Badlands

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Saturday, 26 August, 2017



It was a fairly short drive to Badlands National Park and we arrived around 11 am. We cooled our heels in the Visitor Center until time to check into the campground. Once the camper was set up, we headed for the west end of the park because Kerry wanted to drive to the Prairie Dog Village there. Unfortunately, it was about 5 miles down a washboard gravel road and Kerry had had enough of that after ½ mile.

It was hot, hot, with temps up in the low 90's, and no shade in the campground, so we left the windows open on the camper. We've experienced bad weather in the Badlands before, with storms blowing up with little notice, so we kept our eyes on the skies as we enjoyed the beauty of the Badlands. Sure enough, the western skies starting getting dark and threatening, so we hurried back to the campground. We spent the afternoon sitting outdoors enjoying the strong breezes and watching the storm clouds go around us.



Sunday, 27 August



This morning was cool, about 57, and did we enjoy sleeping with the windows open last night. We drove back west through the park, enjoying how different the formations looked in the morning light. We saw our first pronghorn antelope of the trip on our way out of the park.

Western South Dakota, once you pass Rapid City, is all about Sturgis and Harley Davidsons on the billboards.

The speed limit on the interstates in South Dakota and Wyoming is 80, faster than our truck wants to pull our little camper. These high speed limits are tough on the wildlife, as we saw lots of dead deer and pronghorn on the sides of the highway.

We've decided to go up to Glacier National Park in northern Montana next, so we continued on I-90 to Sheridan, where we've stopped for the night.

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Photos

Badlands
Sunset over the Badlands

Sunflower field
South Dakota is the top producer of sunflower seeds in the US

Badlands Campground
No shade

Badlands
Big Horn Sheep enjoying the shade

Badlands
Sun going down in the Badlands

Badlands
Prairie Dog