Day 5Aug 18, 2011
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On the road to the Badlands!
Horse outside of a gas station on the Res
Heading from Nebraska to South Dakota
| Ahh, another moment to sip a glass of wine and try to make this old brain work and remember my trip! Okay, let's see, where did I leave off? Yes, I remember now! The Niobrara River in Smith Falls, SP outside of Valentine.... Well after the swim in the water fall and float down the river we got up early and headed off west on Nebraska 20 to Merriman on the Bridges to Buttes Scenic Byway. The country side was beautiful and there were few towns. Still the scenic rolling green hills but slowly the Buttes started to appear in the distance. We were making our way to Merriman Nebraska where we would head north, cross into South Dakota and travel through both the Lacreek Indian Reservation and the Pine Ridge Indian Res on our way to the Badlands. The drive was an easy one and we reached the Badlands before lunch. We did the drive through Buffalo Gap Natl. Park and into the Badlands. The Badlands are a record book in rock. A 65 million-year-old layer of black rock called the Pierre Shale formed on the bottom of an ancient sea and is the oldest formation in the Badlands. Next come the layers of the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. These hold fossil bones of land mammals. Countless animals lived and died on these plains, their flesh and bones consumed by predators and scavengers. Those remains left intact were buried by periodic floods and converted into fossils. These deposits constitute one of the richest fossil beds known. The great variety of Badlands fossils has given the Oligocene the name "Golden Age of Mammals". So basically, millions of years ago, the Badlands were a rich, high, prairie and over time rain and wind erroded the soft stone leaving what we have today. Maginificent! Like nothing I had ever seen before. Absolutly stunning! I can only imagine what they look like at Sunset! Off we went to Rapid City, where we would pick up our rental car to sightsee during our 3 Day stay at Custer State Park. Rapid City, like Memphis, is a very unattractive city. Surprising to me as just outside of the city is some of the most beautiful land in our country...well, in my humble opinion that is! We picked up our car, which Louie drove, and off we headed to Custer State Park for a 3 day stay. We entered the park in a huge storm with me at the helm of the Magic Bus! Shades of a hurricane folks, horizontal rain, huge hail, high winds, and zero visibility as I proceeded to try and drive the bus up the curvy steep mountain road. It wasn't a pretty sight, and it scared the poop out of me! After ending up on the wrong side of the road on several occasions, I finally rounded a turn to Legion Lake and our camp site. Whew, what a releif!! We bedded down for the night and had a well earned cocktail and headed off to bed! |
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