We Visited All 63 U.S. National Parks

When Visited:           July, 1987 and July, 2007

Date Established:     November 10, 1978  (January 25, 1939 as a National Monument)

Park Ranking:            50 out of 63

Highlight:                  Desert landscape and beautiful sunsets

Why not to go:         Sand, sun and heat

I need to start by saying any national park in my Top 50 is special and worth visiting.  You could probably say that about the Top 55 – below that I am not sure. 

As I write about Badlands National Park, I am taking to a Jason Aldean song:

“Take a ride across the Badlands

Feel that Freedom on your face

Breathe in all that open space

You’ll understand why God made

You might even want to plant your stakes

In those flyover states

Jason Aldean – Flyover States

Badlands National Park is not of this earth – at least you wouldn’t think so…  Despite having been there twice, this is one of the parks I feel that I know the least.  It is on the list to visit again in the future.  This is one of the parks with limited family pictures to share (the photo below is the only one that remains).

Badlands National Park is in South Dakota – a little over an hour from Rapid City.  A trip there can be combined with many adventures near Rapid City such as Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Custer State Park, Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, Mt. Rushmore National Monument and the Mammoth Site.  There is more than enough to make it a destination for a week in the summer time.  Unfortunately, on our family trip in 2007 across country we tried to do most of it in 2 days – which was a mistake.

Bad film image of the Badlands — so go see it yourself!

We didn’t allow enough time to explore Badlands National Park.  In fact, one of the favorite family memories from the 7-week trip was my trying to make it to the Pinnacles Overlook for sunset.  We left Rapid City at 7:30 pm which would have been perfect – had I not forgotten we needed to cross time zones – so technically we left at 8:30. so we obviously didn’t allow enough time to make sunset.  Let’s say the posted speed limit was optional… 

All three sons encouraged me loudly to “step on it” or drive faster to not miss it.  We laugh about that today – and in fact that might be their only memory of the park.  We did make it to the Pinnacles Overlook shortly after the sun set and could see the colorful hues surround the valleys and hills.  We observed a dozen big horn sheep on the hills and appreciated the vastness of the area and the purples. 

I recorded this in my diary that day, “the mountains are bigger and more colorful with reds, yellows and greens than I remember from 20 years ago.  Standing on the rim of the Badlands at night with a 20-mile per hour HOT breeze in your face gives you a glimpse of nature’s beauty and power.”

My wife captured our visit super well in her diary. 

“We arrived as the sun was setting, no visitor center, no stamp, no souvenir pin, but we did have a lovely drive with several spectacular overviews of that otherworldly land of multi-colored rock peaks.  The clefts looked so unnatural and unwelcoming.  The way the prairie falls off into those inhospitable canyons, it’s no wonder the natives named this land, the Badlands.” — Missy

My first experience with the Badlands was in 1987 on our Colorado and Wyoming trip with my aunts, uncles and cousins.  Back then the rules were lax and several of us sat in the back of an open pickup truck on a drive through the Badlands National Park Loop Road – we pulled off at many stops but the diversity of the landscape from my Pennsylvania home was memorable.  It doesn’t hurt to have an open view from the back of the truck, with the wind blowing through your hair – it put another meaning in the bad part of Badlands.  Of course today, don’t do that – unless you can get a convertible or jeep and take your time to pull off the road and soak in the scenes and search for wildlife.

We didn’t have time to hike in the park and today I might drive the Badlands Loop Road at night to experience the changing landscape and search for wildlife.  I have ample reason to go back and further explore – more time to view the wildlife, experience the sun rise and set, drive the loop roads (another family laugh) and hike on trails called Door, Window, Notch and Castle.

Oh the family laugh – I am accused of never missing a loop road that can be driven – that of course is not true – but I do appreciate that someone has created scenic roads through a park to assist with bringing the scenery to life.

“Take a Ride across the Badlands and feel that Freedom on your Face.”