After my post on Mount Rushmore, I couldn’t leave South Dakota behind without showing you our trip through the Badlands on the way to Mount Rushmore. The Badlands can be summed up in three words: Hot and hotter! Also breathtaking. I fear that the weird yet beautiful expansiveness can’t be adequately represented in my photos, but I’ll share them anyway.
It was 102°F that day, and I have proof from the truck’s dashboard. You can enter the National Park ($30 per car) through one of two points and then you can drive through the whole thing, stopping at various lookout spots. We entered from the northeast.
A few yards into the park, we stopped at the the first turnout, called Big Badlands Overlook… Wait, I am starting with a fib. We drove past the overlook because we did something we often do when we get somewhere for the first time while towing the 30-foot trailer. We began a discussion (sometimes a little heated) that goes like this:
“Is that the turn?”
“Yes, that’s the turn.”
“Can we go in there?”
“I think so.”
“Can we get out of there?”
“Should we risk it?”
“That was the turn!”
And then, it’s too late, and we have blown past it, usually with no easy way to turn around. In this case, we drove a few miles to the next lookout, got out, walked around, and took photos. Murray was probably wondering if we had lost our minds and taken him to Mars. Thank goodness for air conditioning!
We had another discussion that went like this:
“We can’t go back. It’ll waste gas.”
“Do you want to go back?”
“It’ll take too long.”
“We can go back if you want to.”
“Do you want to?”
“We should go back.”
And then we went back. Yes, I am that type of person! I like to get to the movies for the previews, and if I get to the theater after the movie has started, I won’t go in. And if I miss the first overlook at the Badlands, I must go back and see what I missed.
Naturally, right when we got back to the first overlook (pretend for a moment we had just arrived), so did a large busload of tourists from Australia and an entire motorcycling tour group.
Because it was so hot, we had to take turns going out on the long outcropping while the other one stayed in the car with the AC on for Murray’s sake. Dogs, for some reason, were not allowed on the walk. Philip made it out to the end just as the other tourists started onto the walkway. When it was my turn, however, I felt like a salmon swimming upstream — both ways. Have you ever seen that Rowan Atkinson / Mr. Bean movie when he’s behind someone on the stairs? I was Mr. Bean trying to return to the car. I do not have a photo of the crowd.
We completed the entire Badlands’ drive without mishap or overheating. And while I enjoyed the plaques, and even saw some wildlife along the way, I couldn’t help wishing I had seen some bison.
Anyway, I can recommend this scenic drive, although it led to the terrible evening arrival on 16A in Keystone. The next South Dakota scenic drive, one that followed our time at Mount Rushmore was a completely different terrain — verdant, lush, and green — but that’s a tale for another day.