Road Trip: Up The Middle Of The Country

Day 17: Monday, May 20, 2024 - Badlands NP; Wall, SD; Mount Rushmore Monument

Day's statistics:
Weather: upper 50°s into the 40°s, rainy, breezy
Steps: Steve 6,482; Linda 4,973
Travel: 245 miles

Today's breakfast was full buffet.
Still didn't get a picture.
When we headed down to breakfast, I noticed a sign on the wall showing the "Trail of Governors". That's when I realized what those statues were that we saw near the capital and bell - statues of governors.

Going to the capital yesterday was actually a really good idea as it freed us up to head straight to the Badlands National Park, rather than losing a couple hours at the capital first.
So after our breakfast and checking out, we plugged the address into the Google machine and headed out.
We didn't see too much, but we did pass "1880 Cowboy Town" - and by pass, I mean at 77 miles per hour.


We saw a few - a half dozen, if not more - of these billboards with old firetrucks next to them. Assuming they are real - functioning or not - I think they might have been better served in a museum than as an advertisement.

We also passed "Prairie Homestead - 1909 Historical Sod House".

And we passed... whatever this "village-like thing" is.

We saw quite a bit of nothing, but also some cattle and bee hive boxes.



In all it was about a two hour drive to the park. As we neared the park, we saw some really interesting rock formations. So interesting, in fact, that I stopped the car and took some pictures from the side of the road - rather than risk getting some blurry, crappy picture.





We eventually arrived at one of the park entrances for the North Unit. We have the NP Pass, so we didn't have to pay anything extra.

We had to drive a couple miles into the park to get to the Visitor's Center in order to get our stamp.
But before that...
We stopped at the first overloook.
We walked the boarded path to the fenced lookout platform.

Oh... My... [@#$%^&*(].... GOODNESS! (I would use a more colorful description, but this a family friendly website).

Seeing the amazing specatacle for the first time. The pictures don't do it justice.
I usually shrink the pictures to 1600 x 900 pixels, but I left most of these larger to show more detail.



And while we followed the path, some others... not so much. Ever read or hear the story about the tourist that died at, say, the Grand Canyon trying to take a selfie? Yea, that's these geniuses.



And of course we got our own selfie. From the safety of being on THIS side of the fence.

I have to admit I started getting pretty adept at pointing the camera in a direction and getting a decent photo - though it is also true that the camera helped - but at least I pointed in the right direction, and fairly level too.
We used a LOT of film pixels in this park. But it was well worth it.














There were a lot of trails to be hiked, but near one of the overlooks - as well as off a path - was this informative sign.

We didn't stop at all the overlooks. We saw quite a bit without stopping everywhere.
One overlook we did stop at had a higher level parking lot, and a lower platform. We both got out, but only I trekked down to the lower platform.





















We eventually arrived at the Ben Reifel Visitor's Center.
There was some information, a living room size museum of sorts, and a gift shop. Linda wanted to get a "Badlands" license plate, but due to the line, we decided to get it at the South Unit Visitor's Center gift shop.
After getting our stamp and viewing the park map, we continued on.


We departed the VC turning left to continue our route through the park. At the intersection, we turned right / north.

After our last overlook, Pinnacles, we turned right onto route 240, and headed out of the park. Yes, after admiring these amazing, spectacular rock formations for nearly two hours, we headed due north to Wall. For lunch.
Just outside the park we saw some bison (they aren't buffalo).

Wall was about eight miles away.
We were specifically going to Wall in order to visit the Wall Drug Store that Father Dave told us about.
So we entered the town and... saw this... thing. It turns out it was a "Jack-a-lope".

We turned left and found the drug store about a block over. We turned right and parked in front of the bank.
And then we got our selfie.

Wall Drug Store was more of a tourist destination than an actual drug store.
The story is that back in the depression, a husband and wife opened a drug store. They were struggling the first five or so years. One day the wife said to the husband "we should offer free water to the weary travelers on the highway." So the husband and their son went out to put up some signs for free water. By the time they got home, there was already a line of customers around the building.
Now, the joke is "what is the tree of South Dakota? A Wall Drug sign."
Anyway, we headed inside.

A clerk at the first section we came upon told us about the facility - providing us a map of the place too.

The facitily was separated into sections, or rooms. I would almost call them individual stores, but the whole place was a store, so I can't really call it that. The first section was primarily souveniers. Then we passed through the ice cream shop, the kitchen (cafe), t-shirts section, jewelry, leather goods, more souveniers, books, art, and more.





We headed into the area called the "backyard".



We WERE in SD, so why not see Mount Rushmore while we're here, right?!!?

Even though it didn't really feel like it, we spent almost an hour at Wall Drug.
While there were two cafés here, they mostly served burgers and dogs. So we left to get lunch elsewhere as I had two other locations picked out.
Back behind the building with the Welcome Jackalope was The Red Rock.

It looked like we were the second customers so far - though there were about six pairs by the time we were done.
We were seated and given menus, and we also found out our waitress was from Bulgaria, a country we visited not too long ago.


There was a small salad bar with potato bacon soup on it that I almost got, but decided not to.


Linda had the Chicken Bacon Ranch Wrap with cole slaw; and I had ribs with smots (smashed tots), cole slaw, and a cup of chili.



It was a very good meal.

Our time was up in Wall.
So we headed back to the Badlands. There were a quarter of a million acres - you didn't think we were done there, did you?
So we drove the 8 or so miles back to the park entrance (the one we exited, not the one we originally entered).
These are most likely the same bison we saw on the way out.

We still had the park pass so it was still free admission for us. And I asked the ranger do people who pay to enter and leave, do they have to pay again? The answer was no, the pass is good for a week.
We continued into the park and turned right - near the Pinacles overlook - and continued through the North Unit.




At this point, the landscape leveled out, and turned into more prairie than mountains and valleys.
We saw more bison and some prairie dogs too.











At one point, we just... drove out of the park. We can't pinpoint exactly where or when, but we did. In this section of the park, there was actually no gate. As we drove along, the roadway became unpaved. Not because we were lost, or that we were in "no man's land", but because it was being repaved. For miles. All of it, in both directions.
The technique was interesting too. The roadway was completely removed. Then they were using a grater to not only smooth the surface, but also remove some overgrowth along the edges. This might not have been so bad if it hadn't started raining harder. But we were able to proceed and eventually made our way to route 44.
We turned right and about a mile down the road we turned left at a "town" called Scenic. This wasn't a town as much as it was a cluster of a dozen what-looked-like-homes.
Another couple of miles down the road we entered the South Unit - and again, with no gate.
At this point, since it started raining harder, I thought I'd try to get a shot of the raindrops on the windshield.

Then just a little further down, we turned right, again, toward another overlook.
We were told by the ranger in the North Unit that, in the South Unit - where we were - there was a nice overlook (as she pointed out on the map), but to access the rest of the park in the South Unit, a high clearance 4x4 is required. So we thought we take a look at the overlook. So that's what we tried to do.
As we proceeded down the road to the overlook, it got a little questionable - at least for a Toyota Corolla. There was no paved road, and we were going into an area that seemed a little more remote than the other area of the park.
There was also one small section of road where it was really only passable by one car in each direction at a time.
We drove in to what should have been the overlook area - we think - but it got so remote, we stopped, turned around via a safe five-point turn, and headed back from whence we came. We thought that, especially with the rain, the overlook couldn't have been as spectacular as what we saw in the North Unit. But we got a few shots on the way in and out.
It's a little hard to take pictures in the rain in a car with a phone because A) the phone focuses on what it wants to and the is sometimes the raidrops on the windshield (must like it focusing on the a-pillar, dashboard, or rearview mirror); and 2) trying to time it between the wiper's sweep.







After exiting, we turned right, again, and continued on the road. And again, at some point, we exited the park - with no gate - and essentially drove along the outer perimeter of the park.
And we passed a National Grassland too.

While driving along, we eventually stumbled upon the South Unit visitor's center.
We learned that this center opened, for the season, just a couple days prior, so it was good timing.
This VC was considerably smaller than the North Unit's - and there really was no gift shop at all.
We talked to the rangers for a little bit and learned some facts about the park. One of those included our observation that there indeed were no gates at most of the entrances into the park - just the two main entrances - the one we entered, and the one south of Wall. So the locals - though they probably have passes anyway - know the way to get into the park for free is from the south and west, rather than the north and east.
The ranger also told us "There's a nice lookout up the road that way [pointing to the north]. Go out that exit [pointing at the parking lot], go north on route 40, and a few miles up is the [Red Shirt Table] overlook. That's my favorite overlook. But be careful of the potholes in the road."
Thanks. And we're off.


It was a nice overlook, but certainly not as nice as most of the ones in the North Unit.


It's a good thing we had a lot of gas, and the car got 40 MPG because there really wasn't anything or anyone out here...

It was a fantastic park, and probably the most spectacular we've visited to date.
But all good things must come to an end. And as we drove on, our views of the Badlands moved to the rearview mirror.

Route 40 intersected route 79 in Hermosa, SD. Looking at the GPS, we discovered that Mount Rusmore was merely twenty miles to the East. Soooooo... let's go to Rushmore now.
We had a little flatter driving first.

At this point, we started to drive into the Black Hills Mountains (Hills Mountains?!!?). The views probably would have been a bit more spectacular if it weren't overcast and raining - the rain being more of the hindrance in that pair.
It also probably would have been a more enjoyable ride in sports car - but I wasn't about to pay those rental rates.
Mountains, and the vistas they provide are usually enjoyable.
We finally arrived at Mount Rushmore. Not what I expected - maybe the raindrops are making it look worse?

"[muffled audio]".
Hold on. "What?"
"[muffled audio]".
Oh... OK, this ISN'T Mount Rushmore, just an interesting looking and colored rock formation. Sorry about that.
And a tad further on, we came across the Monument grounds (no, it is NOT a National Park).


We drove through a curve, and there was a pullover spot. We took advantage of the situation.
It continued to rain, and the faces oddly reflected the wetness, making them almost look like they were crying.



Under normal circumstances, we would have entered the park and visited. But the primary reason to visit the park is to view the monument. And while we DID see it from the road, IF IT WEREN'T RAINING, we would have gone in. But there was nothing to be gained, in our opinion, from "getting closer", other than, perhaps, a more head-on angle.

We may or may not have very briefly stopped in a location that there may or may not have been signage "discouraging" vehicles from stopping for any reason.
We hopped out, took a quick selfie - primarily because of the rain - and moved on.
Yes, that's Mount Rushmore in the background. With such a huge difference in focal lengths, the phone did the best it can, I guess, and I did the best I could to enhance the monument without it looking wonky.

We can't control the weather, yet, so we had to take the hand we were dealt.
Had we been staying in the area for three or four days, we might have had better weather for a better experience. But our schedule, while a little flexible, wasn't THAT flxible - especially this late in the itinerary since we had less than three days of our adventure remaining.
We didn't relish in our disappointment for too long as we plugged the hotel address into the Google machine and headed out.

Our route was plotted, unbeknownst to us at the time, to be as direct as possible, rather than as fast as possible.
Generally - and including in this instance - not a big deal because usually the most direct IS the fastest possible. But even if it isn't, the difference is usually just a handful of minutes, not more than a half hour.
But we had nothing else scheduled - going to Mount Rushmore today wasn't even scheduled - and nowhere special to be. So the "mis-route" was no issue, and allowed us to travel on the less beaten path.
As this was the mountains, there was a lot of evergreens, as well as a good number of inclines and declines.
I was on steering wheel, and Linda was on camera. Phone camera. Though we did make a couple pauses here and there (though I guess it was more of there and there...) for photo ops.


The Black Hills are named for the appearance of the trees from the prairie below.

There were some spirally, 270° turns with overpasses, and a couple one lane tunnels along the way too.









Our drive - for today, at least - through the mountains was essentiually complete.
This path, down route 87, took us past Custer State Park. These deer seemed to be part of the park, though on the other side of fence.

The drove also took us through... Wind Cave National Park! Another NP in a day. This wasn't planned.
But it WAS too late to get our stamp as the VC closes at 4:30. Plus even if it weren't, we certainly didn't have enough time to enjoy a visit as it likely would have closed not long after we arrived anyway.
















A side-by-side of the same pronghorn antelope (?) to show his profile colors and face.

After a couple hours of driving, we finally arrived at our host city: Hot Springs, SD.
The name might sound familiar because this is the second Hot Springs we were visiting this trip, the first being the town where the NP was location in Arkansas nearly two weeks ago.

Our hotel was essentially on the far end of the town. Driving through the town would have been a little more enjoyable if it weren't for TWO single lane sections controlled by traffic lights - one was at a three way intersection, so the delay was especially long.
We passed through that closure, and pretty much on the other side of it was another. We made it through both, then continued on a bit, turned right, continued a couple more, and came upon our hotel on the right, Super 8.
I went inside to check-in, and asked the clerk about the facility next door called "The Mammoth Site". He said it was well worth the visit.
We made our way to our room.

We did some research on The Mammoth Site, and decided it sounded like it would be worth the visit.
We had a snack with wine, relaxed, washed up, and went to bed.

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