Well, I never really knew what exactly the Badlands were, just that the Lakota Indian name meant “bad land,” hence the name. I wasn’t sure where they were either, so in case you are wondering, they are in a National Park in western South Dakota on 1-90, about a half-hour from Rapid City. They are amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If you ever get a chance to see them, they are nothing short of awesome and cover lots of territory.
Like the Grand Canyon, they seemed to spring up out of nowhere. (That’s because they did!)
Every area looked a little different from the previous one, so it was addictive to see more and more and more. At points it reminded me of Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and even the face of Mars (although I’ve never personally seen it.) They are peaks, gullies, buttes, and even prairies.
This reminded me of Arizona.
This was a neat valley.
This vista reminded me of the Grand Canyon.
This scene was just out of this world.
And this seemed like a mixture of all of it.
When we came upon an area to do some climbing, we were shocked to realize it was all compacted sand, not rock. They are GIANT SANDCASTLES!!!! And no, they were not upside down. They weren’t THAT freaky! It was just my iPhone, computer or WordPress – or an evil conspiracy amongst all three of them to drive me bonkers. It makes me a bit queasy to look at them.
Hey, I want to go back and take some more right-side-up pictures! Anybody up for riding shotgun???
LibbY