On the Sunday we drove across Nebraska and South Dakota and we learnt that, not taking the highways on the East coast is very different to doing that in the MidWest. Part of our route took us on 24 miles of gravel road and the part that was “done” had more ridges than a roller coaster! Our poor old RV was not happy. But we arrived at the campground in good time and have a nice quiet spot here for the next 4 nights. We are right on the edge of the Badlands National park and so a quick internet search told us (and everyone else) that the best spot for a sunset picture was the Pinnacle look out. It was not the best sunset, but we did get to see the prong horn sheep and also we took a diversion on the way back and came face to face with our first Bison. It was too dark for the picture to be much good but the moment was captured anyway.
The next day we drove through the park and out to Wall with the famous Wall Drug store. We had lunch in the drug store and walked through the town, it’s a bit touristy for us but we ticked the box and said we went there. The weather had changed on the way back and the top of the ridge was covered in mist. Driving back down via a different route took us onto Sage Creek rim road, where we were able to see quite a few Bison and also some Prairie dogs.
Tuesday – we drove out to a spot and walked a 4.5mile circular route called Medicine Loop and then the return was part of the Castle trail. The views and also the hiking were very different between the two parts of the trail. We were blessed with warm weather but a nice cool breeze to make it comfortable and probably got some of best photos. Rob drove back out that evening to see if he could get a better sunset but was out of luck.
Today the weather has not been that great and so we have pretty much stayed in the RV planning our next steps on the journey and also letting me catch up on my cross stitching.
Tomorrow we leave for Custer and will stay there for the next 4 nights.