The Badlands National Park – June 6th

Alaskan Adventure: Post 4 of ?. Got up early this morning to avoid the crowds that arrived yesterday afternoon and to avoid the forecasted 95 degree heat. We took a different route into the park. A dirt road called Bigfoot where we came across this graceful Antelope out on the range.

Reminiscing: This has been a nice visit to the Badlands. The last time we were here in 1993 was filled with anxiety. We were driving an old brown custom dodge van I had gotten from my parents. Liz was two and Becky was pregnant with David. The first Badlands Overlook we pulled into I went to turn the van off and the key would not turn. So one of us stayed in the van with it running while the other took the kids for a quick look. We didn’t stop at many overlooks, just drove through and then stopped on the interstate at a rest area where we got directions to a Dodge dealer in Rapid City. They got the ignition switch changed out and we were on our way to Custer State Park when the differential went bad. Back to the Dodge dealer the next day to get that fixed. Very thankful this trip has been less stressful.

In an average year rain reduces the Badlands by a little over an inch. That means that since 1776 the Badland formations are shorter by over 25 feet.

Couldn’t figure out why the deer wouldn’t look around then realized it was keeping track of two coyotes. We pulled off on a side road and enjoyed watching them keep track of each other. Last pic is a blurry, greatly enlarged crop of a coyote that was really far away.