June 18th-20th
Walldrug to the Badlands
Wall, South Dakota
After leaving Oacoma we headed straight for another tourist trap on our way to the Badlands. Wall Drug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Drug. This place started out just serving ice water on the way to the Badlands, but now is full of many different shops for your kids to beg for cheap toys and kitschy memorabilia. We drank $.30 worth of their $.05 coffee and had two wonderful cake doughnuts. Then walked around to enjoy the place. We also got our free Wall Drug sticker, which we placed on our water jug because it’s just too big for the car. After Wall Drug it was on to the badlands. Even at one of the pull offs Camrin was excited to see all of the new plants. There were cacti, alfalfa flowers, and even a dung beetle rolling a ball of poo up the hill.
At the entrance to the park Laura was sqeaking with excitement because there were black-tailed prairie dogs on one side of the road while Bison and Bighorn Sheep grazed on the other side of the road. Laura loves Bighorn sheep. We paid for our “America The Beautiful Pass” which was only $80 for a year of National park entry from the time of purchase. With $20 Per entry into just the Badlands national park, we knew this was going to be good buy. Laura was mostly excited to see Camrin’s reaction to her first time in the park. Laura had been to the Badlands national park before as a child. We took a drive through the park to take in the sights. The landscape is a beautifully stripped pattern that tells story of what covered South Dakota before.
After a day of exploring by car we left the park, just barely, and camped upon the rim of the Buffalo Gap grasslands that overlooked a section of the badlands. The sunset and sunrise at this site was amazing. And it was free to camp there!
The next day we did a 6 mile hike in 95 degree heat with no shade to rest in. We went through a lot of water and sunblock. Camrin eventually was too hot and we had to go back. On the way we found a mud puddle and rubbed mud on Camrin’s burning face. She even continued to talk to people with the light-colored mud on her face. She said it felt amazing.
After the hike we filled up with water and drove to our new campsite. It was 12 miles down a bumpy dirt road, but it was still in the park. The campground was in the park and free.. It’s basically just a circle in a field with two pit toilets. On our way our car thermometer hit 106 degrees! We got to camp, set up the tent, and just sat for the next two hours. We were way too hot! Luckily, at 7, an interpretive ranger came to our camp and gave a neat talk about an ancient hunting tool called the Atlatl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower . A bison even wandered through camp during the talk. With the sun setting, we were feeling much better, but we decided that it was going to be our last night in the Badlands.
Up next. A few nights in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
*If you click on the pics they get bigger 😉
