Badlands, South Dakota

From Indiana, our first stop on what we’ve started to call the “adventure” portion of our trip is the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. We knew we had a 14 hour drive from the Masi’s, so we broke up the drive by camping for a night in Minnesota, on the Mississippi River. We woke up early the next morning, before getting on the road to finish up the drive to the Badlands, and went on a short hike to see what was supposed to be a great view of the Mississippi…

Except for the dense fog that covered the entire river that morning. Awesome. On to the Badlands. Driving through South Dakota, there isn’t really much to see, except farmland, until you start approaching the Badlands, and you see this…

We settled into our camp site and tried to get ourselves used to the incredible surroundings. It wasn’t hard to settle in, but getting used to the different rock formations, drops, canyons, and “The Wall” (what they call the main shelf drop off) took some time.

Tara and I went for a quick hike one morning to get a better look at some of the areas. We hiked Notch Trail which wasn’t that long, but unlike any hike we’ve ever been on… the “Beware Rattlesnakes” sign at the entrance was a bit daunting. (Thankfully, we didn’t see a rattlesnake)

The Badlands is the kind of place that makes you feel like you’re somewhere else… I don’t just mean South Dakota as opposed to Massachusetts, but like you’re in the middle of a Star Trek episode, and you’re part of the recon team inspecting an uncivilized planet, boldly going where no man has gone before… (total nerd at heart)