Badlands National Park

Well here it is. The last planned National Park on my trip. I am at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The Badlands are not what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting more of what I say in Death Valley, but there is a lot of miles covered with green prairie grass and flowers that are blooming. There are areas of bare rock and mountains, but often the foreground or background is the acres of green grass. The mixture is strange and beautiful. I have seen wildlife from prairie dog towns to buffalo. For the most part there is one road that travels along the edge of the park with many overlooks to stop at. The whole road is paved and easy to travel on. There is another unpaved road that also has many overlooks. The road is Sugar Creek Rim road an is about a mile inside the park and off to the right. This road is where I saw most of the wildlife. This park was not the most spectacular of the parks that I have visited on this trip but is beautiful and definitely worth a visit. A three day stop in Wall will be enough to see it unless you are into long hikes in the wilderness then you would want to stay longer. Speaking of Wall, this is a special tourist town. Wall Drug is a large area with many small stores or departments in it. There is a pamphlet that tells the story of the husband and wife that started the drug store and how they started to give away free ice water in the early 1930’s to entice travelers to detour into Wall. My next major stop planned is my hometown to visit family and friends and from there it is home.