Dakota Bound

 Saturday, September 19, 2020

Knowing that the drive to the Badlands would be between 5 to 6 hours, we weren't in a great hurry to leave. I had packed much of our stuff in color coded cloth grocery bags...3 orange bags for food, blue for covid disinfecting supplies, tan for cameras & gear, etc. I was most worried about the cold food but it easily fit into two coolers with space to spare. If all went well, we were taking all of the food we would need for six days.

Last year at this time we had purchased a new Honda CRV to replace a 12-year old Toyota Camry. Most of the daily driving we do is in an older Toyota RAV-4. With both of us being retired AND a pandemic going on, the newer car still only had 2875 miles on the odometer when we began the trip! I love that this car has Apple Car Play. I plugged in my phone and the miles went by quickly as we enjoyed songs from our younger years by listening to a 70's folk station on Amazon Music. We had barely pulled onto Interstate 90 when we started seeing billboards advertising Wall Drug Store...still about 350 miles away! The signs would continue to be more and more frequent as we got closer.

I'm not sure which we saw more of...hay bales in the fields...or RV's and campers on the highway. Judging from the number of recreational vehicles we were seeing, the Black Hills were going to be CROWDED.

One of our sons used to refer to these round hay bales as "hay bombs". 😄 This was a common sight all across South Dakota.

This rest area is just over the state line coming from Minnesota into South Dakota. I still remember stopping here as a kid when my family did a camping trip to the Black Hills from Illinois.

Welcome to South Dakota. Slogan is "Great Faces, Great Places"

Shortly after passing by the city of Sioux Falls, I snapped a photo of a buffalo farm...just in case we didn't see any in the Black Hills. (No need to have worried. Stay tuned.) 

Our first buffalo sighting. BUT...in the eastern part of SD the buffalo are livestock...not wildlife.

Another half hour later we drove by the Porter Sculpture Park. You can see a few of the large (and unique) sculptures from the interstate, but if you want to get a better idea of what there is to see, watch a recent vlog from Adventures of A Plus K. According to the vlog, this place is part of the Harvest Hosts program that allows members to stay overnight for free at participating breweries, wineries and other places...a good deal if you are traveling by RV.

When we stopped for gas in the town of Mitchell, we had to take time to see the "World's Only Corn Palace!" It maybe isn't worth your while to go out of your way to stop here, but it is an iconic South Dakota attraction. Each year the Corn Palace is decorated with murals totally made from corn and other grains. 

Crazy Horse...done in corn.

A pandemic selfie.

The next stop we made was at the rest area in middle of the state at Chamberlin. Here on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River is the Dignity Statue. The 50-foot tall statue was designed to honor the cultures of the Dakota and Lakota people. Quite impressive. 

A view to give perspective on the size of the statue.

The back of the statue is just as impressive as the front!

The rest area at Chamberlin overlooks the Missouri River.

While we were stopped, we grabbed sandwiches from the cooler and ate as we continued our drive west. The interstate passed by fields of sunflowers which a few weeks prior would have been a sea of yellow blooms. Now they were brown and getting close to harvest time.

It was around 4 pm when we reached the entrance to the Badlands and soon after pulled into a large parking lot. From this parking lot one could access the trailheads for the Door Trail, Window Trail and Notch Trail. 

It was 90º, sunny and no breeze...not ideal hiking weather in my book. The Door Trail was a boardwalk that was only 1/4 mile long so that was doable. We walked to the end of the walkway where I plopped down on a bench (in the sun 😎) while Bob continued to explore beyond the path. 

This part of the trail is easy...and short.

But of course Bob has to venture off the path and out into the "fun stuff". 

Further down the parking lot we accessed the Window Trail, an equally short jaunt that led to an overlook. It was a shear drop-off from the "window"! I took a quick peak but then backed away from the ledge.

Bob took this photo through the "window". The photo doesn't really convey the depth.

By this time it was 4 pm...time that we could get into our cabin at Cedar Pass Lodge. Check-in was at the visitor's center which was quite busy. After waiting for a couple of people checking in ahead of me, the process was quick. I was happy when we pulled up to the cabin and I realized we were in the row of cabins that had both the front porch AND a back porch with great views of the "wall". The cabins on the west side of the loop only had front porches that overlooked the road. 

At first we thought our key card wasn't working, but eventually realized it was just a finicky door. Ours was a duplex that had a connecting door to the other unit, but we never saw the occupants until we were packing up the next morning. There are only a few of these duplex units and they would be great if you were traveling with a larger group.

Front of our duplex (#106 and #107)

Looking down the east-side row of cabins with "back porches".

The view from our cabin back porch.

Inside we had a king bed plus a queen sized day bed which we used to spread out our luggage. The cabin was decorated in a rustic style with a table & chairs plus a shelving unit which held a microwave, refrigerator and a coffee maker.

Dinner consisted of BBQ pulled pork on buns which I had prepared and brought along. We heated the meat in the microwave and then sat in the Adirondack chairs on the shady back porch while we ate. Lots of wildlife to watch as we ate...little bunnies and pretty birds (mountain bluebirds and magpies.) 😉

Bob was itching to explore so I sent him off alone while I continued to enjoy the quiet solitude and amazing views from “our porch”. A little after 7 pm I got a text from him saying he was sitting on a bluff across from the visitor center waiting on sunset. That was enough to get me to grab my camera and go for a walk. 

This sign was actually at the start of the trail we did the next day, but I included it here because...

...look what Bob ran across while he was out!

Cedar Lodge Cabins from Bob's view on the bluff across the road.

Golden Hour

The sun was a deep orange due to the haze from western wildfires. Sunset turned out to be a bit of a dud because the sun went behind a bank of clouds at the horizon long before it set. I walked for a bit and just about the same time I saw Bob headed my way we both spotted a group of mule deer grazing alongside the road! 

Red sun from the western wildfires.

One of a group of mule deer near our cabin.

Together we watched them for sometime before heading back to the cabin. A little TV watching and then we were off to bed in anticipation of an early morning hike.