Badlands.......South Dakota

Wow.......all I can say is.....WOW! It's so beautiful, and rugged, and desolate, and lovely. How can it be all that? It is.....and more. It's like another world. There are miles and miles and miles of beautiful spires of rocks. Multi-hued in colors......and so steep you just can't imagine that it could support any wild life. Yet.......we spotted thru our binoculars two momma bighorn sheep with their babies.....surefooted as could be as they lept over crevasses and steep outcroppings. Unbelievable to see yet there they were.

A variety of creatures roam this area. They include : prairie dogs, porcupines, cottontails, snakes, prairie rattlers, antelope, deer, eagles, and coyotes. We saw antelope roaming singly and in herds. We saw hundreds of prairie dogs and their mounds.

Tomorrow, we plan to hike the areas......there are so many places to pull over and take pictures or hike if you like.......and we like! We have our camelback backpacks and will be on the lookout for more wildlife.


The Badlands were originally named by the French trappers who explored the west in the early 1800's and called the area a "bad land to cross." The Dakota Indians also labeled it "mako sica" meaning"land bad."

We stopped at Wall Drugs, in Wall SD after we got here today. It's about 30 miles from the Badlands and a must to see. You see the signs for it for the last 50 miles that you've traveled on the interstate. It actually was a drug store that was bought by a young couple back in 1931. It was in such a desolate area, that no one ever stopped there. In 1936, the young wife had the thought that travelers traveling across the hot prairie were thirsty. She and her husband got the bright idea to put up signs on the interstate offering free ice water. Before they got back to the store after putting up the first signs, people had already begun showing up for their ice water. And history was started for the biggest drug store, blocks long, with every imaginable trinket, t-shirt, homemade pies and doughnuts and......free ice water. See you on the road with more tomorrow.