Neil thinks we failed “National Parks 101” today, and with all our experience we had no excuse. We should have been up at dawn and making use of the best part of the day! He thinks we’re getting slack ( I think we’re just getting old!) because we slept in. Once we were up we made a reasonably quick start as we had our dinner leftovers from last night for breakfast, however by the time we headed out with our cameras a little after 8 the sun was starting to play peekaboo behind the clouds.
We drove back down to the Big Badlands Overlook near the park entrance and managed to get some reasonably good shots there, and then went on a couple of short walks on the Door Trail and the Window Trail.
We set off from there on the scenic drive that runs the length of the park, stopping at a few panoramic overlooks along the way. At the time we felt the photos would be dud because the clouds had rolled in, but having looked on them now I think we caught the drama of the dark skies against the stark backdrop of the badlands peaks.
We had originally planned to do the full loop which would have taken us all the way back to Wall through the park, then returning along the interstate – but with the dodgy weather ( which was getting worse!) we decided to backtrack along the way we’d come. It wasn’t a wasted choice as it ws interesting to see the drive from a different perspective, and we also managed to see one of the park animal residents – a Big-Horned sheep perched up on the cliffs. He looked bored!
We drove on out of the park to visit the Minuteman Missile Base National Historic Site. During the Cold War, the Dakota plains were home to many missile sites – all with the eyes trained on Moscow. The center had a very informative display about the Cold War, the nuclear arms race between the USA and the USSR and also about the missile bases and the lives of the people that lived at them.
On our way back we stopped at the Visitor Centre to buy my National Park Pin and a few extra snacks for lunch, which we ate on our back verandah.
The rain continued for an hours or so but then showed signs of clearing so we took the opportunity of the brighter skies to drive back down the road to some of the overlooks we’d seen this morning. It was interesting to see them again in a different light, and also interesting to see how much the rain had brough out the colour in the rocks. The pink stripes were even more obvious now.
For dinner we went back to the restaurant and were a bit amazed at how much quieter it as this evening. Later we sat out the back of our cain and enjoyed the bottle of local wine that we’d purchased at the Lodge store. I don’t think I’d ever tire of that view.
