Badlands National Park, South Dakota

                                                             
The Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park are "Goodlands" by comparison to Badlands National Park.  The terrain is simply impossible to traverse. I am sure the settlers when given their 160 acres of land to homestead during the Land Act period stopped in their wagon wheel tracks and said a big "HUH'?  Of course the prairie which is mingled throughout did provide a means to create a life and livelyhood in this area now known as Badland National Park.  Many families are still farming and ranching today on the outskirts of park boundries.
Unique and harsh, this area is what I would still call mesmorizing.  It has been inhabited for 11,000 years.  The first being the mammoth hunters. (Jane Auel, Clan of the Cavebear).  The park is rich in fossil "life" and is a well respected and studied.
I found the configurations and colors to be facinating.  I think I enjoyed the fact that the park has a hands on feel to it.  That is to say that aside from the designated hiking trails or nature trails, you could also hike just about any place in the park providing you were careful about Mr. Rattlesnake.  Fortunately the weather was cold enough to keep the noisy tailed critter away, and that was fine with me. The coyotes though were out and about and helped put me to sleep.  Exciting and a little scary ,the howl is amazing to hear and somehow for some strange reason, a little comforting. It is not like what you may have heard in a movie.  The howling is a howl and yipping frenzy for short bursts and then silence, then again, and before you know it its over and you miss hearing it.
I could see myself coming back to the Badlands in summer, or winter when the snow is on the ground to see a different look of the park.  I heard the same thing from other campers who have actually done that exact thing.
Badlands National Park, one of my favorites so far.
Enjoy some pictures.  TC...

                              Animals were pushed off this area.  Fossils prove this out and it has been well documented for many years that this was a way to hunt.

My back yard view below.

                          The red can is for gray waste water so not to spill on the ground.  It is then brougt to a disposal area. The five gallon can usually lasts me several days, though the camper has two nine gallon tanks.                                                 

                  Grass fires are a problem in the park.  No campfires are therefore permitted.

                                             Road curious fellows.

                                               Notice the tags.

Saw this guy on a hike.

                          Sunflowers and a Rattlesnake warning sign. Interesting.

These guys are all over the place.  You have seen them in just about every state I have been in.  They are a staple for the coyote, fox and other small preditors.

But they are so cute you say.  The natual order of things I guess.

A cold day in the park.

                                      Viewing platform.

Bighorn Sheep

                                                            Along the trail.