After leaving Sioux Falls we spent a night in mid SD on the Missouri River before heading for the Badlands. The area is full of beautiful rock formations and not much else! We spent a night at the NP campground and enjoyed the sun falling on the rocks at sunset and sunrise. A short stop at Wall Drug again (we visited here in 2001) and we were on our way to Rapid City.
If there has been a surprise on this trip it has been the Black Hills area of southwestern SD. We spent four days at the Hart Ranch 10 miles south of Rapid and from there did a lot of local sightseeing including Mt Rushmore and a fascinating museum dedicated to John Gutzon Borglum, a very accomplished American artist who dedicated the last decade of his life creating Mt Rushmore.
70 miles south of Rapid is Mammoth Hot Springs, where an ancient sink hole full of American and Wooly Mammoths and other animal remains were discovered in 1984 and a very deliberate dig was started to slowly unearth the discovery. We spent several hours there and found it fascinating.
On our way back to Hart Ranch from Mammoth Hot Springs we drove north through Wind Caves National Park and Custer State Park. These are just a few of the wildlife we saw up close and personal on the drive. Our favorite was probably the Prairie Dog in the foreground of the following picture.
After leaving Hart Ranch we drove over to Deadwood where we met Sue's brother Gerry and his wife Gary who were on their way back to Walla Walla from Illinois. We spent two more days touring Deadwood and driving down to Hill City to visit a really great National Wood Carvers Museum. Deadwood is charged with using their gambling revenues to restore the historic town to its 1800's origins.
