hundreds of miles before you come upon the city of wall, south dakota.....you begin to see the signs for "wall drug". a drug store? a souvenir store? an old timey replica? a tourist trap? yes. all of these things. they have everything here from tee shirts to real gold jewelry. post cards to cowboy hats. key chains to an 80 ft dinosaur replica (no joke). i just did a quick walk through to see what the fuss was about. but i could see spending hours in here looking at all the different vendors. and it's conveniently located at one of the exits for badlands national park.
badlands....such an unfortunate name for such an amazing place! though i can see if you were looking for hospitable farming land, this rough and cragged terrain would indeed be "bad" for business. but for appreciating geological wonders? this place is the furthest thing from bad i can imagine! when i started planning my trek through the northern part of the country, this was the first stopping point i put on my list. and i'm so happy i did! even though the day i spent here was cold (barely 50 degrees in august!) and grey, it was a breathtaking wonder.
and i find that anytime you see one of these signs? it's got to be a gorgeous park! luckily that was not part of the wildlife i encountered.
the flat khaki colored prairie grasslands of western south dakota quickly give way to steep gorges, high pinnacles and eroded buttes. there is a stark and eerie beauty to the desolation of this place. all you can hear are the winds. all you can smell are the juniper trees.
much of the erosion here is from wind and water relentlessly attacking the soft soils of this area. smooth flat hills will quickly drop into craggy ridges.
as the erosion continues, amazing layers of sediment are revealed in spectacular colors of yellows, pinks, purples, oranges and grays.
the badlands maybe inhospitable for humans. but they are perfect for this guy.....no my camera is not zoomed in. he's just chilling THAT close to the road. noshing on some grass. i knew big horn sheep were big? but this guy was massive! i wasn't foolish enough to get out of my car, but did roll down the window to capture this once in a lifetime image. until he got too curious about his reflection on the side of my car and started stamping his foot and lowering his head. i peeled out before any charging happened!
there's a main loop road almost 30 miles long that winds through the park offering gorgeous vistas at every turn.
and a handful of trails that climb back into the hills. this particular one wound it's way through one of the juniper forests of the park.
these gorgeous flowers popped up every so often adding a contrasting pop of bright color against the grey skies of the day. i'm guessing they're a type of mini-sunflower? though i have zero skill in botany, so could be 100% wrong about that.
stunning examples of the striation created by the various layers of sediment here. this area is also well known for it's mammalian fossils.
towards the east entrance of the park of some of the most impressive spire structures.
you can see from my hair how windy it is today!
a gorgeous gorge! (sorry....had to....)
after a wonderful day of hiking i continued west to spend the night in rapid city. which i was pleased to find out had a very quaint and bustling downtown area filled with restaurants, bars and even a park with live music!
i opted to stop at the firehouse brewing company, based on suggestions i had read on line. it's in an old firehouse, so it has to be good, right?
i'm not really a beer drinker, so the liquid wares of the local brewery were lost on me! but i can definitely appreciate foods that use beer as flavoring! i ordered a soup and salad combo so that i could try their gorgonzola ale soup that was accompanied by a dark brown stout bread. after that chilly hike through the badlands? this meal was exactly what i needed!
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