Day 3 (September 3, 2019) - Sculptures

Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Today, finally, we had a destination that wasn’t a hotel.  We were headed to Badlands National Park (on the way to a hotel in Rapid City).  The weather was great – bright sunshine and highs in the low 80’s.  The hotel, a Hampton Inn, was good and we got a little more sleep so we’re off to a good start.

I almost titled this day's post “Flatlining” due to the road being so straight but I chose not to scare any readers familiar with the medical terminology and instead highlight the Badlands.  The drive was pretty straight most of the way with some turns thrown in to keep drivers awake, I think.  With the exception of road construction areas, the speed limit was 80 again.  But I settled in at 78 MPH because that allowed my passenger to transform from a quaking blob to a human being.  We fought the wind the whole trip and it actually reduced our gas mileage by at least 30%-40%.

South Dakota plains

The scenery was farmlands until we crossed the Missouri where it turned to high plains – open fields with rolling fields.  I titled this day "Sculptures" because it struck me as appropriate with some of the highway sights.  First, we passed a field of an artist's large metal sculptures.

Then, we made a couple of unscheduled stops before reaching the Badlands:

1. The first was a rest area near wind farms.  Wind farms always make me think of a modern engineering sculpture with their massive propellers spinning - a landscape mobile.  With the seemingly endless winds blowing across the plains, it was a perfect setting and they were impressive.

Wind farm

2.  The second was also rest area, but one with an advertised “scenic overlook”.  I couldn’t imagine any overlook given the flat landscape we’d seen to that point.  But I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The rest area sat on a bluff below which the Missouri River flowed.  The valley was deep and wide and beautiful.  Even more beautiful, though, was a sculpture called simply “Dignity”.  It was a Native American woman holding a quilt and was 50 feet tall. It was stunning.

Dignity

Not a repeat - see Susan for size

Missouri River Valley

A quick Subway lunch in Kadokah led to the Badlands exit.  Our first stop was before the park entrance, though, as there is a unique prairie dog town located at a Prairie Home exhibit.  Prairie dog towns are everywhere here but most prairie dogs are tannish in color.  This town has white prairie dogs.  Since we live with white squirrels in NC, we needed to add the experience of seeing this equally freaky white vermin.

White prairie dog

As we approached the park, the scenery rapidly changed.

Once in the park, the sites started immediately with the Big Badlands Overlook.  It gives a visitor a good idea of what to expect throughout the rest of the park.  Our second stop in the park was finally a chance to stretch our legs with a short-ish hike.  The Door Trail was an easy stroll on a boardwalk and the chalky materials that make up the Badlands.  (It isn’t really rock but clay mixed with lava ash and some other stuff.)  The out and back trail was a little less than a mile.  The cloudless sky made for a hot sun on a walk with no shade.

Big Badlands Overlook

At least it wasn't the end of the road

It may be a stretch, but the formations in the park seemed to me to be God's sculptures.  At least it fits the theme.

We continued deeper into the park with stops at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center (good info) and several more viewing points - White River Valley Overlook, Panorama Point, Conata Basin Overlook, Yellow Mounds Overlook, and Pinnacles Overlook.  We had scheduled more viewing areas and more hikes but the scenery was changing very little so we blew them off.  Instead, we took a little longer drive on a dirt road called Sage Creek Rim Road.

Yellow Mounds

This is probably a good time to describe the road through the park.  The road used by most visitors is the Badlands Loop Road.  It is called a loop because it begins at one exit on I-90 and ends at another exit farther west.  Sage Creek Rim continues past the exit road and ultimately exits the park in the far less traveled west end.  It is known for more wildlife sightings, though.  We did see a flock of bighorn sheep and a bison.  We did not go to the west end.  We took a road that circled back to the exit road.

Before leaving our Badlands story, the highlight of the day was seeing another flock of bighorn sheep with a ram leading his harem.  He charged one of the ladies and pawed at the dirt like he was he was ready to fight.  Then he lay down.  He was an impressive animal.

Bighorn ram

... and some of his harem

The exit road goes into a small town called Wall, SD.  It is famous for Wall Drug, a store that now encompasses a full block with various shops for different needs and tastes, including fine western art.  That isn’t for its fame, however.  That comes from its advertising – billboards endlessly catching the travelers’ eyes for mile after mile.  Anyone familiar with South of the Border along I-95 in South Carolina knows exactly what I’m talking about.  Anyhow, we made our obligatory stop in Wall Drug and I can happily say that we didn’t spend anything but time.

Wall Drug

From Wall, it was a short 45 minutes to another Hampton Inn in Rapid City, SD.  This Hampton was brand new and everything went great.  Except for dinner.  We saw a Cajun place called Jambonz that had crawfish etouffee, one of our favorites.  It tasted great.  But it was so spicy hot that it melted our faces off.  Of course, we had to get some ice cream to cool off.

It was hard to judge Rapid City.  It had some age but the core seemed to be making an effort to renew and the suburbs were booming with growth.

All-in-all, today was a good day.  The Badlands is a place I would recommend for folks who are passing by but I’m not sure I would recommend it as a destination.  Somewhere along our way we heard a man say he had 2 days in the Badlands coming up.  We thought “good luck with that”.  Our time of a half-day was about right since it was along our way.

Susan’s quote of the day:  “That guy is nuts!”  The context is that a man was walking right to the end of a narrow peninsula with a several hundred dropoff on 3 sides.  This was after she yelled at me for getting within 10 feet of the end.  All of this occurred at Pinnacles Overlook.
 

The Peninsulas

The highlights - Bighorn sheep and Dignity.
The regrets - None.

Today's total miles - 389
Today's miles from start to destination - 373
Today's miles on side trips - 16
Today's miles driven by Paul - 389
Today's miles driven by Susan - 0
Today's hours in car - 6 1/2
Miles Hiked - 1.0

Cumulative total miles - 1,671

Cumulative miles from start to destination - 1,598
Cumulative miles on side trips - 73
Cumulative miles driven by Paul - 1,551
Cumulative miles driven by Susan - 120
Cumulative hours in car - 25 1/2
Cumulative Miles Hiked - 1.0