If there’s one thing we’ve learned doing these trips is that changes happen. Whether by necessity or by choice, plans get amended along the way. Today was no exception.
Today dawned both overcast and cold. I started the day by fishing for a brief time, catching another big bluegill. These things are massive! We packed up camp with the plans of visiting Mount Rushmore and then making a needed Walmart stop in Rapid City. We were looking forward to our next campground, which promised a taphouse on site.
The drive to Mount Rushmore was spectacular. Much of it wound its way through the Black Hills, which were every bit as wonderful as we’d heard. We passed by the yet-unfinished Crazy Horse memorial, clearly visible off the highway. If it is ever completed it will be stunning. But for now, we had no desire to pay to see a partial monument.
Unlike most National Park sites, Mount Rushmore has stayed open during the government shutdown. To be completely frank, they should spend the money elsewhere. We found the monument to be somewhat underwhelming. I mean, yes, it’s cool how the huge busts were carved into a mountainside. But after about 2 minutes, it’s pretty boring. We’re glad we stopped but would definitely not push this as a stop to others.
And then I got a text that helped shape the remainder of the trip. Our next campground, where we were going to spend two nights, had closed the taphouse for the season. Damn! And looking at the little we could do in Custer State Park, we decided to make a change.
If you’ve been following us recently you’ll know we already made changes to our return trip. Today we shortened in even more. We were already in Rapid City, only 1 hour from the Badlands National Park entrance just south of Wall, SD. We wanted to stop at Wall Drug as well. It was only 1pm, so we made changes to compress the trip even further.
We canceled our reservation at the taphouse campground and left Rapid City toward Wall. We made a quick visit to Wall Drug, which was every bit as tacky as we imagined, but you need to see it if you’re passing by! Then we headed due south into Badlands.
The drive through Badlands was amazing. The roadway starts by following just along the edge of the spectacular rock formations. On the left rolling grasslands and on the right, the land drops off into jagged, multicolored mounds topped with spires. It is a labyrinth of rock in layered shades of grey and olive and yellow and red wine. Truly something to behold.
Like other badlands parks, there were Prairie Dogs in abundance, chirping their warnings to each other. Bison lounged lazily in the plains. And, just before exiting the park, we saw a small herd of antelope grazing in the flats between the hills. Not a bad finish to this trip’s national park adventures.
Tonight we are at a campground in the nowhere town of Interior, South Dakota. We can see the eastern crags of Badlands. The season here ends in 10 days, so there are few people left. But it is clean and quiet and peaceful.
For the first time in our journeys, we do not have a place already booked to stay tomorrow night. We canceled the plans we had in order to head home a few days early. We plan on hitting the road early tomorrow morning and drive as far as we can before stopping. We may make it home after two days of driving, or in three. In any case we start the final leg tomorrow, completely fulfilled in what we’ve seen yet eager to be home.
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