Moving out early from Deadwood, and once again taking advantage of the cheap buffet at the casino, I continue to head east in earnest. First stop is in Wall SD to the famous Wall Drug Store. Wall Drug is on the itinerary of BSA Troop 782, Livonia MI as they head to Philmont Scout Ranch in Arizona in the summer. I remembered seeing lots of Wall Drug bumper stickers on the scout boxes of the older scouts.
I leave the RV at Wall Drug and take the Durango down the road about 20 miles to the east entrance of Badlands National Park. By my most recent tally, this is my 11th National Park on this trip and my 33rd national property (monument, memorial, historic, trail, parkway, etc.). I think I have more than gotten my money’s worth from my annual pass.
The Badlands are interesting in that you can be very close by and hardly see them. Yet there they are with deep gorges and sharp cliffs that drop off. The strata on cliff side is very interesting to view. I did take a short nature hike where the most interesting site is all of the ‘Beware of Rattlesnake’ signs.
I could see where an outlaw could make himself scarce in this territory.
After I work my way back to Wall Drug, I hook back to the RV and head east into a wicked headwind. About halfway across SD, I turn north towards the capital city of Pierre where I refuel, eat dinner, resupply and camp out overnight at Camp Wally. 