National Park #12, canceled August 7, 2019
We got a bit of a later start in the morning than we hoped, but still managed to see quite a bit in the Badlands, our fifth US national park on our summer 2019 road trip. On the five-hour southbound drive from Theodore Roosevelt, a kamikaze bird flew into our car, but rather than hitting the windshield, it got wedged under our roof rack! We found it when we stopped for lunch in Faith, South Dakota (near where Sue the T-Rex was found).
We were happy to find restrooms and showers super close to our campsites, and soft ground with grass that was easy for the stakes to go into. After setting up, we took the scenic drive out the other end of the park, stopping at overlooks along the way. We saw a couple of herds of bighorn sheep and a bunch of prairie dogs. Dinner was at Wall Drug Cafe, which was a giant tourist trap (but we knew that going in and embraced it). We enjoyed their bookstore and rock shop, as well as their backyard that was full of fun photo ops (including a giant jackalope you could sit on). On the way back to camp, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset behind us and a really cool lightning storm in front of us. I stayed out for quite a while after everyone else had gone to the tents getting pictures of the lightning (it wasn’t raining at all where we were). Still some learning to do on that front!
We got packed up early enough the next morning to do the 8:30 geology walk at the Door Trail. We learned about the different layers that make up the Badlands buttes, then we went exploring past the boardwalk afterwards. Our oldest daughter found some bone in a butte, so we documented it as instructed by the ranger. Back at the visitor center, the paleontologist we asked said it was probably an ancient tortoise shell. We sent in a report and pictures and they’ll tell us what it was we found if they end up studying it. Being that it’s now nearly 6 years later as I write this, they probably didn’t end up pursuing that lead.
With junior ranger badges and an “I Did the Right Thing” fossil-finder patch in hand, we were off to our final national park on this trip – Wind Cave.
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