I did not realize that the entrance to the Badlands KOA was on the other side of the Northeast Entrance to the Badlands National Park. We got in with no problem since Randy and I now both have a lifetime pass to National parks, but it did cause me some anxiety traveling over the winding, narrow road down to the White River KOA in our large RV.
I enjoyed the drive from Mitchell. I loved how the flat land changed to the rolling hills as soon as we crossed over the Missouri River. There was a lot of construction but since the traffic was so light, it didn’t slow us down any. We made good time, but unfortunately the person in our site had requested and gotten permission to leave later than normal so we had to wait for several hours before we could set up on our site. The White River/Badlands KOA was nice and gave us another temporary site where we had lunch but we didn’t get out to sightsee until later than we wanted. We did a quick trip back to the Badlands National Park in the Jeep so we could stop at the overlooks that we had just passed by this morning. All of the scenery is gorgeous, but I was freaking out a little by all of the steep drops. The warning rattlesnake sign freaked me out a little too! Randy keeps telling me I am going to have a tough time in Alasa. It looked like a thuderstorm was coming, so we headed back to the RV. We have several days here so we hope to be able to do everything we have not gotten to do on our previous trips. We want to see if we can find the herds of bison and antelope either tomorrow or the next day.
On our second day in the Badlands, we took Badlands Loop Road to Wall, South Dakota. While at Wall we visited the National Grasslands Visitor Center and Wall Drug. We didn’t spend a lot of time in Wall Drug, but did walk through and look at all of the stores.
While traveling on the 31 mile section of South Dakota Highway 240, a.k.a. the Badlands Loop Road, that travels through the eastern portion of the Badlands National Park, we passed more outstanding views of buttes, cliffs and multi-colored spires . We were lucky and saw lots of bison off in the distance and prairie dogs and even a few big-horn sheep very close to the road. We were very disappointed that our older Nikon camera would not focus when we tried to get a picture of the big-horn sheep. We tried a couple of youtube repair solutions and even called the manufacturer but they advised to get a new camera as our DS80 is no longer being repaired. Looks like another unexpected purchase is needed.
Randy being “Dora the Explorer” took bumpy, gravel back roads, including the Old Northeast Road, back to the Park. I was surprised to learn that in the National Grasslands area grazing of animals is allowed so we passed lots of cattle.
On our third day in the Badlands, Randy explored the Sage Creek Rim Road. I was tired of bumpy gravel roads with steep cliffs so I chose not to go with him. He was rewarded with amazing views and lots of game. He saw a large prairie dog town with lots of prairie dogs, more bighorn sheep and bison! After lunch we went to the Fossil Exhibit Trail for the afternoon Fossil Talk from the Summer Ranger Program. After exploring the area we went out of the park to check out the Prairie Homestead.
During the Fossil Talk, the Ranger showed everyone fossils from sea creatures during the time when there was a large inland sea where the Badlands exist today. This seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico, through the middle of the U.S. and Canada to the Arctic Ocean to the North. At its largest, it was 2,500 feet deep, 600 miles wide and over 2,000 miles long.
The Prairie Homestead is the original home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Brown who homesteaded 160 acres in 1909. The original sod house consisting of a bedroom and kitchen area used cottonwood logs for the log front and beams. The upper walls of the home were layers of sod about 24″ thick. The living room consisting of a formal parlor with a music and sewing area, was a deserted claim shack that had been moved to the homestead and added onto the dugout a few years after the sod home was completed. This addition had a wood floor where the sod home was just a hard dirt floor. A chicken house and cave that was used as a root cellar were dug into the bank similar to the house. A wooden barn was added at a later date. The Praire Homestead was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
We started the last day in the Badands with the Geology Walk at the Door Trail. This was an extremely informative overview of how the Badlands were formed and explained how erosion has shaped the area. After the walk we decided to take another drive on the Badlands Loop Road. I am glad we did this drive as we saw lots of bighorn sheep. More than we had seen on previous drives. I am still amazed how these sure-footed sheep can jump around on the rock walls.
