Badlands National Park

Players:  Jenny, Jake & Jackson
Date of Visit:  June 2007
Website:  www.nps.gov/badl
Location:  South Dakota
Entrance Fee:  $15 per car
Type of Trip:  Daytrip as part of Western US Road Trip
Park Passport Stamps Available:  1
Trip Report:  I have actually been to the Badlands three times -- once as a kid, once on my way out to work in Yellowstone, and once in 2007 on the way back from our Western US trip.  In 2007, we basically just took a scenic drive through the park; on the other visits, however, I was able to hike around a little bit.

Badlands National Park combines strange landscape formations with a large prairie ecosystem, providing an interesting look at both geology and nature. There are also fossils to be found here (hmmm, will have to remember that the next time I take Jackson out west). In certain places, you can even climb up on some of the weird rock formations -- as a kid, I found this highly entertaining!

The easiest way to visit the Badlands is to drive the main park road, which takes about 60-90 minutes, depending on traffic.  It's just a quick drive off of I-90 to get to the park, so even if you don't have a lot of time, you can still at least get a taste of what this park has to offer. Mount Rushmore is only 100 miles west of the Badlands, so you could easily combine the two into a day trip.  However, with more time, you could take in a ranger program, or do some hiking around on the rock formations.  The Notch Trail, in particular, can give a good glimpse of the canyon and rock formations in a relatively short period of time.

Badlands Scenery

As with all places in the prairie, the Badlands can be very hot in summer and cold and snowy in the winter -- plan accordingly!  There is also only one place in the park for lodging and dining -- the Cedar Pass Lodge.  There are two campgrounds in the park, one developed and one primitive.  I have not camped in the Badlands, however.

One of the other fun things to do -- which can also be done from your vehicle -- is watching wildlife.  The Badlands are home to coyotes, bison, bighorn sheep, bobcats, prairie dogs, foxes and much more.

American Bison, symbol of the American West

All in all, this is a great park in which to spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days.  I look forward to visiting again and discovering some of the additional activities in the park.


Interesting sidenote:  the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, dedicated to teaching about the Cold War, is located just a few miles from Badlands National Park.  You can take a tour of the missile launch center and everything -- hard to believe I missed this the last time I was at Badlands.  FMI:  www.nps.gov/mimi

Parks Visited as a Child, Part 2

Continuing in this post, I'm going to outline the National Park Service Units I have only visited as a child with my family.  I hope to re-visit most of these sites some day as my memories of many of them are quite hazy.

Glacier National Park
Players:  Jenny, Steve, Carole & Jenny's sisters
Date of visit:  Summer 1994?
Website:  www.nps.gov/glac
Location:  Montana
Entrance Fee:  $25 per car
Type of Trip:  Daytrip as part of Western US Epic Road Trip
Park Passport Stamps Available:  9
Review:  One of the "crown jewels" of the National Park system, Glacier National Park has attracted lots of attention in recent years because of the rapid shrinking of its namesake glaciers.  The thing I remember most about Glacier was driving over Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50 mile road that is a feat of engineering through some of the most stunning alpine passes to be found on the American continent.  I distinctly remember sitting in the backseat of the car on the passenger side and being able to look out my window straight down the side of the mountain....I didn't like that so much!  I'm glad my dad is a good driver :)  But I do remember the scenery on the drive.  And I think we stopped at a chalet somewhere in the park, and it was snowing lightly -- a novel thing for the middle of summer for an Iowa girl.  Glacier is on my list of parks to go back and hike ASAP.
 
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Players:  Jenny, Jenny's cousin & Jenny's grandma
Date of Visit:  Summer 1996?
Website:  www.nps.gov/grsa
Location:  Colorado
Entrance Fee:  $3 per adult
Type of Trip:  Daytrip while passing through Colorado on way to New Mexico
Park Passport Stamps Available: 1
Review:  Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve has the tallest sand dunes in North America.  It is truly a unique experience to climb up sand dunes and slide down them right here in the United States.  We stopped at this park on a trip to the Southwest with my grandma.  My cousin and I had a great time here.  It was really hot and I remember how hot the sand was on my feet.  And it is much harder to climb up a sand dune than it appears!  I look forward to taking Jackson here someday.