There were two parks on our tour that caused Beth some concern. Death Valley and The Badlands. Death Valley’s heat was a legitimate cause for some trepidation. I think the name Badlands created a false sense of anxiety since we knew nothing about the park. We survived Death Valley, and I had little concern that we would do just fine in The Badlands.
We arrived at the park located near Wall, South Dakota in the early afternoon. The temperature was heating up and was expected to hit 95 as the day wore on. It was hot, no doubt. What struck us immediately upon reaching the campground was the vast amount of green grass and flowers. My thoughts of the Badlands evoked stark, dry, barren landscapes stretching for miles in all directions. From our campsite, it looked more like we were in a meadow in Pennsylvania. Sure, in the distance were the hoodoos and rocky crags of curious rock formations, but we were sitting in a huge field of green grass, with a field of daisys surrounding it. Definitely not what we were expecting.
Since it was so hot, we took our time setting up the campsite so as not to get too sweaty. Fortunately, each site comes with a shade structure under which we sought refuge when we had finished our work. A nice breeze was blowing across the meadow and in the shade it was quite comfortable, despite the high heat. We took it easy throughout the afternoon, and visited the Visitor Center to watch the park movie, get our Passport book stamped, and get some respite from the rising temperatures outside. It was a nice break in the hottest part of the day.
We were very happy to see that the campground offered coin-op showers, and upon learning this, we scavanged around for quarters so each of us could clean up after several days without the opportunity to shower. For 75 cents, we enjoyed a six minute hot shower which washed away the dust and dirt of the past few days. What a difference a nice shower can make. Clean and smelling fresh, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing dinner, before spending some time reading in the cooler evening conditions, and then called it a day. The night time tempertures dropped to the low 60s, which made for very comfortable sleeping.
Refreshed, clean, and eager to start a new day, we were up with the sun to start our day. Beth had received some recommendations from a ranger at the Visitor Center on which trails to hike, and he suggested getting an early start to beat the expected upper 90 degree temperatures predicted for later in the day. We followed his advice.
Most of the trails in the park are rather short. We were able to knock out three of them, The Door, The Window, and The Notch, before 10 a.m., while it was still relatively cool. Of the three, The Notch Trail was our favorite. It was the longest at about 1.5 miles out and back. What made it so neat was a wooden set of ladder like steps we had to scale to get from the canyon floor to a point higher in the trail, probably a gain of 75 feet. A little danger always makes the trail more fun.
Our last trail of the day was the Centennial Trail, a 10 mile out and back. It was only mid-morning, so we decided to hike about 3 miles out and then back before it got too warm and uncomfortable. It was a nice hike through grassy prairies and meadows, and Beth was thrilled with the colorful display of flowers that were in bloom, making for some great pictures.
We spent the rest of the day taking it easy at our campsite as the temperature was approaching 100. We were so glad for the sunshade covering our picnic table. We took advantage of the showers, our second in two days, ate a hearty supper, and then called it a day. Overall, the Badlands turned out to be much nicer and much prettier than we ever expected. Sure, it was hot, and there were plenty of desert like areas throughout the park, but in the midst of some rather inhospitable surroundings we still found beauty, which surprised us.
We head to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the morning. It will be our first time in North Dakota. Looking forward to a new state and a new park.