After a good day of riding yesterday we encountered some rain about 40 minutes outside The Badlands. We waited for almost an hour under an overpass but the rain showed no signs of letting up so we took the last chunk in two very wet and trying legs. It may have been some of the most difficult riding I have ever done and I couldn't have done it without Nicole's support and encouragement. We arrived in the evening, checked into our cabin, dried off, and luxuriated under the powerful heater. Today was our first full day in the park.
We rode through the park on our way to Wall Drug and stopped a couple times to take pictures and soak it all in.
I've been to The Badlands twice before and it is my favorite place in the US.
I was eager to share it with Nicole and slowly cruising through the park was great.
Wall Drug is one of the kitch capitols of the country. Animatronic cowboy bands, weird statues, historical western tableaus, lots and lots of shops, nickle coffee, and free ice water. Advertised for hundreds of miles around.
We headed back to the park after we had lunch and did some shopping. Nicole had a buffalo dog.
In the evening I took Nicole to my favorite trials in the park which takes you up the Badlands wall, from the lower plains to the upper.
We got to the top while the sun was setting. The silence, the stillness, was profound. The light and the grass were the only things moving. The size and the majesty of it all was daunting but comforting too. As if we had been welcomed into some joyful and sacred secret.
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