A grasshopper in the Badlands National Park, South Dakota. These are everywhere!
What a long but fun-filled day!! Amy and I are both exhausted, but we're updating the blog anyway, because we're dedicated like that.
6:30am - Amy wakes up and decides to explore our campsite. It's absolutely beautiful during the daytime, and she gets some great shots of the flowers and animals in the area.
8am - I finally wake up. Little do I know how much I missed in the past hour and a half. We start to take down the tent, and get ready to hit the road.
9am - Ready, packed up, and ready to go. The owner of the campground takes us on a trip into his 'backyard,' and we get a nice view of the badlands from the upper plains. We also get to meet his herd of horses, all of whom are very friendly. One of them, Jason, tried to eat Amy's shirt, while another tried to eat my jeans. Absolutely adorable.
10am - We finally actually hit the road, checking out some trails along the badlands. We start off with the 'Window' trail, which gives a great view of valley below us, and we also blaze part of our own trail. The rock formations are really just breathtaking. We also note a few rocks that
might be fossils. I don't really know what fossils look like (compared to just funny looking stones), so.... maybe.
11am - We embark on the 'Notch' trail, rated by the park service as a "moderate to strenuous" path. It starts off easy enough, meandering through a flat rockbed, but then we quickly come upon a wooden ladder leading up the side of the cliff. Amy's favorite part of the day, I think. And by favorite, I mean nerve-wracking. Once we get on top of the cliff, the path winds along some narrow ledges (so narrow, in fact, that more than once I thought the trail had ended, only because I couldn't tell where we were supposed to go next) until we came upon a spectacular view across the badland valley. A few pictures here, and we make our way back to the car.
12:30pm - Finally back to the car and we're starving. We stop by the Cedar Pass lodge for a nice lunch. Amy got an Indian Taco, which was essentially everything you would put on a taco (with buffalo meat instead of beef), on top of a big fried bread. I went with the unlimited soup and salad bar. 5 plates of food and a bowl of soup later, we're re-energized and ready to go.
1pm to 4pm - More exploring the badlands. We pretty much stop at every single overlook spot (as well as a few overlooks of our own), and take a billion photos. At this point, both of our cameras are about to die, but we push forward!
4pm - Leave the badlands, time to head over to Mt. Rushmore!
5pm - Pull into Mt. Rushmore. Huge heads. In a mountain. The end.
6pm - Pull into Crazy Horse National Monument. One big head. In a mountain. The end.
6:30pm - Check-in to our hotel room in Custer, SD. Small room, but I'm looking forward to the continental breakfast tomorrow. Mmm.
7:30pm - Head back out to Mt. Rushmore to catch the lighting ceremony at 8pm. Big heads in a mountain. At night. With lights. Whoop!!
Distance Traveled: 200 miles
Total distance traveled: 12135mi
$ Spent: $121.41
Total $ Spent: $516.07
6:30am - Amy wakes up and decides to explore our campsite. It's absolutely beautiful during the daytime, and she gets some great shots of the flowers and animals in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment