Day 2 — Sioux Falls, SD to Badlands National Park, SD

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017

Pine & Fur
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

Not gonna lie, we felt a bit discouraged about things after waking up far less than refreshed on the first night. Despite that, we were still excited to see what our second day had in store for us. Although we had a lot of driving ahead of us, the weather was much nicer which made all the driving seem like a much less daunting task.

Sunflower fields!

After about five hours on the road we arrived to our first actual destination: Badlands National Park. Once in the park, we still had about a 40 minute drive down to our campground. In reality, it was probably only like 15–20 miles through the park, but 10 of those miles were on a windy, bumpy gravel road.

The campground was very primitive — there were some picnic tables randomly dispersed across a large open field, and two pit toilets at opposite ends. We chose a spot, set up camp, and quickly learned that bringing an awning with a room attachment was a great decision. It was so nice to just sit inside and relax — it was probably the first time the dogs really relaxed as well.

Shortly after we set up camp, we noticed that people were congregating to one area of the campground — there was a herd of bison wandering through our camp, grazing on any of the grass and hay they could find! After watching the bison and taking photos, we went on a short hike with the dogs and just relaxed for a bit. After it had gotten dark we decided to get ready for bed, but once we stepped out of the awning room we were awestruck — we had never seen so many stars at once. It was beautiful!

The combination of the awesome campground, the bison, and the night sky made us feel much better about how things were going, it was an awesome day…until bedtime (again!). Just as we were heading back to our tent for bed, a truck pulling a huge trailer showed up and parked right by our vehicle. What came out of that trailer? Horses! And how do the people see what they’re doing while getting their horses situated? Three flood lights!

Considering the circumstances, our new neighbors didn’t take too long to get settled in, but then more fun began. We could hear coyotes howling from all directions, as if we were surrounded. Not only were they loud, but it was a very eerie feeling to feel surrounded by wild animals — having no idea how close they were. At least our tent helps us feel more secure from animals that don’t typically do much climbing.

Despite another rough night of sleep it was truly an awesome day!

Pine & Fur 🌲🐶


Miles Traveled

347 today / 699 total

States Visited

South Dakota

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Pine & Fur

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