THE BADLANDS - 9/5/14

The Badlands was 16 miles south of Wall, SD.  We arrived at the park entrance at 7AM in hopes to capture some of the sunrise lighting that helps bring out the color of the rock formations in this area. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world's richest fossil beds.  Our first stop was at Pinnacles Overlook.  These are eroded remnants of layers of sediments which were deposited by rivers which flowed from the west some 30 million years ago.

At every turn, there were more spectacular formations, gorges, cliffs, mixed in with vast open areas of grasslands.

The park's 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today.  We saw some sheep during our drive through the park.

Much of the park looked as if we were driving on the moon instead of earth.

Near the end of the drive through the park, there was a row of formations that are called "castles".  We stopped and let the dogs walk around at in the parking area.

Once we left the Badlands, we drove about 600 miles to St. Joseph, MO that day. It seemed the closer we got to home, the more determined we were to get there as fast as we could.  On 9/6/14, we drove to Clarksville, TN and visited with our daughter and son-in-law that evening.  On 9/7/14, we arrived home at 12:30 PM.  

We drove a total of 9500 miles and traveled 1800 miles by sea.  It was an adventure of a lifetime.  We want to re-visit some areas again someday, especially Wyoming.  One thing we will never do again is the Alaska Highway.  

Four days after arriving home, snow was reported to have fallen in many of the places we had just recently visited.  We are glad to be home and are thankful we didn't have any major mechanical or health issues during this 7 week journey.  I hope you enjoyed following us on our trip by way of this blog.  

Joy