Badlands

While we were in South Dakota we went to Badlands National Park.  I think Scott and I were both surprised with how much we liked it.  Maybe the name undersells it a bit.

I thought it was funny that it was named "a bad land" or "a bad place to travel through" by two independent groups of people.  Once I saw it, I understood a bit more.  It's something else.  A very delicate but forbidding canyon in the middle of the prairie.  We kept commenting how easy it would be to get lost in there.  It was beautiful in a very desolate way...if that makes sense.  :)

Here are some pictures from our visit...a lot of scenery.

 

 Checking out the big badlands

It was WINDY!!  Like "hard to stand up" windy.  Like "let's not ever get out of the car again" windy.  Like "a little afraid the car doors might blow off" windy.  The lady at the visitor center confirmed that its windy like this all the time.  Wow.  I'm reading a book about the dust bowl right now and the ferocious wind of the American prairie.  That wind is for real.  Not messing around!

 Scott was able to stand up...just barely

 

The canyon formations are all very delicate.  They will crumble away if you walk on them.  Another reason not to travel across here.

We had to check out this prairie dog town.  This is looking in the prairie direction of the badlands...so you look one way and you just see this...the other direction is the canyons.  The prairie grass makes a noise when it rustles in the wind.  There are some far away prairie dogs in this picture.  :)

We saw some bison...mostly from far away

I liked this sign

I kept thinking how there used to be millions of bison roaming these plains.

 We saw one by the prairie dog town

See that tiny dot on the horizon.

Here are some more of them

 We saw lots more prairie dogs

 Here's one closer

We also saw this sign.

So we didn't try to pet any prairie dogs.  :)

 

 And more scenery

 Bighorn sheep on the side of a canyon

 

 The visitor center was pretty cool

Anna found a saber tooth

 This might be a bison skull?  Can't remember

 And more scenery

 It was beautiful and I'm glad we got a chance to see it.

On the road out of the park we passed this giant prairie dog.  They had a sign that said you can pay to feed the prairie dogs during the tourist season. 

I hope those ones don't have the plague.

More South Dakota adventures to come.