2005-07-28 Oacoma to Wall, South Dakota
08:30 On the road heading West (again), after a passable but not very exciting continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. Our target today is the Badlands National Park. As we start out the sky is cloudless and the temperature threatens to get close to 100F.
09:00 Stopped at a rest stop to try to get some idea of the vastness of the plains.
09:40 MDT Our first view of the Badlands, a viewpoint at a rest stop on I-90.
10:05 In possession of our National Park Annual Pass, we are in the Badlands National Park and within 100m there is an amazing viewpoint which shows what the Badlands is all about. A desolate landscape with steep cliffs and narrow rain carved gullies, several hundred feet down from the upper plains to the lower level below. It is already hot and the sun is scorching back at us from the light coloured rock.
10:30 At our second stop. Primarily this is intended as a rest room break, but there is also the opportunity to climb all over the rocks.
10:41 We have stopped again. This time it is an unplanned stop along the roadside to capture some spectacular formations and cacti on film.
11:00 On our first trail of the day, the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail, a 0.6m loop that climbs above and round an area that at some times of year is marshy. When we were there, the lime leeching out of the rock left a surface like cement. It is good to stretch our legs and there is a pleasant breeze to keep conditions comfortable.
11:50 The most disappointing stop of the day at the Fossil Exhibit Trail. This is NO fossil in situ, it is replica fossils in display cases.
12:15 Stopped for a picnic lunch at Bigfoot Pass Overlook, managing to get one of the four shaded picnic tables. Next to us, a group of young children were having a birthday party. The birthday girl fell of her chair and grazed her arm. One of the other people at the overlook (not involved with the party) just happened to have a tame parrot which cheered up the little girl immensely. Meanwhile, there were great views and two eagles soaring over the rocks below us.
12:55 Another unscheduled roadside stop (near Homesteads Overlook). This time we saw one person stopped and realised that he was photographing Prairie Dogs, small furry animals a little like Meercats that live in burrows.
13:05 Coming through Dillon Pass and there is a spectacular sight of layered yellow, red and gray rocks. The next stop is Yellow Mounds Overlook which explains how seabed changes and volcanic eruptions created the original rocks which have now been exposed through erosion.
13:20 We see a lot of cars at one particular overlook, the Pinnacles Overlook, and stop to see why there is so much interest. In fact it is the first overlook, if you enter the park from the West.
13:40 More Prarie Dogs. We were intrigued by the signpost to Roberts Prairie Dog Town and envisaged some kind of display. After 3 miles along a gravel track, we reached our destination. It was simply the place where a lot of these rodents live naturally. It is named after the old homestead owner.
15:40 We have discovered the wide open prarie! After checking into the hotel and a visit to Wall Drug for our 5c coffees, we called at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands Visitor Center and asked for advice on how to find the real grasslands (with advertising hoardings every 100 yards or so). The helpful lady gave us instructions to take the gravel track South from exit 121 of I-90 and then after travelling "no more than 3 miles" take the dirt road to the West, where we would find a derelict homestead and grass in all directions. We found a track, we found grass but did not find the homestead.
16:00 We are back on the Badlands Loop after discovering an illicit entrance without a pay booth (we did pay earlier in the day, so we were legal). Total distance travelled on day 6: 239 miles.
20:00 Right on (Weather Channel) cue, our thunderstorm arrived. With spectacular lightning and initially some heavy rain, it hung around for the best part of 6 hours.
Read More09:00 Stopped at a rest stop to try to get some idea of the vastness of the plains.
09:40 MDT Our first view of the Badlands, a viewpoint at a rest stop on I-90.
10:05 In possession of our National Park Annual Pass, we are in the Badlands National Park and within 100m there is an amazing viewpoint which shows what the Badlands is all about. A desolate landscape with steep cliffs and narrow rain carved gullies, several hundred feet down from the upper plains to the lower level below. It is already hot and the sun is scorching back at us from the light coloured rock.
10:30 At our second stop. Primarily this is intended as a rest room break, but there is also the opportunity to climb all over the rocks.
10:41 We have stopped again. This time it is an unplanned stop along the roadside to capture some spectacular formations and cacti on film.
11:00 On our first trail of the day, the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail, a 0.6m loop that climbs above and round an area that at some times of year is marshy. When we were there, the lime leeching out of the rock left a surface like cement. It is good to stretch our legs and there is a pleasant breeze to keep conditions comfortable.
11:50 The most disappointing stop of the day at the Fossil Exhibit Trail. This is NO fossil in situ, it is replica fossils in display cases.
12:15 Stopped for a picnic lunch at Bigfoot Pass Overlook, managing to get one of the four shaded picnic tables. Next to us, a group of young children were having a birthday party. The birthday girl fell of her chair and grazed her arm. One of the other people at the overlook (not involved with the party) just happened to have a tame parrot which cheered up the little girl immensely. Meanwhile, there were great views and two eagles soaring over the rocks below us.
12:55 Another unscheduled roadside stop (near Homesteads Overlook). This time we saw one person stopped and realised that he was photographing Prairie Dogs, small furry animals a little like Meercats that live in burrows.
13:05 Coming through Dillon Pass and there is a spectacular sight of layered yellow, red and gray rocks. The next stop is Yellow Mounds Overlook which explains how seabed changes and volcanic eruptions created the original rocks which have now been exposed through erosion.
13:20 We see a lot of cars at one particular overlook, the Pinnacles Overlook, and stop to see why there is so much interest. In fact it is the first overlook, if you enter the park from the West.
13:40 More Prarie Dogs. We were intrigued by the signpost to Roberts Prairie Dog Town and envisaged some kind of display. After 3 miles along a gravel track, we reached our destination. It was simply the place where a lot of these rodents live naturally. It is named after the old homestead owner.
15:40 We have discovered the wide open prarie! After checking into the hotel and a visit to Wall Drug for our 5c coffees, we called at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands Visitor Center and asked for advice on how to find the real grasslands (with advertising hoardings every 100 yards or so). The helpful lady gave us instructions to take the gravel track South from exit 121 of I-90 and then after travelling "no more than 3 miles" take the dirt road to the West, where we would find a derelict homestead and grass in all directions. We found a track, we found grass but did not find the homestead.
16:00 We are back on the Badlands Loop after discovering an illicit entrance without a pay booth (we did pay earlier in the day, so we were legal). Total distance travelled on day 6: 239 miles.
20:00 Right on (Weather Channel) cue, our thunderstorm arrived. With spectacular lightning and initially some heavy rain, it hung around for the best part of 6 hours.
