Park 27:  Badlands National Park, SD:  Heading east out of Rapid City on scenic highway SD-44, you drive through miles of prairie until you cross into the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands which encircle the Badlands.  Far off on the left as you continue driving, you see what appear to be rock formations, but as you get closer, you begin to see what makes the Badlands unique – a magnificent array of pinnacles and gullies formed by Nature for over a million years.

National Grasslands looking towards
the Badlands

Sharp peaks and pinnacles highlighed
by stratified layers of rock

These formations, framed against a clear blue sky, were reminiscent of Bryce Canyon’s hoodoos and rock formations.  As you drive through the Park, you can’t help but be enthralled by its beauty, almost surreal.  The colors and stratified layers are remnants of an ancient seabed before the Rockies and the Black Hills were lifted up exposing the ground to water and wind erosion.


Landscape gouged out by water and wind

Miles of canyons

The Park is divided into the north and south units, with the north being the most developed and visited.  We drove along the scenic loop pulling off at overlooks and taking a few short hikes among the various rock formations.  One of the fun things to see was a prairie dog town – acres of prairie dog mounds and prairie dogs poking their heads above ground. 
Even though this is park number 27, we both continue to marvel at what our country offers with its beauty and diversity for us and all the world’s visitors to enjoy.

Odometer:  11,945 miles.

Park 26: Wind Cave National Park, SD:  Visiting this park is like visiting two – one buried hundreds of feet beneath the Black Hills and the second above ground comprising prairie grasslands in the Black Hills foothills populated by bison, pronghorn antelope and prairie dogs.

Yes...narrow passageways!

The cave structure is one of the most complex in the world.  There are still many areas, holes, yet to be discovered and mapped.  Although the park prairies cover 44 square miles, the 100 miles of known passages in the cave only cover 1 square mile of ground!  All cave tours are escorted by rangers and once in the caves you understand the need for an experienced guide.  This is not Carlsbad!  These caves are small with narrow passages and dim lighting.  They are not for the claustrophobic. 

No large caverns like other caves systems

The cave passages were formed by the uprising of the Black Hills and the separation of the underlying limestone into fractures and cracks that eventually eroded by water into a system of cave passageways.  Over the eons, drainage patterns changed and subsurface water levels dropped such that now these cave passages are dry.

Very few areas to walk upright

Driving into and out of the park, the prairie vistas go beyond the horizon.  When the country’s bison were decimated in the 1800’s, the park’s numbers were zero.  In 1913, 14 bison were loaned to Wind Cave by the Bronx Zoo and Yellowstone; they now number over 350 today and are increasing.  We drove within a few feet of several bison grazing by the road.  Unbelievable!

Prairie vistas above ground

Odometer:  11, 730 miles.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, SD:  We decided on Rapid City as a central location to visit Wind Cave and Badlands National Parks.  Even higher on our list though was Mount Rushmore, the enormous granite sculpture in the Black Hills commemorating the foundation, preservation and continental expansion of the United States.  President Coolidge dedicated the site in 1927, commencing 14 years of work; only six years were spent on actual carving.  Surprisingly, money was the main problem, not the carving itself!   

Gutzon Borglum, the American born master sculptor behind the carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia, chose to carve four U.S. presidents who epitomized our country’s leadership: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.    After making sketches in plaster using life masks, paintings and photographs, Borglum sized the models at a ratio of 1:12---one inch on the model equaled one foot on the mountain.  Ninety percent of the carving was done by dynamite as the granite was so hard.  After blasting, the features were shaped by workers suspended by cables in swing seats using pneumatic drills and chisels.  To give you a feeling for the enormity of the relief, Washington’s head is 60 feet high, the length of his nose is 20 feet, and the width of his eye is 11 feet!

The entire Visitor Center is modern and inviting, and the flag lined promenade leading up to the shrine perfectly showcases the memorial.  We were moved by the very patriotic program put on by the Park Rangers at sunset in the outdoor amphitheater at the base of the mountain; veterans of all US services were recognized and asked to join in lowering the flag at the conclusion of the program.  There were easily 60 service men and women who were introduced and thanked for their service.  John assisted in folding the flag. 

When we all rose to sing the National Anthem at the conclusion of a movie on the American experience, spotlights began to grow on the darkened granite mountain until the faces were softly illuminated against the blue-black South Dakota sky.  It was certainly a night to remember.   

Odometer: 11,600 miles.