Badlands National Park

10/2
After closing down Creekside Mountain RV Park, we retraced our steps back toward Rapid City, SD and got on I-90 heading east for the short drive to Badlands National Park.

As is true for anyone who travels in this part of the country, there are signs everywhere announcing Wall Drug in Wall,SD.

The Cedar Pass campground in Badlands National Park had only central water spigots strategically spaced with no other hookups, consistent with most National Parks.   However, this park had a strange design.  The sites are only wide spots in the asphalt road that make up the loops. There were also posts lining the grassy interior area to make sure you stay on the pavement  There's barely enough room to park an average/large size camper on a site and still leave enough room for other campers driving past.  That being said, it all seemed to work.

After setting up, we planned to drive the scenic Badlands Loop Road which ends in Wall, SD.  Once in Wall we'd do some laundry and check out Wall Drug, how exciting!  To top the day off we'd be back in the Park to watch the sunset over the craggy spires.

Here's some pictures from the Loop Road...

One of the few trees.

After we finished the laundry we headed over to Wall Drug.  It was late on a Sunday afternoon and not very crowded.  I don't think Joan wanted to go.  If it was a busy day I'd agree. But hey, we're here, let's just walk through and see what all the hub-bub is about.  So, I DRAGGED Joan down the side walk, KICKING and SCREAMING all the way to the door.  Okay, which door?   Apparently the original drug store bought up many of the attached store fronts. Almost any door will get you in.  Once inside there's doors cut in the walls connecting everything. There were a couple of eateries, lots of tourist stuff, some animatronic tableaus depicting life on the South Dakota plans, some tourist stuff, drug store items like band-aids and ... did I mention tourist stuff!  The Wall drug complex takes up most of a city block along with some buildings across the alley behind the main stores.  I assume you can get a prescription filled there, I just never saw the pharmacy!  The history of Wall Drug is really a testament to the American entrepreneurial sprite. Here's a link if you're interested.

Lucky for Joan it must have been less than 20 minutes since his last meal!!!

Now we can say, we've been to Wall Drug!  It would probably be fun for kids, but I don't think we'll go back.

We made it back to the Park in time for the sunset over the Badlands...

10/3

Today we wanted to do some hiking. On the road heading north there's a large parking area with access to 3 short trails, (Door trail, Window trail and Notch trail) and the 10 mile Castle trail.  The Window trail was just a few hundred yards long leading to an opening in the cliff (the window).  The Notch trail (labeled moderate to strenuous for the steep drop-offs, not recommended for any one with a fear of heights) was more interesting, leading through a wash with high cliffs on either side.

Eventually we came to a log ladder that lead to the steep drop-offs.  We decided to stop here and head back.

On the way back, Joan noticed some birds nests on one of the cliffs above the trail

They were in various stages of decay and we wondered if they were from last spring.

Next we hiked the Door trail.  This wasn't as interesting.  It simply wound through the rough terrain with very little change in scenery.

Eventually you simply came to the end of the trail!

While at the "End of the Tail", Joan's phone rang. So here we were at the "End of the Trail" in the Badlands of South Dakota re-scheduling and appointment for December in Florida.  Ain't modern technology wonderful!

The weather report called for thunder storms in the afternoon. No big deal, we had thunder storms every afternoon during the Florida summer.  We'd just ride it out in the camper...

Before the storm hit I was going to step out to retrieve a small solar light by the steps (because of the closeness to the traffic). I was greeted by a gust of wind so I decided the light would have to fend for itself. About 30 seconds later, we were hit by a HUGE gust to our broadside, pushing our tongue jack off the blocks it was resting on, dropping  about 10 inches to the asphalt.  The stabilizer jacks collapsed under the weight and we were rocking and rolling under the driving wind.  I immediately brought the slide-out in, fearing the extra weight on the down wind side might assist the wind to push us over on our side. Joan wedged herself in the door way between the living and bed room area, I got low in front of the frig door to keep it closed.  For the next 30 minutes we rode out the storm afraid we'd be pushed over on our side at any moment. 

After the storm finally passed we climbed out of the camper to asses the damage.

With all the excitement, I forgot to take an over-all
picture of the camper on it's nose.

All the stabilizer jacks had some damage, the ones nearest the tongue being the worst.  Using the jack from the truck I was able to raise the tongue high enough to hook up to the truck.  All in all, we were in pretty good shape.  I know of at least 5 campers that sustained some damage. One camper was hit by the wind from the rear, completely collapsing the tongue jack and driving the camper into one of those posts, punching a hole into the front compartment.  It took several hours, many good samaritans and a fellow with two large hydraulic bottle jacks to get them hooked up to their truck.

We later found out the winds were recorded at 82 miles per hour (hurricane force if we had been in Florida)!

Double rainbow after the storm.

A few days later I bought an 8 ft. 2x4 and bent the stabilizer jacks into reasonably good positions.

We were able to use them until we got back to Florida, where they were replaced.

We'd planned to stay one more day but we never un-hooked from the truck.  We just relaxed (after the excitement of the previous day), walked the campground and surrounding area plus visited the Ben Reifel Visitors Center.  

10/4

Leaving Badlands National Park behind, we were on the road again heading east. 

After visiting the North Dakota badlands at Theodore Roosevelt NP and Badlands NP in South Dakota, we definitely liked the North Dakota badlands over the ones in South Dakota. The terrain in North Dakota is much prettier and more varied, the campground in much nicer and the park staff are great!

For the next few hundred miles we'd be passing through the rolling prairies of southern South Dakota.  Our destination, Iowa, to visit friends.

Coming next, Iowa.

The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore

9/30
The drive from The Sturgis area to the Mount Rushmore area was relatively short.  We were heading for Creekside Mountain RV Park  just outside Hill City, SD.  There was no problem finding a site, they were closing for the season in two days and all but one site was open.

Our main draw to the area was Mount Rushmore but there's plenty to do in the Black Hills.  After setting up we started driving around to get familiar with the area. The campground owner told us the entrance fee for Custer State Park was free for the "roundup".  We didn't know what the roundup was but we did understand free!.  We found our way to the Custer State Park visitors center and learned about the Annual Buffalo Roundup.  By this time it was late in the day but we went ahead and drove out to the roundup site along the Wild Life Loop Scenic Byway.

The buffalo were in the corrals and there was evidence of a big event, temporary parking areas and even a few  bleachers,  but all the activity was over.  We'd missed it by a couple hours.

We saw the occasional Antelope and some wild donkeys
ready for a handout but not much else.

One that got away.

After the Wild Life drive we headed up the Needles Highway, so named for the pointy spires.  It could also be for the narrow tunnels along the windy two lane road, like threading a needle with the truck. The weather was mostly overcast so the pictures are sorta bland.

Here's a short video of the Needled Highway on a much nicer day than we had.

10/1
Today we'd do Mount Rushmore. The Plan was to go past the attraction and drive another scenic highway the Iron Mountain Road, find a nice spot for lunch, then stop at Rushmore on the way back in the afternoon.  Here's some pictures from Iron Mountain Road.

See Mount Rushmore in the distance.

The road was laid out to maximize the viewing opportunity for the monument, then the engineers were given the task of making it happen.

Mount Rushmore is a spectacular site.  Once you walk out to the the amphitheater and take a few pictures...

...there's basically 4 other things to do during the day.

- Walk the 1/2 mile Presidential loop trail. Here's a 24 min. YouTube video made by a fellow who walked the trail...backwards. "YOU ARE THERE...!"
- Join a park ranger for a 30 minute interpretive talk or guided walk
- Visit the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center with lots of good information on the sculptor, the workers and history of the USA.  There's also a 14 minute film "Mount Rushmore: The shrine".
- Visit the Sculptor's Studio at the end of the Presidential Trail. There you'll see actual models used, examples of the tools and the view of the mountain the sculptors saw during the 14 year construction. There's also a very interesting Ranger talk about the sculpting of the monument. Here's a YouTube video from inside the Sculptors's Studio.

View from Sculptors Studio.

One of the highlights of a visit to Mount Rushmore is the Evening Lighting Ceremony .  We'd go back to the camper for dinner then return for the ceremony.

• Here's a tip. The only cost to get into the monument is an $11 annual pass parking fee paid to a concessionaire, so the senior pass doesn't get you a discount.  When we returned about 7:30pm there was no one collecting parking fees. Not sure what time they stop taking the parking fees.

The ceremony started with a ranger presentation followed by a film.

After after the film, the ranger called for any veterans in the audience to come down to the stage.  Each veteran introduced themselves and their branch of service.  There was even a WWII Army air-core veteran.

The veterans then participated in a flag lowering ceremony.

As we headed back to our campground, we stopped at the parking area where you can see the monument from the side, showing a Washington profile hanging in the black sky.

Here's an excellent  video about the area by RVgeeks, a great source for RV tips and travel info.

To end our visit to Mound Rushmore, here's a side of the sculpture you won't find in the guide books....

The next morning we were the last to leave the campground for the season.

Coming next, Badlands National Park.