9/5 - 9/8/2019 - Plankinton, SD to Interior, SD, (188 miles), 3 nights at Badlands Motel and Campground, $36.90/day
9/8 - 9/12/2019 - Interior, SD to Hermosa, SD, (84 miles), 4 nights at Heartland RV Park, $22/day
18 years ago, the last time we came to South Dakota, there was a giant sandstorm the first night we stayed in the Badlands, and there was a forest fire in the Black Hills. I was surprised Bill even agreed to try it again.
This year, they’ve had the wettest summer in years, so no drought. The daytime highs ranged from 90 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the nights were cool and refreshing. The Badlands are forever changing, depending on the time of day and the weather. Around each curve there was a new view to discover of the formations. Sometimes they leaned toward a warm color palette with layers of reds, beiges and ochre. Sometime the light pulled out the purples and grays.
One day, we took the 67- mile scenic drive through the park, stopping frequently to explore the overlooks and trails. Up on Hwy 90, we had to visit Wall Drugstore. It’s a fun tourist trap - a block long maze of stores, restaurants and oddities. They advertise along the highway with billboards at every exit. Their claim to fame is “free ice water”. As we were finishing the loop, we saw a 10ft tall concrete prairie dog advertising that you could feed them. So we did. We bought bags of raw peanuts from the souvenir shop and carefully walked into the field, trying not to step in a hole or on a rodent. The prairie dogs closest to the store were obese and eager to be fed. They ran right up to us, wagged their tail and chattered until we fed them. The ones at the far end of the field were much slimmer and shyer, but they could still be coaxed out of their holes. Before we knew it we were surrounded!
That’s really all there is to the Badlands, so we moved to the Black Hills, about 88 miles away. Bill was most interested in seeing Mt. Rushmore, so we drove through the cute little town of Keystone (think Keystone XL pipeline) and paid to park at Mt. Rushmore before we realized that a huge portion of the park is being renovated. You couldn’t get close. There was one very long trail that you could walk to get to the base and that was it. Of course the cafe and ice cream parlor were still open. FYI - to get better views of the presidents, take the Norbeck Scenic Byway that connects Rushmore to Custer State Park along Iron Mountain Road. It was designed with overlooks and carved tunnels that frame the sculpture. It’s a great drive with lots of “S” curves, wooden bridges and switchbacks that reminded us of the Runaway Mine Train at Disney. We drove it twice. We also took the 61-mile scenic drive through Custer State Park, and thankfully got to see some of their 1300 bison up close. They are North America’s largest land mammals. This time, we stayed in our car.
All-in-all it was a much better visit. I’m so impressed by the variety of biomes in one state, from the other-worldly sedimentary formations of the Badlands, to the lush National Grassland, to the forested granite Black Hills. As we left South Dakota, we even caught a glimpse of snow-capped mountains, our next adventure on our journey to the Pacific Ocean. Wish us luck!
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