Welcome to The Badlands!!!

After we had seen Deawood, Sturgis, The Battle of Big Horn and Mount Rushmore all in one day, last up was the Badlands! A little quick summary of the Badlands for ya: Containing the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 34-25 million years old, the evolutionary stories of mammals such as the horse and rhino arise from 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires. Bison, bighorn sheep and endangered black-footed ferrets roam one of the largest, protected mixed-grass prairies in the United States and that was taken from the U.S. National Park Service website so ya have to believe me.

We hadn't done too much research on the Badlands before we got there, but after we drove through this crazy baby Grand Canyon and prairie, we were glad we did. We saw tons of lil prairie dogs and bison, but unfortunately didn't see any of the endangered ferrets. It was crazy to be driving the Yella through all of this and the roads were real narrow so it felt like we were going to just fall in. We enjoyed the vastness and beauty of the rock formations. Strata type layers and colors in the rock formations like gold, burgundy and gray were impressive. I said to Ryan that they reminded me of the sand art I used to play with as a kid.

All in all, the Badlands is a must-see for anyone before they die. It was definitely more impressive than Mount Rushmore by far and just a little bit tinier in grandeur than the Grand Canyon. I am really glad that Ryan and I were able to experience this on our trip. I mean, come on...when's the next time we'll get back to South Dakota! Well, hopefully when we get those Triumph motorcycles, we will!
FYI...these pictures don't do The Badlands justice!