Leg 1: The Beginning

The Drive
We left the morning of Tuesday, June 14 with the Sentra seemingly packed to its brim. This began Leg 1 of my nomadic summer, while it encompassed my two companions' entire summer vacation. We were anxious to get started, but knew we had a long drive before we could begin hiking.

Heading west, we took I-74 to I-80 to I-90. If you're familiar with our interstate system, you'd recognize a profound gap. We don't speak of this gap, as it was the cause of spending three more hours than necessary in Iowa, thus creating my disgust for Iowa (although, to be fair, aside from the Field of Dreams, it really didn't have much of a chance to begin with).  

Badlands National Park
We arrived at Badlands National Park at sunrise on June 15 and took a short break. Five states down (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota) and my first national park. We were still anxious to do some backpacking and wanted to continue moving west, so we spent an hour or two climbing around the Badlands and shooting some photos and got back in the car.

The Badlands in South Dakota are a true freak of nature. After hundreds of miles in slow rolling, grassy plains, these rock formations appear out of nowhere.

It's a small park, but it certainly qualifies for a visit. I wouldn't make an entire trip out of it, but on a road trip out west, I prefer the drive through South Dakota to Kansas or Nebraska. The Rapid City area provides a great place for a break (although it's a little to touristy for my tastes), as Badlands NP, Wind Cave NP and Mount Rushmore NM are a short drive away.

Click here to access my Badlands NP photo album  

Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Unfortunately we didn't have time to make it to Wind Cave NP. Even though I've visited previously, my goal remains to visit every national park; thus, I'll be back in the area later in the summer. One of my companions had never seen Mount Rushmore, so we headed that direction.

I had been there three times and explained to my companion, as I will to you, there isn't much more inside the memorial than you can see from the highway. It's four cool dudes carved into the side of the Black Hills. It's cool; but that's all it is. You can't sit there for hours in amazement like you can with some landscapes (or maybe that's just me). In fact, the Black Hills (the ones without human rock faces) are beautiful by themselves. Like the badlands, they feel almost as if they don't belong in South Dakota. Unfortunately, the tourism tends to be a bit overwhelming and diverts your attention from the natural beauty around you.

Mount Rushmore Photo Album (warning: it's lame)

From there we got back in the car and headed into Wyoming toward Yellowstone National Park.

The Summer's Savior
The America The Beautiful Pass. This annual pass costs $80 and gets you entrance into more than 2,000 national recreation sites, including all the national parks. And you don't have to visit all the parks to make it valuable. For example, Badlands NP entrance fee (non-commercial vehicle) is $15 for a 7-day pass. Larger parks like Yellowstone and Glacier are $25. It can even work if you go to a park several times throughout the year. Do note, for those of you in Ohio, Great Smoky Mountains NP is the only NP without an entrance fee. It's a cool story.

Next Post: Wyoming's drive and Yellowstone NP.