Badlands

It was off to the Badlands National Park today.

I decided not to do the Wind Cave underground tour. They only do guided tours and it would take a big chunk of the morning. I did a long unguided tour in Carlsbad Caverns, that's probably enough cave to last a while.

We drove north to I-90 and headed east. We'll probably be on this road for a few days now. It is hard to get used to wide straight roads and high speeds after the last couple of days (not that Speedy goes all that fast). First stop, Wall, SD. More than a few people said that we have to stop at Wall Drug, as did hundreds of signs along the road, some as far away as western Wyoming—so we stopped. I'm not sure why.

Well, one must say that it is an experience. I guess it is worth the stop—compared to interstate driving. Just don't eat the food. Let's just say it's a bit overpriced. I did find good coffee—across the street. Ellen did find a good deal in the Wall Drug bookstore, so it ended well.

After a stop at the Buffalo Gap National Grassland Visitor Center in Wall, we turned south and passed through a bit of the grassland and into the Badlands National Park via the Pinnacles Entrance. The Buffalo Gap National Grassland surrounds the national park and provide an increased area that supports a great deal of prairie wildlife. We saw pronghorn and prairie dogs on the way into the park.

The west end of the Badlands Loop Road starts at the Pinnacles Entrance. It seems to be the way to see the main features of the park without hiking through a dry rugged landscape, seemingly full of rattlesnakes—at least that's what the signage would have you believe. I'm not sure, but they might be trying to discourage casual hikers. On the other hand, the park doesn't restrict backcountry camping at all. You don't need a permit and you can camp anywhere as long as you are at least a half mile from any road or trail and not in sight of a road—but bring all your water, it's dry here.

The Loop Road runs along the rim of the Badlands Wall for the most part, with grasslands on one side and views into the eroded flood plain below. It dips down into the valleys and then back up to the rim, so sometimes you are driving right through the badlands formations.

The rock is more like dried mud, 75 million years worth of very soft sediments. The towers and hills and other features carved out of the sediments are still washing away at about an inch a year, which is pretty massive in geologic terms. The formations reminded us of the southwest, but in miniature. They have big hard sedimentary rocks there and soft small ones here.

It all presents a pretty fantastical view. Today is was even more so with the addition of grass fires, big grass fires, but set on purpose to encourage fertility in the prairie. The fires were down in the bottom and, from some viewpoints, it looked like the smoke was was coming out of the rock formations, giving a Yellowstone-like appearnce. It was all pretty strange.

The road ends in the valley, below some of the formations. After a stop at the visitor center, we parked in the campground, which is in the prairie and has a spectacular sunset view of the rocks—from our campsite, at least.

Tomorrow, we start the long boring ride back, so this is probably the last entry for a while.

Photos