After a pause in the story, I'm back with part 4 of my road trip. You might want to read the lead up to this first (part 1, part 2, and part 3)
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| My little campsite in the morning; the White River is just beyond the trees in the background |
After staring at the beautiful night sky well past midnight, I awoke early (for me), showered, ate a quick cheese-and-bagel "sandwich," then packed up and headed back to Badlands National Park. I didn't really plan on spending much time there, but also wanted to beat the heat. The previous day was 100F well into the late afternoon, and heat resistant though I am, it is wearying and dangerous, especially if you run out of water.
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| "King Tut," a fossil turtle on display at the Badlands' Ben Reifel Visitor Center |
I started by going to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center to see if there was anything new and interesting in the gift shop (and get a few post cards for friends who had expressed that they wanted to receive them), and the fossil prep lab was open. I spoke with the paleontologists there a bit, and was told that if I wanted to find a fossil, the best bet was to go off trail. I must have looked horrified -- after all, most parks stress stay on the trails to prevent ecological damage -- and she told me that because Badlands erodes so much (up to an inch a year!), staying on trails isn't as important in this park. After saying "hi" to Ranger Paul (who is one of this park's secret treasures; he has some great stories to tell about people asking questions like, "When do you paint the rocks?" and "So this road is currently closed? Does that mean I can't go here?), I headed back to Norbeck Pass and the Fossil Exhibit Trail end of Castle Trail. I figured I'd hike a bit down Castle Trail, then head out of the park via Sage Creek Rim Road to look for wildlife.
Right away, I saw some bighorn sheep across a ravine in nearly the same place that Pat and I had seen them last year. Unlike last year, I had my zoom lens and Canon DLSR with me, so I could actually get some decent photos of them. As I took some photos of the rams, a couple of other hikers came by, saw me taking photos and of course started congregating where I was. So, I continued on down the trail until I found an area that enticed me to go off trail, and off trail I went.
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| Beefy surveys his domain |
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| What have we here??? |
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| Those are definitely bones |
After seeing the bones, I took several photos, recorded the GPS coordinates, and headed back to the visitor center. They weren't terrible far from the trail and so obvious that I was pretty sure they'd been reported previously, and sure enough, that's what I was told. They are pre-Columbian bison bones, so between 800-1000 years old. Not quite "fossil" material, but I still got a patch for doing the right thing. 😁
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| If you report a finding instead of disturbing it, you get a patch and allow trained professionals to obtain information from the finding that is shared with everyone |
At this point, it's later in the day than I really planned on staying in the park, and it's hot AF.
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| I don't care if the humidity is low, this is not pleasant. BTW, that's 2:08 EDT, because I don't like changing the clock |
It was time to go down Sage Creek Rim Road, visit the bison and the prairie dogs, and then maybe go to Custer or something.  |
| You get more colors in the landscape along Sage Creek Rim Road |
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| Prairie with grazing bison |
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| A horned lark at Roberts Prairie Dog Town |
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| Sorry guys, I didn't bring any apples |
As I approached the park exit, I started to see more and more and more bison. In fact, there was a bison in the middle of the road.
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| The truck's driver said he'd been waiting about ten minutes for the bison to move when I came along. I only had to wait for a few minutes |
There were a ton of bison here, kind of like when we were surrounded by bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 2019 or at Custer State Park last year. I was driving super slow (20-30mph) because they were right next to the road, walking into the road, etc. and clearly some people didn't care that a collision could occur. Two trucks passed me and damn near hit multiple bison.
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| This was the first of the impatient people |
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| It looks like a fence separates us, but there was a wide open gate just up the road |
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| Beefy is excited to see his people |
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| This was the second of the impatient people to pass me. I'm pulled over here, because these two bison were in the road. The garbage truck barely slowed down as it approached them and fortunately, they moved |
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| So many bison |
From Wall, I decided to go up to the South Dakota Air & Space Museum in Box Elder. It's basically just outside the main gate to Ellsworth AFB. Mom and I had visited here in 2015, but this time the indoor exhibits were still closed. I'm not sure if that's because of funding, lack of staff or what. I wandered around the outdoor exhibits (which are still open) before making a reservation at the Custer/Black Hills KOA and heading that way.
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| Titan I |
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| B1-B Lancer, or as Pat says, "Bone". |
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| VB-25J used by Gen. Eisenhower during WWII |
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| Minuteman Missile; Ellsworth AFB is one of the bases that takes care of the silos |
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| F105-B Thunderchief |
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| EB-57B Canberra |
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| F102-A Delta Dagger |
The route that Waze had me take to the campground took me through Custer State Park, though since I wasn't using the Wildlife Loop or any of the trails, I wasn't charged admission. As I got into the Black Hills proper, the temperature dropped and became very comfortable, if not a little on the cool side by the time dusk came.
After setting up camp, I went back into Custer proper to briefly meet up with Kari from #ParkChat, who was closing up shop. She's a teacher, too, and we chatted about parks, road tripping, teaching and more before she headed home and I headed to Mt. Rushmore Brewing for dinner. I had an elk burger and a flight before choosing a few cans of to-go beer and going back to the campground where I got the firepit going.
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| and then.... |
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| I blame Kari. She made me want a s'more. |
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| Ursa Major (Big Dipper) from the campground; I could see more, but my phone couldn't capture all of the majesty |
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| The morning view was <chef's kiss> |
I still had no plans come the next morning, so I figured I'd go to Wind Cave.
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