09-15-21 Wednesday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 15 Badlands, White River KOA

- September 16, 2021

09-15-21 Sunday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 15

Badlands, White River KOA

Badlands, SD

Site 60

Return: Yes

Today was an awesome day. We did so much, saw incredible sights, beautiful animals in the hills and roaming the grassy plains. So much more than I expected but then I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We started our day at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. Before entering the center there was a ranger outside with fossils on a table. I asked what she was showing, and she went through each of the fossils. All were found by visitors in the park. Very fascinating. Inside was the gift shop and I purchased my NP Passport stickers, and a few other things. I then found the stamps to stamp my passport book so I’m happy. The VC has a great museum. This area does not have dinosaur fossils. The fossils from this area are after dinosaurs went extinct and a lot of this area was under water. The coolest thing about this visitor center is it has a working fossil preparation lab. Two paleontologists were working under microscopes, removing rock, and preparing and cataloguing finished specimens for display. As they work under their microscopes you could see what they’re doing on a TV monitor. Slow tedious work scraping away different materials to get to the fossil bones. You can also talk to them and ask questions. We asked numerous questions and they loved talking to us.

We left Ben Reifel Visitor Center and headed north about 15 miles to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center. This is outside Badlands. The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development. We watched the 30-minute movie which provided information and background of the site, very informative. We then walked through the museum. What I found fascinating is we still have 450 of these sites throughout the Midwest in areas that are not heavily populated. One of the rangers was a minuteman and I asked how these men were chosen. He said he was voluntold. He loved what he did. They would do 24 hours on and off. During the off time most Minuteman worked on their education including getting their masters. He read a lot during his “voluntold” time.

We left and stopped for gas and a sandwich. Next to the gas station was a nice picnic area with entertainment...Prairie Dogs! I have never seen a Prairie Dog and these little fellas are vocal and entertaining. To watch them raise up and do their little yelp, almost like a bark, made me laugh. These little guys in this area are not afraid of humans. They will come up to within 5 feet of you. Throughout the day we saw numerous Prairie Dog towns all over Badlands.

After lunch we headed for Badlands Loop Road. This road is about 40+ miles long and takes you through the northern part of the park. Part of the road turns into a gravel road for about ½ of the road. We took this road and loved every minute of the drive. The geologic formations and colors are stunning. We stopped at numerous overlook sites and just stared or took photos of the massive mountains, meadows, and green areas. It’s so hard to explain to someone what this area looks like. We would love to come back here and take some of the hikes throughout the park. It was 92° here today so a perfect day to drive with A/C. We saw small herds of buffalo, a few buffalo at the edge of the road, big horn sheep, pronghorns, deer and of course millions of prairie dogs. Seeing these animals up close was the highlight of the day. The buffalo are huge and the fellows we saw close to the road are big handsome guys. Once we got off the main road and onto the gravel road, we saw more animals. Most people don’t take the gravel road. We only saw 12 vehicles on this road and a few of them were locals, cattle trucks, trucks pulling working trailers, etc. The road intersects with highway 44 and we headed east around 6:00 PM toward our campground. What an unbelievable drive.

Once home we made dinner then decided to do s'mores for dessert. Instead of Hershey bars we used Ghirardelli chocolate with caramel filling. Talk about stepping up the normal smore. You gotta try it. You will never go back to normal Hershey bars again.

Awesome day! Sweet Dreams All! Tomorrow we head for Nebraska.