Today we spent the morning in Badlands National Park. It is an awesome place. Very arid and barren, but beautiful. The rock formations were formed from the erosion of sediments deposited from many events including the erosion of the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains and also from an ancient volcanic eruption. The deposition stage is over and the rock formations are now being eroded at a rate of 1 inch per year (I think) and it is predicted that the Badlands will be completely eroded away within 500,000 years so make sure you put this place on your "must see soon" list. We got up early and were able to do our biking and hiking before it got too hot and before all the other tourists descended upon the place. It's the best way to get the true feeling of the desolation and openness of the park.
The Missouri River July 27th
Where we crossed the Missouri River the water is a clear green-blue. It sits in a river valley surrounded by undeveloped hills and was an impressive sight. The terrain had begun to change from the rolling farmlands of eastern South Dakota and when we completed our climb (6% grade) up the western side of the river valley we trully felt the change. The farmlands turned to ranches and the herds of dairy cows changed to herds of cattle. It was quite a hilly ride for a while, but we got plenty of practice gearing down and settling into that deep breathing, slow peddling, positive self-talking stage of bike riding. Today was the day we crossed the 1500 mile point of our trip and also set another high daily mileage total... 89 miles!
July 28th - White River to Interior
Prairie Dogs chirp! And they sure look like that Wack A Mole game at Funland when they pop their heads out of the ground and disappear again just as quick. We saw them on our way to Interior on the open high plains. There is honestly nothing between White River and Interior. We saw just a few isolated houses, some herds of cattle, numerous prarie dog colonies, but nothing much else. We left White River(population 52) and came to a small grocery store serving an equally small Indian Reservation city after cycling 41 miles. Once we left that area it was 28 more miles before reaching Interior (population 72) with equally as much of nothing in between. As we crested the top of our last hill the Badlands scenery stretched out before our eyes. The change was stunning. Tomorrow we leave for Rapid City and we will have another day of cycling through "the middle of nowhere". That is not meant in a negative way, it is really amazing to see this country of ours. Where else can you get the sense of the vastness that still exists?
About Me
- Mary and Dave
- We are at it again. We cycled 1200 miles down the coast of Oregon, into California, over the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco. Then it was a ferry across the bay to Vallejo and a lovely side trip up the Napa Valley to Callestoga. That was the end of the bike portion of our trip.
