Two Days at the Badlands

 

Two Days at the Badlands

After we left the bison ranch, we headed toward Wall, South Dakota, which is well known for the huge store there, known as Wall Drug.  As you drive toward Wall, you see billboards advertising Wall Drug for what feels like hundreds of miles!  And, yes, we did stop at Wall Drug while we were there, which is more like several stores under one roof, than one huge store.  But, Wall, South Dakota is also at the doorway to Badlands National Park.  Badlands National Park protects over 240,000 acres of buttes and pinnacles, as well as the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the US.  It was first established as a National Monument on January 29, 1939, and as a National Park on November 10, 1978.

We first approached the Badlands from a side road called Sage Creek Road.  We thought that it was a nice way to see some scenic sites before entering the National Park.  You could tell it was the beginning of the fall season, with all the landscape taking on the warm glow of autumn.

Another couple of signs of fall were the fields of sunflowers, blooms spent and gone to seed.  An amazing sight to me was a farmer’s truck loaded with what are the modern version of hay bales, moving them from one location to another.  The round bales (which is how I think of them) seem fairly large when viewed from the road when they are out in the fields.  However, seeing just a few of them on this truck, gave me an entirely different perspective about how large they are!

There were also animals on this roundabout way to get to the Badlands – pronghorn antelope and bison, either from afar (with a hawk or falcon flying close to him) or a bit closer!

As we continued on our drive, we saw some old train trestles (from a time when the trains would travel through the area), a river flowing up against a bluff, and just the road unfolding ahead of us through the scenery.

Then, we entered the Badlands, with the rock formations that are synonymous with the area.  I love the layers of rock and sediment that built up over the centuries.

This is White River Valley Overlook, which provides an expansive view of the Badlands close to a set of tall formations, known as the Castle, to the west. The view continues downward into the White River Valley.

The Burns Basin Overlook is named after the homestead of Wilson Burns, who raised sheep in the basin during the early 20th century. A freshwater spring was a rare commodity that kept this operation going. Now wells must be dug a few thousand feet deep.  As I looked at this, I wondered how he managed to keep track of his sheep!

This view is called the Homestead Overlook.  The Homesteading Acts were laws issued by the US government to promote Westward expansion by giving away free land. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the first Homesteading Act into law. Under this initial law, a US citizen could claim a 160-acre plot of public land in the West by filing an application, living on and improving the land for a minimum of five years, and filing for a deed within seven years.  The thing to keep in mind about this “free” land is that it was land seized from the Native Americans who previously lived in the Great Plains.

The Conata Basin Overlook has some incredible views of the park’s paleosols. Paleosols are ancient soils that often take on bright colors in the rocks. At this overlook, one can see two of the park’s most vibrant paleosols: the Yellow Mounds (more about that later) and the Interior Paleosol

The Ancient Hunters Overlook is an area where you can see several low areas where plant life and grasses can reside. Early prehistoric residents were able to collect rain and spring water that were trapped in these low areas. The low areas formed as a result of active landslides in th.is area.

The Pinnacles Overlook displays the expanse of the Sage Creek Wilderness area. On clear days, the Black Hills are visible on the horizon. Sometimes, bison might be visible in the distance, in the valley below or the upper prairie to the northwest. This overlook is also a popular spot for Bighorn sheep to gather, although we didn’t see any. This is also a lambing area for Bighorn sheep in late April to early May, so it’s not unusual to see lambs traversing the rocky slopes of the Badlands.

This area, called the Yellow Mounds is often called the most colorful portion of the Badlands, and for a good reason! Formed approximately 69-million-years ago due to geologic forces of deposition and erosion, the red and yellow soils in the area became fossilized, resulting in this incredible color!

Panorama Point Overlook offers a wide view of the Badlands landscape, downward towards the White River Valley.

This is NOT a part of the Badlands National Park, but it is located very close to it.  It is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  This site is one of six throughout the US that was built as a deterrent to a nuclear first strike by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  As of now, these missiles are deactivated.  Although there are tours of the area, we weren’t able to take any of them, and were content just to see this part of history.

Enjoy!