Badlands SD

What a spectacular place. We drove around the loop, which is mostly paved, with many lookouts. But as the day clouded over with pending rain, we hurried to the area with unpaved road where the wildlife was supposed to be. We were not disappointed, as not long after leaving the pavement, we came upon a family of long horned sheep picking their way up the steep grade. Now, I have often been in areas where they are supposed to be, and have never actually seen one, so to come upon a family, I was thrilled! My partner maybe not so much so! "How many pictures do you need, Carol?" PLENTY, as you never know which ones will come out!!

We moved on and came across Prairie Dog area, and at first excited to see a few, I soon realized they were everywhere! Darting in and out, popping up and down, and making cute little squeaking noises. "Oh my gosh! Custest thing I have ever seen!!" says I. "No they aren't!" comes the reply!! Hmph!

Next came the buffalo, and we were both disappointed that they were pretty far from the road at the moment. One can imagine what it must have been like for the Lakota and their predecessors to hunt these plains. The Lakota word, and then the French trappers phrase for these lands meant bad lands, as they were so hard to traverse. And Chief Big Foot and his men cut a passage by hand to try to escape, but the result was the slaughter at Wounded Knee, not far from here. A sad tale once again in our history.

We both agree that this land is awe inspiring. If you click on the photo, you can see the rest of the album.