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Heck Table

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    • Badlands National Park

      September 3, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

      Since arriving in South Dakota on 28 August, the weather has cycled from hot, to warm, to cool, to warm, to hot.

      Today was to be another “cool” day, with the temps in the Badlands National Park forecasted to stay below 80F. I guess that’s cool by summer standards. So, off we went to check out the park that protects eroded buttes and pinnacles ... along with the largest mixed-grass prairie in the USA.

      We were on the road at 7:30a ... a nearly 85-mile drive ahead of us. Of the several routes available from where we were, we took the longest one ... but it was the fastest one via I-90E once we got to Rapid City. So, it saved us considerable time that we were able to dedicate to our park visit.

      I’ll admit here and now that our initial impression of the Badlands fell flat. Maybe because we’ve read such glowing reviews of the park that our expectations were quite high. Maybe because we’ve visited the impressive fairy chimneys of Kapadokya in Turkey and the colorful formations of Utah’s Bryce National Park. Mostly, I think, it was because the bright sunlight washed out the scenery.

      I’ll also admit — happily — that our initial impression did not last long. It was interesting to see the formations stand in stark contrast with the flat prairie lands. And, once we got off the main drag and were on the loop road, the scenery shifted so that the sunlight shining on the formations brought out the bands of color and the details carved out by erosion. Our eyes now beheld a pretty amazing landscape.

      The yellow mounds — banded with pinks and purples — were my favorite part of the Badlands. Signage near the overlook explained that the mounds were the result of the draining of an ancient sea that exposed the ocean mud to air that turned them into yellow soil.

      I had researched some hikes for us to do. And we tried to do one or two but didn’t get much farther than the trailheads. I don’t know if the black flies are always bad at the Badlands or if it was just our luck. In the heat of the day — which I can tell you felt more like 90F than 80F under the brilliant sun — the flies were downright vicious little buggers, biting exposed skin with glee. Not wishing to battle them, we decided that this first visit here would just be a driving trip for us.

      In addition to packing breakfast, which we ate at the SD Welcome Center in Rapid City, Mui had packed sandwiches for lunch. Alas, we found picnic tables to be missing from the park amenities ... except in a few places. The one with the best view — at the Big Foot Pass Overlook — was closed due to construction. The overlooks were generally busy, so we didn’t want to set up our own table. Plus we needed some shade as the mid-day sun was brutal. In the end, we spotted a sign for a picnic area on Conata Road that served our purpose. No interesting views ... but we did find a table with a shade cover.

      After lunch, we continued on the Badlands Loop Road. By-passing the spur up to the town of Wall, we drove a portion of the Sage Creek Rim Road. It was on this road that we had our wildlife sightings for the day — distant views of bison ... near views of black-tailed prairie dogs and bighorn sheep.

      We could have stayed on Sage Creek Rim Road to exit the park near Scenic. And head home from there. But we didn’t. Instead, taking the Rte 502 spur, we got on the paved Sage Creek Road and connected to I-90 at Wall.

      Having seen miles and miles of billboards advertising Wall Drug on our drive to the Badlands, we detoured into Wall for a quick peek at the shops lining both sides of a stretch of street. We never did get out of the car. And, we didn't miss anything by doing so. But now, when people ask if we’ve been to Wall Drug, we can say that we have 😉

      We made one other detour later in the drive back to our neck of South Dakota. We stopped at Ellsworth Air Force Base on the outskirts of Rapid City. There’s a nice Air & Space Museum there, but we’ve seen a number of them at other bases, so we skipped it. Our destination was the commissary where we replenished our larder.

      Our shopping completed, we debated exploring Rapid City but decided to leave it as planned for tomorrow. After all, it’s only about 45 minutes from our campground ... and an even shorter drive if we take the shortcut the GPS routed us to today.
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