South Dakota: Badlands and More

South Dakota: The State I Never Thought Would Be So Awesome

I did not think much of South Dakota growing up, or ever.  It's not that I thought badly of South Dakota, I just never never crossed my mind.  Maybe a couple of times while staring at a map the question "Who would want to live there?" crossed my mind, but that was the extent of South Dakota in my mind.  That was until I drove through South Dakota on my way to California in 2010.  

The entrance to the Minute Man Missile Silo in South Dakota.

South Dakota was originally just a state we needed to get through.  As traversing this state would require two days, I decided to do some research and look for some attractions for us to see on the way, all of which were in the western part of the state and our second day of driving.  By the end, I loved South Dakota.  

The top plate that can be slid off of the silo on a track to allow the missile to launch.

Our first stop in South Dakota was at a Minute men Missile Silo.  This relic from the cold war is now a part of the National Park System.  Missile Silos like this were scattered all over the US Great Plains during the Cold War.  They were buried mostly below ground, with only a sliding metal cover to distinguish them from the surrounding grasslands.  At a minutes notice, the cover could be taken off remotely from a control station and the missile launched at whatever enemy the military was attacking.  

Our reflections looking down into the silo at the dummy missile placed there for educational purposes.

Now as a part of the National Parks System, on a dirt road off the interstate, visitors can see a defunct silo filled with a dummy missile.  The whole area, which is about the size of a basketball court is surrounded in a barbed wire fence of no use, because the gate is left open.  A sign informs visitors that an audio tour is amiable by calling the number on the sign.  We called the number and listened to the automated voice that informed us about the history of the silo and others like it.  

The formidable landscape of Badlands National Park, Badlands meaning bad lands to pass through.  The name was give to the area by settlers.  

After concluding our visit to the missile silo, we returned to the interstate headed for the next attraction 15 minutes away, Badlands National Park.  Badlands National Park is a narrow strip of a park that parallels the interstate for about 20 miles.  Visitors can easily jump off the interstate drive through the park, stopping at turnouts for a gander at the scenery, and then pull back onto the interstate to continue on their journey.  

The beginning of our first hike in Badlands National Park.  The hike winds up the cliff faces to the parries above.

I think of the entire park as somewhat of a giant step from the parries above (which includes the interstate) to the parries below, separated by cliffs banded with earth tones ranging from grey to brick red.  I love hiking and we picked two hikes out of the park brochure to complete while in the park.  The first hike was a mile round trip from the prairie below up the face of the cliffs to the prairie above.  Although this hike was short, it was steep.  I thought I would feel elation at having traversed such a steep trail to the summit of the hike.  However upon reaching the end of the trail, when I became level with the flat prairie above, I felt somewhat disappoints to only have grand vistas in one direction, the way I had come from.  Hiking back down the steep trail proved to be more difficult than hiking up, as the steep grade full of gravel made for a few slips and slides back down the cliff.  I even had to slide on my butt in some portions.  

The end of our first hike, and the prairie below int he background.

Our second hike in the park was a "fossil walk".  This half of a mile circular boardwalk periodically had displays of fossils found in the park in shadow boxes.  It took all of 5 minutes to complete.  Before leaving the park, we stopped in at the small visitor's center which had displays explaining the natural history of the park and the Native Americans who lived in it before the settlers.  

Riding a jackalope at Wall Drug.

Before continuing on our journey we pulled into a little town near Badlands for some lunch at the world famous Wall Drug.  Wall Drug is a drugstore complex encompassing an entire city block.  It's filled with restaurants, fudge shops, souvenir shops, and the occasional drug store.  Wall drug is the epitome of a tourist trap, and the first time we saw a sign for it on the interstate boasting "Free Ice Water" in Wisconsin I vowed not to stop.  Wall Drug persisted though with a sign every few miles from Wisconsin to its location in Western South Dakota.  After 6 hours of such signs, my curiosity got the better of me and we stopped for lunch.  At least we were not stopping for no reason.  

The famous Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The last stop on our one day tour of South Dakota was a visit to Mount Rushmore National Monument, which holds the faces of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson.  While it was cool to see such a famous icon of American heritage, what was even more interesting was the museum located below the observation platform.  Not only are videos played in the museum of the construction and history of Mount Rushmore, but the scaled down models used to design and build the monument are located with the museum too.  I couldn't imagine making a scale model of the monument that is fifteen feet tall, let alone making a larger version on a mountain side.  The museum brought home how difficult the undertaking of making Mount Rushmore was.

All the sights I list in this blog we saw in one day, a time frame possible since all the attractions were close to the interstate.  Despite the short time frame, I never felt rushed at any of the sites.  I genuinely feel South Dakota offers one of the best collection of road side attractions in the US.