The good of the Badlands

 My kind husband who is always up for an adventure but still likes his sleep agreed to wake up early the next morning after our Ingalls adventure to do more exploring :). The wake-up call from me came around 5:30am! Although we slept in a tent the night before, we only had the tent, one blow-up mattress, a cot and some blankets/pillows to pack up because we left everything else in the car. As soon as we packed everything up - we were off to the Badlands!

The Badlands National Park probably would not get as many visitors except its near Mount Rushmore. This was the case for us - as I planned our trip, I saw we would pass right by the Badlands so scheduled a few hours to stop.

We arrived around 9:00am (mountain time - we changed time zones on the drive), which worked perfectly because as I soon learned, there was NO shade at the Badlands!! eek! So it was going to get pretty warm in the sun and fast :).

Our first stop was the spectacular "Big Badlands Overlook" which you first pass after entering the park on its east side. The park only has two entrances - a west and an east side - and all the blogs online agree that starting from the east side is preferable. Great for us because that was the side we came to first after leaving DeSmet!

Our first impression after we stepped out of our car at the overlook was one of newfound and unexpected amazement. This park was gorgeous! 

  

I had researched trails online ahead of time. There are a lot of short 1 mile or less hikes between the entrance and the visitor's center. However, one 3 mile hike in particular caught my eye - one with rock scrambling and even a ladder(!) - the Notch trail. This was our first hike of what were to be many hikes this trip, and it was a wonderful one full of gorgeous views and unique climbs. 

Going back DOWN the ladder proved to be a bit of a challenge as you can see in the last picture. It felt somewhat like the people must feel who can only summit Everest by waiting in long lines to use the Hillary step! Except of course opposite weather :) But we had to wait quite a while for people to finish coming up the ladder before our long line of people could go down the ladder. Here we are waiting for the people in front of us to descend:

After the hike, we stopped quickly by the visitor's center - which had a line of people waiting to get in (thanks COVID). The other COVID-induced bummer of the trip, which we first encountered here, was the closure of many of the national park documentaries/museums at the visitor's centers. :/ Below is the only small part of the museum we could access, which made me sad because I like to turn these visits into as educational trips as possible. However, we still picked up the junior ranger badge booklets, so Brie and I did get to learn through those.

The rest of our visit was spent relaxing and driving the remainder of the scenic byway through the park to its western entrance. So many spectacular overlooks to pull off at and take in views! We even had a picnic lunch at once of them. 

After we left the Badlands, we had a bit of time to kill before reaching our next destination - Rapid City, SD. Bloggers online are adamant that visitors to the park MUST stop by a place called "Wall Drug" in Wall, SD....which is a destination also endlessly advertised as you are leaving the park :).

I am not one to normally fall for such "tourist traps", but we figured hey why not, and we needed to use the bathroom! So we pulled in.....and WOW this place is HUGE! And the town it is in - designed to be some western-version of Gatlinburg haha. What an experience! You will not believe how the store just keeps on going and going and going. So much to look at.

Next up - our drive to Rapid City, SD, setting up camp at a KOA campground in 104 degree heat (after discovering ALL the hotels were booked!), a last minute decision to visit Mount Rushmore that evening, and exploring all the president monuments in downtown Rapid City. Still so much to do in this same day!