Day 4.3 'Badlands' Sounds Better In English Than In French

Our second stop after driving pretty much across the entire state (with a quick pit stop at the 1880 Village for gas while we had the chance), was Badlands National Park. I always thought that the name had to do with the outlaws that hid out there, but it actually came from the French trappers who just named it les mauvais terres pour traverse because it was hard to travel through. The Lakota actually called it "White Hills," as opposed to the Black Hills.

We went ahead and got a National Parks annual pass, which will save us money in the long run after we go to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore, too.

We did the Badlands loop, which runs about 40 miles through the park and back to I-90. There are overlooks and parking lots every few miles where you can stop and explore. 

Several have wooden (or fake wood) pathways that take you into the rock formations to hike, climb, or just look around. One of the first had a mile-long marked trail. It was enticing, but we didn't quite have the time to venture out that long. Even though we were surprised to discover that we'd already crossed into Mountain Time without realizing it. But we still had one more major stop and a good trek to Custer State Park, our final destination.

I climbed up one formation (Marsha and Madison stayed on the ground) and was anxious to venture around a ledge, but when I saw that one section was more narrow than I would have liked, I remembered my lesson from falling down the waterfall on Mother's Day weekend (that I'm not as young as I used to be, which Madison reminded me before I climbed up), and opted to climb back down.

It was just one incredible vista after another. You can't take a bad picture, but no photo can do it justice. It's just that incredible.

Hoping to see some wildlife, we got our wish (sort of), when we spotted a herd of goats grazing beside the road. One even crossed the road in front of us. Madison also finally got her wish to photograph some cows when we chanced upon an entire herd grazing (this time behind a fence) just a bit further.

But the most exciting wildlife encounter we had was with a rattlesnake that we heard while traversing one of the walkways. I thought it was just a loud bug, but Marsha and Madison were convinced it was a snake. When a crowd of people gathered behind us to look around, I realized that they were right. We never did see the actual snake (apparently, he crawled under the walkway), but just knowing it was there gave both Marsha and Madison the heebie-jeebies.