Start: Mitchell, SD
Destination:  Badlands National Park, Interior, SD
Odometer: 103,062 (start) - 103,400 (end) 338 miles
Date:  Friday, September 2nd - Saturday, September 3rd,  2011

South Dakota….where the wind comes sweeping down the planes.  As mentioned yesterday, the wind was quite strong while trying to cook dinner, but it was not enough to raise our concern.  This changed around midnight that evening.  The Coleman tent is rather broad and will easily catch wind like a sail, even with the windows opened part way to let air through.  This fact, mixed in with incredibly strong and constant winds, leads to quite a stress test of the tent.  The wind huffed, and it puffed, but while the walls of the tent flapped strongly and noisily in and out, the tent stood strong. (I tried getting pictures of the young, nearby trees bending in the wind but it was too dark.)  We were not going back to sleep, but hoped we would at least be able to lay down in an upright tent.  Finally, it happened: one of the corners of the tent came in on my Dad during a particularly strong wind.  Now, if this were a traditional tent, the likely reality would be that the tent pole had broken and we’d be in quite a predicament.  The instant tent however has elbow joints that go in and out.  The wind buckled that joint into the tent, but we were also able to push the joint back into place, without even having to leave the tent.  With a little help from its occupants during that incident, the tent was able to stand strong for the entire night.  The wind finally waned and we went back to sleep.

Then the morning rains arrived around 3am.  As before, the tent did not leak, but the noise of the rain hitting the tent made the rain sound much worse and woke us up.  I somehow fell back into a deep sleep, because the next thing I knew, it was around 5:30am, Dad was loading the car and I needed to get up so we could take down the tent.

I have camped many times before, but I had never experienced winds like that.  As such, I am a skeptic regarding the need for the guy-wires of the tent.  More often than not, they are a tripping hazard and are rarely needed.  My Dad however strongly encouraged we follow all the setup requirements of the tent.  I’m glad he did.  Not only did the tent not blow away, but all of the stakes were still firmly in place.  I was sure at least some of them would have been pulled out by the winds.  I still believe those wires are a hazard, but they should not be neglected if you’re in an area capable of having strong winds.

By 6am, we had packed up the wet tent and were on the road heading to the Badlands, but on an empty stomach.  I took the wheel, and after surviving a turn into the oncoming traffic lane of a major road, we were on the highway that we would be taking straight across the state for around 200 miles.

My Dad would have just driven to the destination without breakfast, but I appreciate a meal in the morning, particularly after a minimal dinner the night before.  Fortunately, there was a rest stop early on where we could eat.  (I’m coming to have a greater appreciation for the need/value of those rest stops I’d ignore back home.)  I made peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and my Dad finished his cinnamon-raison bagels.  No longer hungry, we ventured on to what was our first, real tourist destination of the trip:  the Badlands of South Dakota.

The drive through South Dakota was a smooth drive, with corn and sunflower farms on the side, and signs for misc. Badlands attractions, particularly Wall Drug.

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Shortly before reaching Interior, SD, we took a much needed rest stop to stretch our legs and gaze out at the vast planes of grass.  Little did we suspect that perhaps the highlight of our entire trip would be a few miles down the road.

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Shortly before reaching Interior, SD, we took a much needed rest stop to stretch our legs and gaze out at the vast planes of grass.  Little did we suspect that perhaps the highlight of our entire trip would be a few miles down the road.

My Dad and I share a great attraction for Prairie Dogs.  They are just so cute and adorable.  So, you can imagine our excitement when just before arriving at the Badlands, we saw there was a prairie dog ranch that seemed more enamored with them than we are.

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For free, you can walk right up to the prairie dogs, who have little to no fear of people.  For 50 cents, you can buy a bag of peanuts and feed them (so they’ll stay by you and not snub their nose at your lack of an offering).  Try petting and getting this personal to a group of prairie dogs at the zoo.  We spent a fun thirty minutes playing with them, checking out their burrows, hearing their squeaks, and seeing their diversity (e.g. apparently there are white prairie dogs).

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We then headed for the Cedar Pass Campground at Badlands National Park to get settled in for our two day stay at the Badlands.  The sites and proximity of the sites to the bathrooms and water were nice, but the views the campground afforded were even better.

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We had gotten a test of the Badlands hen we entered the park, and were definitely wowed.  We wasted little time before getting back in the car to drive the scenic, roughly 50-mile Loop Road through the outer “wall” of the Badlands.

We had both heard of the Badlands, but honestly had little idea what they were. As we learned, the Badlands are the product of erosion over the past 500,000 years.  Millions of years ago, it was the floor of a warm, shallow sea, then it was a grassy flood plane, and now it’s grassland surrounded by a 50-mile “wall” of rock formations shaped by the immense rains and winds of the area.  It was an incredibly difficult area to travel, hence its name “bad lands”, but thanks to modern roads, is now easily driven through and is an incredibly beautiful landscape.  <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/107638235733347757198/Badlands?authuser=0&amp;feat=directlink#slideshow/5648684398686263538" target="_blank">This slideshow</a> will not do them justice.

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At the end of the loop, we found ourselves in Wall, a town of some 800 people and home to the famous Wall Drug, where we decided to stop for lunch.  Wall Drug is definitely a tourist destination, and they know it.  While the ice water may be free and the coffee 5 cents, the food and wares are a bit more expensive.  The service was good (we got two free donuts because our order was delayed), but don’t stop at the Wall Cafe if you’re looking for a cheap or particular delicious lunch.  Dad thought he could find a nice western-style shirt, but to no avail.  After touring the various Wall stores, we got some ice cream and some ice, and headed back to the car.

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The drive back from Wall took us on a dirt road through the southern part of the park, which is mostly grassland.  Since they were windy, dirt roads, we were going slow; however, if you’re a giant tractor trailer, going 80+ and blowing dust on everyone is apparently OK.  They claim there are buffalo there, but all we saw were horses and cattle.  This leg of the drive did not leave that great an impression.

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We arrived back to the campsite around 4 and each took some time to ourselves until dinner.  For dinner, I made veggie burgers, which even Dad thought were good.  We made Kiddish for the start of Shabbat, enjoyed our meal and conversation, and retired early.  It was windy that night (the candles were blown out pretty quick), but nothing compared to our previous experience in Mitchell, SD.  That was, until about midnight.

Shortly before midnight, the tent began to shake, the walls were blowing in and out, and we thought the tent wouldn’t make it.  As we later learned, there were 60mph winds that night.  After the wind, there was a few minutes calm...a clam that turned out to be the oft referenced calm before the storm.  What was a cloudless night had become a dark cloud that filled the sky.  That giant cloud also had an amazing lightning storm going on within it, producing bursts of orange and purple.  Picture a hollywood movie depiction of what the clouds might look like during the apocalypse, and you might have a good idea of what we saw outside our tent window.   Next thing we knew, the tent was being bombarded with what sounded like a heavy rain and powerful winds.  We were both trying to support the tent from the inside, and had to push back into place tent elbows when they buckled under the pressure.  We thought we were going to make it, but then we felt some water spraying in from the top of the tent, hitting us, the sleeping bags, and the cots, so we decided it was time to abandon ship and ride out the storm in the car.

As we exited the tent, I became aware that what was hitting the tent was not just rain, but also 1/4” size hail, enough to form a nice pile at the entrance of the tent.  Dad took some items to the car, and I raced to the bathroom (hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go).  In the bathroom, I found Steven, another refugee who had also abandoned his tent.  By the time we were done talking about our storm experiences in the bathroom and heading back, the worst of the storm was over.  In the end, the storm lasted about 30 minutes, but felt like forever.

Realizing our sleeping stuff would be wet, we tried to catch some sleep in the car.  Dad managed longer than I did.  After a few hours, I went back to the tent and made use of Dad’s relatively dry sleeping area. Dad got up around 4:40 and prepared for the day.  I left the tent around 5:30, running to the bathroom, and tripping over the guy wire.  By 6:15, daybreak had finally arrived and we were able to better assess our situation and conduct a forensic investigation of the tent.

The conclusion of the investigation was that an open flap that covered the mesh air vent at the top of the tent had been left propped/held open instead of velcro-ed shut.

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It was unclear whether we had propped it up earlier or whether the wind had forced it up, but either way, it provided a clear entry point for the downpour and our prompt exit from the tent.  The investigation also showed that everyone’s tent succumbed to the storm, from the expensive REI tents to the basic dome tents, everyone either made due with a wet tent or went to their car.

When the morning sun arrived, the clouds were gone and we were able to enjoy breakfast and leave the wet camping equipment out to dry, which they did in a couple hours.  Dad dried out the floor of the tent with paper towels and by 9am, I went back to sleep in the dry tent, while my dad did some reading.

If the storm had to happen, it happened on the best day, since Saturday/Shabbat are our rest days and so we didn’t need to break camp or be anywhere in particular.  This said, we wanted to do the three nearby hiking trails around the grounds, so we headed over there after I woke up, around noon.

The first trail was about half a mile and allowed for walking on top of and amongst the rock formations.  The second was a quarter mile walk along a boardwalk that led to a view of a large canyon formed by the erosion process.  The third was about a mile and half and was the most difficult of the three.  Most notably, it involved climbing up and down a 30-40 rung ladder, at least 100’ tall, bolted to the side of a rock formation, and walking along a path with loose stones and a few feet from a cavernous drop.  We both were surprised that the park service allows hikes like these.  The end of this trail led to an amazing panorama of a huge swath of the Badlands, both prairie and rock.  We took the advice of other hikers and went to an unmarked path near the end that led to another awe-inspiring view of the terrain.  We were definitely glad we went on these hikes.

We returned to the campsite around 4 to have lunch.  I made peanut butter and honey (and cheese on mine) sandwiches.  My Dad hadn’t had honey on his peanut butter before, but enjoyed it.  Exhausted, we both went back to the tent and had a Shabbat nap.  There was still plenty of daylight when we woke up, so we journeyed over to the visitor center to see their exhibits about the park and check out the Indian teepees. We returned to the camp site and again took some time to ourselves.  I did some reading and went back to bed until sundown, and Dad relaxed for awhile and also re-organized the car.

For dinner, we decided to try out the instant-meals we had purchased.  One simply required adding boiled water, and the second required using a pouch that used a chemical reaction to create an oven-like effect.  Both were types of vegetarian lasagna.  The heat pouch ended up being the quickest and easiest to make, and was also the least expensive and most delicious.  However, the boiled water one encouraged me to create a new aluminum foil contraption:  a protective wall to keep out the wind and contain the heat of the flame.

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I’m glad to report that it worked great and we were able to finally boil water.  As for the meal it was going help create:  the parts that got cooked were good; however, I must not have mixed it throughly enough because there were pieces of pasta and seasoning that were still dry and crunch.  I think/hope I’ll be able to do better when I make the pad thai meal from this manufacturer.

A full stomach and the lack of a full night’s sleep from the night before hit us and we both sacked out in the tent.  We hoped that the weather report of neither rain nor wind would hold true.  We were getting up early tomorrow to see Mt. Rushmore and arrive at the hot springs of Thermopolis, WY.

All in all, our time in the Badlands have been an enjoyable and incredible experience.  Almost every turn around a corner brought into view an amazing panorama.  The extreme winds and rains of South Dakota were a memorable experience and provided a stress test of our tent.  Our multiple interactions with prairie dogs in “the wild” were the closest we’ve been to them.  It was nice spending Shabbat with my Dad amongst the beautiful landscapes.  For our first tourist destination, the Badlands have set the bar very high for our future travels.  They say the Badlands may be completely eroded in another 500,000 years, so if you have a chance, we recommend you check it out before it’s too late.