Badlands National Park
Today was probably one of our hardest travel days ever. Barry drove and was fighting horrendous wind the entire time! At times he was holding the steering wheel turned to 2 o’clock just to keep us going straight! He couldn’t imagine not having the comfort drive that Newmars have. Much of the way we were on two lane roads. Boy, we got pushed by the semi’s coming at us if they were going 70 mph. (or more).
We arrived in Wall, South Dakota. Sunshine but still windy and cold. We turned onto the Badlands Loop towards the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) just outside Badlands National Park in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. We watched for Radio Tower Rd. I saw two radio towers and we made the assumption it must be Radio Tower Rd. We drove all the way up toward the ridge and turned right to find a spot along the ridge to park for four nights. The wind was not letting up. We took a few pictures. For safety sake we did not put out any of the slides. Hmm—tight quarters (again)! The wind was very unnerving as it pushed against us (and toward the drop off.). We anxiously waited for 8 -9 pm when we could hopefully at least put out the bedroom slide.
Our views here were great. At least it wasn’t raining, but it is supposed to be coming. 🙁 Barry didn’t want to take a chance in getting Vinny stuck up here if it rains. The area and dirt roads would become slippery mud, so he made reservations for us at the Cedar Pass Campground inside Badlands National Park for the following 3 nights(About $30 a night with our Senior National Park Pass.)
When we both wear our coats from the Alburquerque Balloon Fiesta, that’s a clue – it’s COLD!
Cool sun glow shot:
Since Barry and I were planning a likely downsizing of RV sometime in the fall, and we just started seriously considering the Grech Class B Motorhome, I had to take a picture of this couple in a Class B van smaller than the Grech we’re considering. They had SIX dogs with them! And not all small dogs. Where do they all go???
May 1,
Just a couple of the many Wall Drug billboards everyone sees along the highway to Wall, SD. The billboard marketing began decades ago to get people to stop for free ice water. Results were immediate. More and more billboards have of course been added over the years. I don’t know if any two are the same! While the signs stretch over a distance of 650 miles along I-90, within the 50-mile highway stretch between Rapid City and Wall alone, there’s an average of one Wall Drug billboard every 4,000 feet! People just have to stop and check it out. And we did!
Barry and I drove to Wall, to experience the famous “Wall Drug”.
It was interesting. I was there as a kid – 5 decades ago. It isn’t quite as I remembered. We enjoyed walking from one retail area as it flowed into the next. Barry got a cup of the “5 cents-coffee”. We decided to split one of their homemade doughnuts. OMG it was good! It wasn’t heavy and dense. I can see why there were some people who had returned just to get a dozen to take with them!
Even a Chapel for Travelers!
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid right here in the cafe area! I thought it was cool to see the carver, Ken Vance was from Louisville, Ohio! I wonder if they have realized “Sundance” is misspelled (Sudance)? Ken has many carvings throughout Wall Drug.
Annie Oakley and Wyatt Earp
Outside Fun –
Luckily, we were finished looking around at Wall Drug as it started to rain a little. We headed back to Vinny, but stopped to get pictures at this wood carving business in Wall, SD and on our way.
Now THAT’s a big jackrabbit!
It’s really cool! It even has a balcony! I love its eyes. 🙂 I wonder how long it took to create this guy. We didn’t take time to explore the displays more than taking quick pictures from across the road.
After we got Vinny ready to roll and hooked up TJ, we left for the Cedar Pass Badlands National Park Campground via the Badlands Loop. The Badlands Grasslands offered us unexpected views of prairie dog towns, and some pronghorns on the passenger side.
A small group of bison on the driver side! Nice start to our Badlands Loop drive.
Juvenile or female horned sheep
And right beyond was another one! The green bush helped it stand out.
Yellow mounds – These were beautiful.
From the NPS: After the Western Interior Seaway drained North into the Arctic Ocean, the leftover shales weathered into soils. Those soils are now preserved as the Yellow Mounds, which are what geologists call a paleosol. Paleosols are ancient fossilized soils preserved in the rock record, and they often appear as brightly colored layers like the Yellow Mounds, which gets its mustardy color from a mineral called Goethite. For geology buffs click NPS to read more about the Badlands and these Yellow Mounds. Or click on GroovyGeologist (Instagram)!
Fossil Loop Trail
BNP is a beautiful park. EVERY lookout had room for large rigs! A huge plus for visiting this time of year is not having to share any of these RV parking areas with other RVs :). (May 1)
May 2
Views from our campsite at Cedar Pass Badlands National Park Campground. The sites were all widened areas of the roads within the campground, but it worked.
The majority of those in this campground were tent campers and class B vans with a handful of small trailers and about three larger RVs. I think we were the largest RV there. In fact, that was a problem. The gate volunteer, Brian, said “They never should have taken your reservation. We thought he meant because they were full, yet we could see a lot of empty areas. Well, they don’t have many spots where big rigs can park. Brian went and talked to a guy in a van who was parked in such a spot. He was on a business call, but moved afterwards. We got settled. In the wee hours we were once again awakened by strong winds. The wind woke me multiple times. I was just glad we were here instead of up on the BLM ridge.
We checked out the shower house on our walk around the park. They were very clean with nice, big private shower areas.
We walked over to check out the Lodge. We each got a bowl of Buffalo chili from the lodge cafe. It was quite good and very filling.
The wine labels caught my eye in the gift shop, but didn’t feel like paying $22 for rhubarb wine.
A lady came into the gift shop and shared a couple of pictures of three bighorn sheep that she just took. She told me where it was, which was only about a mile from here. Barry and I jumped into TJ in hopes they’d still be visible from the road. JACKPOT! This was SO cool!
We first took pictures from within the Jeep. We were far enough away to be safe to get out of the Jeep, and not “threaten them” especially since all three bighorn sheep were on the opposite side of the road. As it became evident they were sticking around for a while, we got out of the Jeep. They were grazing the patches of grass that grew parallel to the road. As they continued grazing, we walked up further in the pullout area.
It’s cool to see them beginning to shed their winter coats. (May 2).
At one point one bighorn looked up, paused, and slowly started walking to the pavement. He stopped as he stepped into the road, and looked at me. We had a moment. 🙂 He then very slowly came further out into the lane directly in line with me. Respecting him, (as I did when one unexpectedly appeared a few feet right as we rounded a curve on a trail in Glacier NP in 2023), I slowly and steadily backed up diagonally to yield the right of way to him and now his buddy.
Look! Together they look both ways to make sure it is clear to cross!
All three crossed the road – because we all know that the grass is always greener on the other side!
Got an itch? Need to scratch!
Taking care of another itch…LOL
We really enjoyed watched this trio for quite a while! Nice to have the Badlands background over the road. 🙂
This group of folks got super close. At one point they were between a single ram and the other two. Barry said something to them about giving the sheep space. (We never got that close even though some pictures may look like we were. We use the zoom feature on our phones!) Even though the big horns (and other WILD animals) may be used to traffic and humans or rather tolerate them, they are wild animals, and if something or someone spooks them or makes one feel threatened, the scene could become quite dangerous.
We went to the visitor center which had a little museum.
The burrowing owls caught my attention, not because they are cute and unique, but because we have some in Yuma, AZ! (Thank you, Nancy and Jim Richardson for showing them to us in 2021!)
Next destination Mt. Rushmore National Park!