. The America the Beautiful pass is good for one year from the date of issuance and costs $80. With it, you get entrance into most National Parks and Forests which can save you a lot of money...particularly if you think you will be visiting several national parks during a year. In some instances, you can even get discounts in other federally managed parks like Corp of Engineers campgrounds. We saved 50% on our camping fees at Coralville Lake with the pass. Our entrance fee to Badlands National Park: $0. (It would have cost us $15!) Woohoo!
After getting set up in our campsite at Badlands/White River KOA,
we walked around the campground. We heard some turkeys gobbling and saw them
walking through the woods on a ranch that was on the other side of the river.
Then, we walked out to the road and down to the bridge that
crossed the White River.
We thought it should be called the Creme Brulee river
because it looked more like a cup of coffee with a lot of Creme Brulee creamer
in it.
We could even see the Badlands off in the distance.
The next morning we started out on the Badlands loop
stopping first at the Visitor Center where we learned that the Badlands
contained one of the must complete fossil accumulations in North
America. After we left the Visitor
Center, we walked a short loop trail that provided some beautiful views of the
Badlands.
These signs were along the trail. Yikes!
It was a cool
morning so we did not anticipate seeing any rattlesnakes. Still, we were careful and watched where we
walked. A lot of the trail was steps and
decking that took you to higher viewpoints.
The Badlands look like sandcastles and they feel like hard
mud when you touch them. They are, in
fact, slowly disintegrating. In about
500,000 years, they will be gone completely so you better hurry and come see them!
This survey marker shows how much they have disintegrated in about 40
years.
We continued driving north (back the way we came into the
KOA the day before) up to I-90 and then headed west on I-90 to the exit for
Wall, South Dakota, where we would pick up the loop to go back through the
park. And if you are ever traveling in South Dakota, you have to visit Wall Drug.
Seeing all the signs along the road for Wall Drug reminds me of all the signs that appear on barn roofs and everywhere else in Tennessee advertising "See Rock City" in Chattanooga, Tennessee. As soon as
we crossed into South Dakota on I-90, we began seeing signs for Wall Drug everywhere.
The story behind Wall Drug is this: Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought the only
drugstore in Wall, South Dakota, in December of 1931. They decided to give the business a try for
five years. By the summer of 1936, their
business had not grown much and they were beginning to wonder whether they
should continue the business. On a hot
summer afternoon when Dorothy was trying to lay down for a nap with her baby,
she couldn't sleep because of all the cars going by on Route 16A and she got
the idea that they should put up signs along the road offering free ice cold
water. And the rest is history. Those travellers started stopping in for some
cold water and would end up buying other things as well like their 5 cent
coffee.
We followed the signs and the directions in town to Wall
Drug...
...and there it was:
Wall Drug.
We went inside and had a very good hamburger and fries. I tried their 5 cent cup of coffee...
and it was very good. The
refills weren't free but at 5 cents a cup, they were nearly free. (We had our free ice-cold water too!)
After lunch, we walked around the drug store which consisted of several
souvenir shops and even a chapel.
Oops! I forgot to
show you one of the pictures I took today of the Badlands. Pretty good, huh?
Slight correction...I took a photo of a beautiful picture of
the Badlands on the back wall of Wall Drug.
:)
After leaving Wall, we headed back south across I-90 to finish
the Badlands loop tour.
We came to another overlook that looked out over a wide area
of the Badlands canyons.
After leaving the overlook, we saw some bighorn sheep (ewes) up
on the hill to our north.
And these ewes had lambs.
As we traveled on down the road feeling proud of ourselves
for spotting those sheep way up on the hill, we came up on some sheep eating grass
right next to the road.
We saw this rock formation in the distance that looked like
a hand making a peace sign.
And then a little further along we spotted another sheep way
up on another hill.
This Badland hill looked like it had experienced a
"bad" slide.
The Badlands were colorful too.
We finally saw some prairie dog towns.
We finished the loop tour and headed back home. Later that evening a hour or so before
sunset, we drove back into the park hoping to get some pretty sunset
pictures. Not
only did we get see a beautiful sunset...
...the moon was full...
...and we got to experience a beautiful moonrise as well.
I took probably about 200+ pictures. Rather than bore you with looking through all
of them, I put together this little movie/slideshow so that you can get a glimpse of
the beauty of the Badlands for a few moments too! Enjoy!
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