Driving across South Dakota was pretty amazing when you take in to consideration the diverse scenery you’ll see. It’s completely flat in the eastern portion of the state. But things change completely when you run in to the Badlands. The Badlands are a very crazy looking place. Hopefully the pictures I took will help describe the view. I didn’t spend much time in the Badlands, but the drive through the park was definitely worthwhile. I did manage to take a few short hikes to get better views while I was here, but that’s about it. As I came out the bottom of the park, I decided to take the southern route to the Black Hills instead of going back up to the interstate.

On my way in to the Black Hills, I ran in to the Reptile Garden. I’ve always been a big fan of reptiles so this was an easy stop for me. You can blame this on my mom. She’s the one that allowed me to bring home every pet imaginable - as long as they weren’t poisonous, of course. Anyway, I decided to go by the alligator pit first and watched as this guy wrestled with an alligator in a pen with at least 20 other alligators just watching along. This guy was crazy, but apparently you have to be to get in this pen. Actually, the gators looked pretty docile - like they could have cared less what was going on. I’m still not sure I would have felt comfortable inside that pen. From the gator pen, I went to through the other exhibits which were all pretty typical - a bunch of snakes, lizards and turtles - except when you go to the Giant Tortoise pen. In the Giant Tortoise pen you can actually pet the tortoises! I thought this was really cool. I was surprised, however, that no kids were riding them. There were two very large tortoises just minding their own business as several visitors hung out with them and scratched their necks. They seemed to like having their necks scratched and so I gave it a try as well. Definitely not the kind of thing many turtles will let you do!

Moving on, I decided to camp at the KOA outside of Hill City, SD which is right in the middle of the Black Hills. It’s also only 5 miles from Mount Rushmore which was the primary reason for me coming here. In hind sight, there are a lot of cheaper places to camp, but KOA makes it easy and does have a lot of amenities. For instance, it was really nice to have a restaurant with wi-fi to hang out in during the thunderstorms that came both nights I camped there. It’s been a while since I’ve camped in a thunderstorm. I actually had to bring out an extra tarp to cover my tent during the rain to keep it from leaking more than it already was.

I spent the morning of my first full day on a bike ride through the middle of the Hills. The George S. Mickelson Trail is an old railroad turned to a hiking/biking trail. The trail is 110 miles from one end to the other. As an avid cyclist, I decide to ride 20 miles out and back, heading north and starting at the Hill City Trail head. The trail is a great bike ride, but after living in Texas for so long, I had no idea that an uphill climb could last really last for 8 miles - but they do! At least I got to enjoy the 8 miles back down as well. Needless to say, the ride was enjoyable, but definitely a workout. The scenery on the trail is also amazing. It’s the best way to really see the forests and have an opportunity to see the wildlife with it.

However, the highlight of the Black Hills is definitely the Mount Rushmore Monument. We’ve all seen pictures in our history books, but it’s impossible to really understand how impressive this monument is until you actually see this in person. It’s worthwhile to get the audio tour aids ($5 rental) as you walk through the park. You will really learn a lot more with the audio aids than you will just walking on your own.

Now if Mount Rushmore is big, the Crazy Horse Monument is enormous. It’s the largest mountain sculpture to date. I have no idea when this will ever be finished, but I’m sure it has a long way to go. Currently, the workers are carving out the horse’s head, but you can still how much progress has been made so far. I walked around the rest of the park as well, but did not take the bus tour to the monument. Overall, this was an interesting stop, but I think it will be much more impressive once it’s finished.

From the Black Hills, I headed south to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ll update you on that part of the trip next.

Here is a quick update to let you guys know what I’ve been up to so far:

I drove 15 hours on the first day to get to Parkston, South Dakota. By lunch, I managed to drive 7 hours north to just above Salina, Kansas where I decided to pull over in to Minneapolis and get some lunch. This is also home to Rock City which I decided would make a good detour while I’m here. Rock City is about the strangest group of rock formations I’ve ever seen.

The rock formations at Rock City were formed millions of years ago and you can get more information at these three links:

Official Site: http://www.naturalkansas.org/rockcity.htm

Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_City,_Kansas

Fan Site: http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/rockcity/

On Saturday I went to Mitchell, South Dakota to see The Corn Palace. I really have no words to describe this place. Every year, the town commissions the redesign of The Corn Palace exterior and murals on the interior using nothing but corn of various colors. The first Corn Palace was built in 1892. Every year The Corn Palace is redecorated with a new theme and the 2009 version is currently underway. Here are some links to help describe this better as well:

http://www.roadsidephotos.com/sd/sd3.htm

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2215

On Suday, I finished the drive in to Mount Rushmore. Along the way I drove through the Badlands National Park. This is truly an amazing view and I was absolutely stunned with the scenery. It was just as stunning to see the Badlands and in less than an hour drive in to the Black Hills – talk about a complete change of scenery. I haven’t seen real trees this entire trip so it’s great to see the forests and pitch camp within. I’ll have more pics of the Black Hills in my next blog.

So, be sure to check out the gallery. I have a lot more pics there.