6/10/07 – Badlands N.P., SD to Black Hills N.F., SD

I awoke from our second night at the Badlands campsite as the sun was rising, although the sunlight certainly wasn’t the reason why. No, I had in fact been elbowed directly in the face by Deyle, who responded with a “Jesus Christ, sorry” and immediately fell back asleep. I was about as confused as I have ever been, groggily staring into the rising sun with a sore face. This trip is far from over, Deyle.

The elbow to the face was clearly a sign that it was time to leave the Badlands, so we packed up the car and headed for Wall Drug. Ever since we returned to I-90 on the eastern half of South Dakota, we saw signs every five miles or so for Wall Drug. These signs advertised everything from 5 cent coffee to T-Rex. We had no idea what Wall Drug actually was, only that it was a necessary stop for cross country travelers that was bound to not suck more than the Corn Palace. Thankfully, the visit did not disappoint. Wall Drug offered us six foot tall bunnies, a shooting gallery, a full-scale T-Rex that roared every 12 minutes, a fudge shop, real-live locals, and an endless list of additional worthless yet surprisingly entertaining gags. Wall Drug put an entirely new and positive spin on our day – we legitimately wished that we had more than an hour and a half to spend there. However, we had reservations for a Wild Cave tour at Wind Cave N.P., which could not be missed.

We added an extra day to the South Dakota portion of our trip when we discovered the four-hour strenuous cave tour offered by Wind Cave. The 124-mile network of caves is one of the most complex in the world, and we were ready to embark on a tour that required us to wear long clothing, knee pads, and a helmet with a light on it. Ahead of time, the park informed us that we would get very dirty and would need to fit through cavities a mere 10 inches wide. Even with all of the hype preceding it, the Wild Cave tour was one of the best parts of the trip. Thanks to our marvelous tour guide Erin, we climbed, shimmied, and squeezed our way through the caves for four hours. The inside of the cave didn’t feature stalactites, but instead earthy red rock that was continuously decorated with “popcorn,” “bunny tails,” and calcite formations called boxwork. One of my favorite parts of the tour was when every member of the tour turned off their light, leaving us in complete darkness and reminding us of how the place looked for thousands of years before humans first entered by candlelight in the late 19^th century. The tour was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and has put Erin in the early running for MVP of the trip.

After filling out a backcountry permit for Wind Cave, we hopped in the car and headed for Mt. Rushmore. The journey to Mt. Rushmore took us through the Black Hills, a beautiful area featuring pine forests and huge granite rocks. After seeing the area in person, it wasn’t difficult to understand why American Indians viewed this as a sacred land. With this in mind, we became increasingly reluctant to pay the impending $8 parking fee at the top of the mountain. After all, we only needed a quick peek at the faces, right? As the entrance to the visitor center neared, we quickly formulated a plan for capturing bootleg images of the Mt. Rushmore presidents. At this time, we had a serious discussion and agreed that Washington was the best one and we really only needed a picture of him anyway. Done and done. Take that, Teddy Roosevelt.

As we headed back to Wind Cave, we realized that we may have needed to reevaluate our game plan for the night. Considering ourselves as expert campers at this point, we figured we could grab dinner on the way back to the park and set up camp in near darkness again, only this time in the backcountry. We soon realized that this was fairly idiotic, so we called an audible and decided to find a free backcountry camping area near Mt. Rushmore. After grabbing some milkshakes, we packed our bags and prepared for our first non-campsite camping experience. We left the car at the trailhead and marched into the woods in search of a campsite. With the sun practically gone at this point, we discovered an awesome campsite. A large granite outcrop created a cave that was perfectly tent-sized. After determining with about 60% confidence that this wasn’t a bear cave, we set up our tent and passed out. I’m not gonna lie, we are feeling totally badass at this point. Except when we hear things at night.

-Jonah