Miles 1726-1859: Badlands, Wall, and Drive to Keystone
When we woke up yesterday morning, we had to leave pretty early, so we ate and packed up faster than usual. We had to unpack books and electronics from our backpacks so we could fill it with hiking supplies. On our way to Badlands, I was envisioning a hike through woods. Then, Mom said we’d need sunscreen and our big hats because we’d be out int the sun, so I revised that idea: so I thought we’d be out in open fields for miles around. We came over a hill and saw the park; I was so unprepared. Before you continue reading, look at the pictures that I took. It was otherworldly, like the surface of Mars. There were cliffs, column-like things called buttes, and beyond them, fields as far as the eye could see. The first stop was only a few miles inside the gate, at a overlook where you could get out and walk around. We took so many pictures in the park itself, and most of them were here and on our hike. There was a catch: almost no railings. We found out later that Badlands is an open hike and climb park. There was an idiotic family near us. The dad was wearing a cowboy hat and boots on the side of slippery gravel cliffs. The son seemed to have a death wish. One time, he walked up to the very edge of the cliff, leaned over the side to look, and began sliding his foot, intentionally, off the side. His mom yelled at him five times before he came back. The mom didn’t seem to like them very much however: she kept sending them out on the edge of cliffs so she could get “really good pictures”. It was so annoying and scary; I really didn’t want to see them fall. Everything turned out fine eventually though. We saw some bighorn sheep on a bute a ways off, and next to the road on the way to the Visitor’s Center. There were two babies that we saw: one sitting like a dog on a cliff and one that clambered up to the top of a bute. At the Visitor’s Center, Jackson and I each got a National Park’s Passport and a Badlands pin. I’m going to start collecting pins when we go to museums and national parks. The National Park Passport is cool, because I can use it forever, getting it stamped whenever you go to a National anything (Park, Monument, Memorial, Seashore, River, Path, Parkway, etc.). We did two small walks down to some scenic overlooks for more pictures, and then steeled ourselves for the big one: the ten-mile hike. I wasn’t that nervous. I was just really hoping that no one else would want to turn around early. Badlands was such a beautiful place; I hope you’ll look at the pictures I posted because I really can’t describe it. I may have taken too many pictures, but better way too many than barely not enough. I was so glad we did that long hike, because we got to see so much of the park. It took us about two hours each way, and we took a short lunch break at the turn-around. There was an odd contrast in the park: the red and brown stone of cliffs and buttes, but there were yellow flowers everywhere. From now on, I’ll always remember the difference between Yosemite and Yellowstone, because Yellowstone is closer to the flowers in Badlands. There were only two negatives about the hike: we had to keep our heads down at the ground while we were hiking, so we couldn’t look around and I was constantly a little nervous about rattlesnakes. About every mile or when we merged with a different trail, there were signs saying “Beware: praire rattlesnakes.”. There were rustling noises all around us, but they were really just bugs and birds in the long grass. Mom said she thought she heard one near the end, but it doesn’t really matter now. I would definitely do that hike again. Overall, Badlands was amazing; I haven’t really been to many or even any national parks, but I’ve seen pictures and I believe Badlands will stay one of my favorites. We drove back into Wall to visit Wall Drug, a combination of old-fashioned drug store, museum, mall, and restaurant. We explored and got old-fashioned milk-shakes, except for Mom, who got a chocolate malt. I got a chocolate mint shake, which I thought would be like mint chip, but it was like a chocolate milkshake with mint flavoring in it, like a York peppermint patty vs. mint chip ice cream. It was different, but pretty good. Our drive to Keystone was over the same prairies, where you could see for miles, and pretty uneventful, until… we came over a hill and there were huge forests and mountains. It looked like we were back in the Appalachians in Virginia. We got to our hotel, the Roosevelt Inn, on Cemetery Road (not creepy at all) around six. There was a teddy bear in the room (for Theodore Roosevelt), but I was sad we didn’t get to take it with us. We had to pay ten dollars, and Mom wouldn’t let me use my money that way. We were looking forward to swimming before dinner, but the pool was tiny. I could probably have jumped from one side to another if I wasn’t worried about slipping. Change of plan, Jackson and I played pool in the game room until time to shower and get ready to dinner. We tied a set of two games, 1-1. Dinner was at a place called the Powderhouse Inn. They had lots of gamey meats, such as duck, elk, buffalo/bison, quail, and venison. I got buffalo stew in a bread bowl and it was delicious. The sauce had taken on the flavor of the buffalo, which was very delicious and hard to describe. When we went back to the hotel, we journaled and got in bed.
“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”