Exploring Badlands National Park

The Black Hills versus the Badlands — totally opposite ends of the spectrum. Since arriving in South Dakota on June 15 we’ve been surrounded by the “foresty” goodness of the Black Hills. However, this past Saturday we headed east to the Dakota Badlands. I can state unequivocally that I prefer green living things to dusty, dry, brownish dirt.

That’s a high-level judgement that requires some clarification. There is beauty to the Badlands, especially where the the rolling, green, plains meet the Badlands, but generally, in my opinion, once you’ve seen a portion of the Badlands, you’ve seen the extent of it. Would I visit it again? Definitely.

Badlands National Park is just about an hour’s drive east of Rapid City. According to Wikipedia, the park protects 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the nation. The park’s South Unit is co-managed by the Oglala Lakota tribe.

Similar to our Black Hills drive, we downloaded an audio tour so we knew we wouldn’t miss any of the good stuff. Within minutes of entering the park we enjoyed some of the best sights of the day including close-up encounters with bison, prairie dogs and dramatic scenery.

As we followed the scenic loop drive we made several stops to take in the expansive views. The variety of colors found in the layers is surprising. We hiked two short trails. It was blasted hot, but not as hot as Texas. Thankfully we found a shaded picnic area to enjoy our sandwiches. It is hard for me to imagine being a homesteader here but many people were able to survive and thrive, but most did not.

After leaving the park, we stopped by Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development. It is the last intact Minuteman II ICBM system in the US that is in a disarmed and demilitarized status. (There are still active missile sites as well.) Dale and I both remember growing up fully aware of the possibility of nuclear war between us and the Soviets. Thankfully nuclear-capable countries understand the result of such a war and haven’t hit “the button”.

Kitschy is a pretty good description of our last stop before heading home – Wall Drug Store. This well-known tourist attraction has grown from a small drug store in a poor 1930s town of Wall to a huge, multi-room building full all sorts of cowboy-themed stuff, as well as a restaurant that seats more then 500 people. After grabbing a bison burger in the café, we made our way through the maze of stuff for the next half hour, then grabbed a Blizzard from the local DQ and headed home.

Before we got a mile out of town we encountered an amazing cloud formation and pulled over to finish our ice cream and watch a storm brew. There is nothing like seeing a big storm over the Great Plains. I was keeping my eye out for any indication of a tornado. When it started getting extremely windy, I started getting nervous and we headed half a mile down the road to get under an overpass. We got there just in time to avoid the hail and wind. We were soon surrounded by other cars and 18-wheelers. After a bit we were able to get back on the road. Another successful Moon River excursion!