Holy Hail!!!- An Independence Day Trip Report

[HouCuseChickie]

We slowly made our way out of Wall (the speed limit is really low, so yeah...it was SLOOOOOW). I was super happy to be able to get a pic of this guy before we left. He is absolutely fabulous!



We also got some gas before heading towards the park. We probably would have been OK, but I have these wild fears of getting stranded in these places. At least it was an easy drive from there. No pics of it, but when you drive in from Wall, there's an elevated area off to your left (east, I believe). I don't recall seeing anything up there last time we visited (which was a morning visit), but this time it was loaded with RVs and cars. More and more people were turning off to park in that area as we approached. There were tons of people sitting outside ...I guess waiting to capture the sunset, but surely also hoping for some nice dark skies afterwards. I, on the other hand, did not want to get stuck in this park in the dark. Still, like the Grand Canyon (and other scenic areas), I was curious to see how the park looked in these late day, sun setting, light conditions. The prairie dog town off to the right of the entrance was still thriving...and then it was off to the first overlook. Sam stayed up near the car (still grumpy- even though she was coming home with a couple of nice Badlands shirts) and David and K walked off. So, I was on my own. No real story here...just pics from the Pinnacles Overlook.

 

[Songbird76]

Once we got everything unpacked, Kendall asked if we could check my car one more time for her missing AirPod. She was still having no luck and the vehicle was now totally emptied out, so hope was fading. We dug through the vehicle and still nothing. She was in a much better mental place in this moment, so I asked her something that I wanted to ask earlier, but knew I’d get a nasty attitude if I didn’t time this accordingly.

ME: Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: MOTHER!!?!?!?!
ME: Hear me out and just humor me. Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: Mom, I would have felt it if it were in there and I would have heard it beep.
ME: Just check, PLEEEEEAAAASSEE!
KENDALL: Fine. *giggle* OMG!!! It was in there!!!

So yea, K had her AirPod with her the ENTIRE time.

E and I call that the Bra-Muda triangle. Things go in and never come back out.

 

[cgersic]

That’s so funny and a little spooky! We had driven through a couple of times in 2019, but didn’t learn the name until last year. It’s popular for rafting since it’s so close to Denver. There’s also a ropes course, zip lining, old mill/mine tours, and lots of hiking options. It’s all right along I70, so it really stands out when you’re driving through.

We lovingly call it just "Idaho" (as in, headed over to Idaho to get some pizza. I was living in Central City pre gambling before moving to Florida in 1996 and we would drive over Oh My God Road - long before it was paved - to Idaho Springs). It's changed a lot over the years, but one of my favorite towns ever. There's quite a bit spread out around the town itself to see and do. As always. loving all of the photos and video and the rafting looks like a great time for everyone! The one time I went, it was a 5 year and we didn't get our photos. I was so bummed because it was a fabulous trip!
Edited to add: How cool that you were on the local news!!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

A BIG MISTAKE/OMISSSION ON MY PART!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking of...Kendall was begging to drive, but she has never done the whole single lane highway thing. I know she has to learn at some point, but with the number of people who don't properly time passing slower traffic and the quick reactions you need to make when they unwillingly put you into a game of chicken had me too nervous to allow her to drive anything like this at this point. David and K disagreed, but it's my car.

I cannot believe I forgot to include this. I guess at least I'm still covering the right day. A big part of why I didn't trust K's judgement to drive this time was tied to more than just single lane roads. Remember that soil project she was working on back in Denver? Remember how I said it would be problematic? Well get this...

When I asked Kendall to clean up the container housing the dirt by dumping it and then rinse it out, she missed the part about me telling her to dump it outside or in the trashcan. At some point, during my breakfast, Sam came down to use a bathroom because she said Kendall clogged up the sink. K clogs drains all the time at home with her hair, so I figured a week of us might have done a number on the drains. When I went upstairs to check out the bathroom, I found muddy dirt and debris filled standing water in the sink! Somehow, this kid thought she could just dump all of her dirt down the bathroom sink. In her mind, she never once considered that WATER AND DIRT MAKE MUD!!! So, I started messing with it and eventually managed to get enough of it down and soaked up into towels to clean out the basin. It was still clogged, but it at least didn't look like a bowl of nasty muddy water. I went to go rinse my hands off in the tub/shower, but it never occurred to me as being odd that the shower curtain was closed. It's been open ALL TRIP unless someone was using the shower. Sure enough...I opened the curtain and there was dirt everywhere. This one did not appear to be as badly clogged and I was able to wash my hands, but there was still a mess of dirt in there that I had to clean up. I did notify the front desk about a clog when we checked out, but I said it was probably hair. Needless to say, I was feeling like I couldn't trust her judgement.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

E and I call that the Bra-Muda triangle. Things go in and never come back out.

I need to share that with Kendall. I am pretty grateful that it turned up in there!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We lovingly call it just "Idaho" (as in, headed over to Idaho to get some pizza. I was living in Central City pre gambling before moving to Florida in 1996 and we would drive over Oh My God Road - long before it was paved - to Idaho Springs). It's changed a lot over the years, but one of my favorite towns ever. There's quite a bit spread out around the town itself to see and do. As always. loving all of the photos and video and the rafting looks like a great time for everyone! The one time I went, it was a 5 year and we didn't get our photos. I was so bummed because it was a fabulous trip!

I need to refer to it as "Idaho" whenever we return. At the very least, it'll be fun confusing everyone (since we're all tourists! ). It's definitely a fun little area. That's too bad that you didn't get your pics. All the more reason to go back and do it again!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The shadows and color pops did feel quite different from what we saw in our 2018 visit, but we knew the bulk of what to expect, so the wow factor just wasn't as strong. David and Kendall were still out exploring, but I was pretty much done. So I got closer to the stairs by Sam to take a few more before moving on. This is one of those parks that I wouldn't mind doing some hiking, but we've never been during more ideal weather. Today was on the hot side and while I was glad we found time to pop in, it wasn't on my list of unfinished business.







I didn't keep track of where all we stopped, but we drove and got out several times for pics before we started to worry about losing daylight. I didn't think we'd be visiting, so I never downloaded a map, and we were after regular employee hours...so nobody was handing anything out at the guard shack. I knew we'd eventually come to the other main exit on the eastern side, but I couldn't remember how far away it was and how well the turn off was marked. We didn't want to chance it, so we drove until we decided it was best to turn around and head back the way we came. Looking at a map (https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/badlands-national-park-map), I think it was around Panorama Point where we turned around. It's too bad, because I think we could have easily made it to the northeast entrance.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Time to turn around. I didn’t want to make any more stops, but nobody else was up to taking pictures. So, as I made my U Turn, I tested taking pictures based on instinct and intuition. I was basically driving-eyes on the road the entire time, but periodically holding up the camera with one hand and operating based on my muscle memory and perceived location, hoping to get something usable. I stopped for a moment to check the results.





Not the most spectacular results, but good enough to keep trying on the way out.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Most of my attempts to take pics on the drive out really just showcase how dark it can feel with the shadows building in, but I did manage to get one showing some sun still hitting one section.



















While she shifted the phone and flipped the video (something I haven’t had the inclination to edit), K did take a couple of videos.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

None of the pics seem to capture it, but we saw a lot of people moving up to higher ground for a better view. Quite a few people were also heading down the dirt road (hence the dust) to the western part of the park.





Still no bison on this visit, but we’d soon be making up for that. Also still not sure if I prefer these badlands over those at Theodore Roosevelt.

We got a bit of a sunset view shortly after getting back onto the highway.



At least our room was fairly chilly when we got back to the hotel. The lot was also pretty full and everyone seemed pretty touristy. Our room was smaller than what we had in CO, so everyone was just trying to adjust to our new space for the next 3 nights.







Not much of a view, although you could see some of the hills to the right.





Before going to bed (and realizing that the master vent was still closed), plans for the rest of the trip came up. Custer State Park was the bulk of it for the 3rd and we had a cave tour booked for Wind Cave National Park on the 4th, but K was suddenly not ok with our college tour plans. I was just planning drive throughs, since space was heavily limited due to the holiday and break time. So many schools now factor booking official tours into your perceived interest level. So I was forced to go back to the drawing board. I wound up getting one after retracing my steps a bit. It meant booking a different hotel in Oklahoma and eating the 1-night cancellation fee for our other lodging. It also meant a call to the dog’s boarding in the morning to see if they could house her for another night. Whew!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Chapter 8: July 3- DO NOT Pet the Fluffy Cows!

I was excited to get out there and knock some more unfinished business off the list for the Rapid City area. I was up before anyone, so I headed downstairs to grab some breakfast and print out our park permit for Custer. I'm not sure how I missed this before travel, but at least I was able to get it done at the hotel business center. Unfortunately, breakfast would be less successful. There was a sign over the hot food area that food would be in short supply due to a postponed delivery tied to the 4th of July holiday. Great. I improvised. I made a breakfast sandwich by toasting a bagel on a waffle iron, added in one of the few remaining cheese-less omelets in the chafing dish, and used some cream cheese instead of sliced cheese. Oh, and I ate it in a bowl because they were out of plates. At least I got the last of the napkins! It wasn't great, but I made it work. David did something similar. The kids just weren't into any of it and went without.

I can't recall exactly when we left the hotel, but it was still relatively early in the day. My navigation gave me several different options for the park. Wildlife was the primary interest, so I selected the wildlife loop out of the popular driving options. After getting out of the city, we were back on the highway that took us into the area. I had seen signs for Custer when we were driving in, so at least I knew we were heading the right way. The signs on the road direct you to the main visitor center, which technically is connected to the wildlife loop (we'd learn this later), but that's not how it wanted me to go. I was directed to a dirt road that connected to various people's private land. FUN! I was growing skeptical and contemplating turning around, but we did eventually enter the park and it took us right to the wildlife loop. There were no guard shacks at this entrance or anyone to check my permit, so I felt a little off just driving in, but the road at least took us to the wildlife loop. I still don't know why I chose to turn right vs. left, but I turned right and encountered a large herd of bison less than a mile in. There were bison everywhere, including in the road, so everyone else manned the camera while I slowly navigated. I was able to get a couple of quick videos, but decided it was too much to film and drive. We spent quite a bit of time stopped, so it at least gave them time to focus and scan around. We took A LOT of pictures, so you're about to get several (maybe 4???) posts of bison pics as well as the vids. Warning...this is one of three or four anticipated bison photo dumps for the entire report. LOL




(You can see the reflection of my permit in the windshield, just in case anyone wanted to stop us)

 

[HouCuseChickie]

 

[HouCuseChickie]

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Surprisingly, all of the visitors we saw were very well behaved. I was wearing my fluffy cows shirt anyway, but this park seems to be a hotbed for people trying to get out and interact with the bison.

Shortly after getting past this herd, we passed the a main park entrance (so our dirt road approach for the wildlife loop was totally unnecessary) and shortly after was the main visitor center.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We decided to stop at the visitor center. I mean, why not? We're already there. I'm shocked that I didn't take any pics of the exterior, but everyone was kind of cranky...so I was probably just going with the flow. It was a challenge getting inside without being bombed because the big exterior overhang was absolutely loaded with appeared to be swallow nests. The building itself was that modern woodsy cabin vibe and had a lot of nice interactive exhibits. We were also surprised to see that marmots could be found in the park. A ranger tried to help us pinpoint some popular spots to explore in our travels. All seemed to be lake areas.

I did take a couple of pics on the way out, but just a picnic area and some flowers off to the side of the driveway and pond.





We at least were able to pick up some park maps and guides, so the stop was quite helpful. After reviewing the map, we decided to retrace our "steps" and go left on the wildlife loop. Of course, this meant going right back through that same group of bison. So, you guessed it- MORE BISON PICS!

 

[rshell68]

this park seems to be a hotbed for people trying to get out and interact with the bison.

I don't get it, I just don't.....this is why we can't have nice things!

 

[rshell68]

Is this an actual campground in the background or just people stopped to see the bison??

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My parents did one of these open-air Jeep tours a couple of years ago. They went during shoulder (late May/early June) and it was one of the miserably cold travel experiences they've ever had. I think it was in the 30s outside...windy, drizzly mix...and then they had to have a cookout. The excursion company and main tour company hadn't built in any alternatives. They had winter appropriate clothing/gear, but weren't expecting this to go on as planned with the conditions.













You’ll notice the one with obvious branding. I don’t know if Custer ever tags, but the park is well known for its annual roundup to assess the animals’ health. I know sickly animals are removed at that time. So, branding probably helps in the process. We saw several animals that didn’t look like they were long for this world.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

View attachment 733256
Is this an actual campground in the background or just people stopped to see the bison??

Based on the map, it looks like it's a campground, but it looks like there are also corrals in this area. It's not the main corrals from what we saw, but there's definitely some park round up presence in this area.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It wasn't long after we passed up the bison that we saw this pronghorn...









When you consider how many of them I saw while driving, it's amazing that this is the only one I was able to photograph.

Shortly after this, David spotted something off in the grass. If you only looked at his first pic, you might be thinking bison or maybe even Bigfoot!



I get it…take what you can since you might not get another shot. It actually was a wild turkey.









Custer is known for a lot of different wildlife. While not all of the animals are common sightings, it makes sense that things like elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, coyotes, deer, etc. are also known to inhabit these lands. There is one animal, though, that I never would have considered had it not been for a few videos during my research. Meet The Begging Burros...