25th
June 2016
The amazing
Badlands, prairie dogs and buffalo
I had gone for a
walk just before sunset last night and saw some amazing colours on the cliffs
around the camp site that in the day time are kind of bleached out. Some wonderful colours out here if you can
catch them just right. The next morning
I backtracked the 5 or 6 miles to the beginning of the Park because last night
I had been keen to find a camp site, especially in the heat, and had not
stopped. I find that now it is almost
summer time here, and almost all America is on vacation, if you can stop by 3
pm or so you can often get a campsite – The hoards all seem to pull in at about
5-6 pm and if you can beat them, you are usually ok.
It was supposed
to be much cooler today, and this morning it was delightful, wandering around
some of the trails around specific areas in the park. The shapes and colours of the outcrops in the
Badlands are just stunning, and around every corner you find yourself
mesmerized. Wandering through the park,
from lookout to lookout, and stopping in Information centres, I kept on meeting
the most delightful people who came over for a chat. The most usual question was “Have you been to
all those places ? In that car ?
!!” There was a lovely family I met –
Dad Titus and his son Noah, and I didn’t get his wife’s name – but they had a
US SUV double cab with a pop top camper on the back – One of the options I like
compared to Troopie if one didn’t have to take shipping costs into consideration
!
Basically I just
wandered through the park, stopping whenever I felt like it, and wandering
along some of the trails, and just enjoying the perfect temperatures and the
scenery. Then at about 1 pm I had the opportunity to carry on through the park,
off the beaten track a little, on some dirt roads that would eventually take me
out of the park, but would also allow me to get away from just some of the
crowds, although I have to say, it wasn’t too bad.
As soon as I
turned up Sage Road, there were long horn sheep on the road. One was just standing on the road looking
over its shoulder, and nothing would make it move – Then I realized why when
suddenly about 20 more came dashing across the road – He was holding up the
traffic to let all his mates cross safely !!
The wild flowers
along the side of the road were a riot of colours – yellows, purples, and
whites. Then I came to “Prairie Dog
City” – Which I didn’t understand until I saw it ! There is a veritable city of prairie dogs,
stretching for several miles ! And they
are the cutest animals, standing on their back legs watching you go past, or in
the family clusters, playing or grooming each other. A couple of times I just switched off the
engine and sat by the road with the binoculars, watching their antics !
Then there were
some buffalo lying in the grass – and it seemed as though the prairie dogs were
keeping guard for the buffalo while they rolled in the dust bowls they seem to
enjoy ! And as I drove on through the rolling
hills of the park, over bridges spanning small rivers (one of which was the
Cheyenne River) that were clouded with swallows that were collecting water to
mold the mud so they could build their nests – Just thousands of them. 
We then came to
this funny little town called Scenic which was really weird – All deserted Wild
West kind of buildings – It looked like they were supposed to be a tourist
attraction, but they all seemed deserted.
Most odd ! From there it was on
along the dirt roads, out of the Badlands Park and across to Buffalo Gap, which
was an equally odd place, with run down “Last Chance Saloons”, and an 1800
looking City Hall – Again, all deserted.
I was aiming for
the Custer State Park, but when I got there, they had no camping spaces
available in the Park (Saturday night) so I had to go back just 7 or 8 miles to
the Wind Cave National Park, where I found a camping spot – But unfortunately like
many of these State Parks they only have toilets, not showers. But it was a pleasant enough spot, and
thankfully a lot cooler than yesterday, so after supper it was off to bed for
me. A great day with amazing sights in
the Badlands NP, and plenty of wildlife along the road to make it all
interesting. I am very close to Mount
Rushmore where I came
No comments:
Post a Comment