Day 6 (Sunday May 17) Badlands

Badlands Beagle!

Breakfast, then a shorter walk on the Michelsen trail (taking it easy on Max since we had 2 long ones yesterday), then off on a day trip to the east to check out Minuteman Missile National HIstoric Site and Badlands National Park. We went out I-90 East, through Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug. I don't know why it's so famous other than the same reason South of the Border, Ron Jon, and Yeehaw Junction are famous: billboards for miles. We went by if only because it was one more stop Chevy Chase made in National Lampoons Vacation. I've had that Holiday Road song stuck in my head since the idea for this trip came up (and of course downloaded it to my ipod and have listened to it every day, I think).



The Minuteman Missile NHS was closed on Sundays, and incredibly hard to find (thanks, google), but it was right on the way to Badlands so it didn't really cost us any wasted time. Badlands National Park is one of those places that really does not come across in pictures, you have to actually be there to experience it. The grassland turns into the Badlands incredibly quickly, and the whole place just leaves you saying "wow" a lot. We drove through pretty much the whole northern unit of the park, including about 20 miles down the unpaved Rim Road. There were more Bison and Prairie Dogs for Max to check out. Other than that, I think he was tired from his two long hikes yesterday so we took it easy, seeing most everything from the car.

We made our way back to Rapid City and down to Mt Rushmore, since we had to see that since it is probably the most well known attraction in the area and we were staying only a couple of miles from it.  It was pretty impressive, but I think we were more entertained another mile or so down the road where we got to watch a mountain goat climb about 40 feet up a sheer cliff because there was a little patch of grass he wanted to eat.   

Picked up some groceries, back to the cabin, dinner, laundry, blogging, packing.  Max is still on East Coast time, so around 7pm here it is doggie bedtime. It occurred to me tonight that this is probably the first time he has been in a different time zone so, while he notices it is light out much later, I'm sure that really means nothing to him.

Tomorrow: North Dakota's Enchanted Highway.  

Day 5 (Saturday May 16) Devil's Tower

Since we actually had a home base for a few days, and since it was quite cold out with a heavy frost, we slept in. There was a nice trail that ran right behind our cabin: the George S Mikelson Trail.  We took a 1.5 mile beagle walk, where there were lots of horses and other animals for Max to sniff.  The lady in the office said that it is not unusual to catch a glimpse of mountain lions if you're out at first light.  Then breakfast, followed by my taking a run down the other way for around 3 miles.  It was great weather, scenery, everything.  A huge motorcycle convoy went by on US385; it had to consist of a couple hundred motorcycles.  It just kept going and going.  

Max lounging by the cabin. Rough life, right?

After lounging around our campsite some, we took a day trip through Deadwood and Sundance over into Wyoming to Devil's Tower National Monument. The tower itself was pretty cool. We hiked the 1.3 mile Tower Trail that encircles the base. Technically dogs are not allowed on the trails but we barged and no one said anything (other than some kids who wanted to pet him). We had very good views of the rock climbers and could hear them talking.



Prairie Dogs! On the way in and out of the park, we passed the Prairie Dog Town. I stopped at a couple of spots for Max to check them out. They were fun to watch, very animated.  I can't even imagine how long it would take to get him back in the Jeep if he had gotten out. It would have been like a real-life Beagle version of whack-a-mole as they dove down a hole and popped up another one. It was almost tempting, but they don't mess around with the fines for harassing wildlife in the National Parks.

Then a scenic drive back through Sturgis and, after only a brief wrong turn, back to camp. There is NO data capability for mobile phones out here and hardly any phone signal either, so we were going off our Atlas to get around. Fortunately I had gotten an up to date one before we left.

Saw lots of wildlife today, from the Prairie Dogs to elk, lots of deer and even some mountain goats. On the way back to camp deer crossed the road in front of us in a couple of spots, forcing us to slow down.