Badlands National Park Day 2

Interior, South Dakota

We packed our breakfast and walked outside and we were stuck again by a sense of wow and wonder.  It was like seeing the Badlands for the first time.

The Sioux Lakota Native Americans called this place Mako Sika or bad land.  We are actually traveling through an ancient seabed, rich with fossils.

 

 

 

We saw large prairie dog colonies, noisy with noisy with gossip and warnings.  The prairie dogs have a sophisticated system of communication to let their families know about nearby predators including the size of the predator, the location, and the level of threat.  They are also very social.  We saw a coyote running across the road away from the prairie dogs.  We saw lots of bighorn sheep.  We also saw pronghorn antelope but they were too far away for good pictures.

We traveled to Sage Creek Road because that is where the bison or buffalo roam.  We were excited to see our first buffalo.

And then many more!  We were unprepared for how many we would see and how close they would come.

We went to check out Sage Creek Campground.  It is a primitive, remote location where it was rumored that the bison often wander through the campsites. We could not take the RV there so we left it at Cedar Pass and packed up our dinner and breakfast so that we could spend the night in the Jeep in the wilderness.  There was an active prairie dog colony there and the first campsite Tim chose actually had a prairie dog hole beneath the picnic table with a little prairie dog head sticking out.  He selected a new site.  We had fun watching them frolic about all afternoon.  It was quite entertaining!  Some families had tiny new pups.  The bison were grazing on the hillside across the way and as the day drew to a close they traversed up and over the knoll.

We grilled our hot dogs and cooked our beans and watched the sunset.  Tim took a quick bike ride and saw a marmot.  He had never seen a marmot before.  It was about three feet long and it was running through the grass.  It was way bigger than a raccoon.  Then when he came back there was a bison grazing among the tents.   They are truly magnificent shaggy, homely, intimidating beasts…especially when they look you in the eye!

Sunset was pretty.

We are so grateful that we got to stay in this amazing place.