Yesterday afternoon I arrived at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It's a lot like some areas in southern Utah but with more grass. The fossil dig going on and the visitor center were great. I nerded out pretty hard if I say so myself. But I was there to see some Bison in their ancestral home and after seeing some posters to please report any sightings of the swift fox I set out to find them too. Prairie dogs, bighorns, and finally Bison! Hundreds of them and they were just like cows except more tame...
They were so thick in the primitive and free camping area that I decided to take advantage of the fact that this national park lets you explore and camp anywhere in the wilderness portion as long as you are atleast a half mile from the road and out of sight. So very late in the day after giving some impromptu educational tours about the wildlife too some city dwellers (people under appreciate how awesome pronghorn are and I couldn't let them refer to them as deer, also I needed to explain why some bison were by there lonesome). I Loaded up the pack and headed out. Not long after i headed out i spotted a very fast and very small canid running away as I made my way towards a grove of trees. It was a Swift fox score! I found the perfect campsite and quickly set up my tent so I could do a little bit of exploring before dark. In my short exploration I found two deer, a coyote, lots of nightjars, bats, as well as where I wanted to go in the morning.
I ended up sleeping outside of my tent and looking at the most amazing display of stars and the milky way that I have seen in a long long time all the while listening to the yips and howls of the coyotes. A little buck also came within feet of my tent. Sleeping outside the tent had consequences though and for the first time in the trip I got cold! I almost never get cold sleeping but the dew was very thick making my bag wet and the temperature dipped to about 45 degrees overnight. I wasn't too cold but I had to curl up in that bag just to get comfortable.
I officially woke up at about 6 and set out to do some exploring. I saw some monster white tail bucks and dreaded the fact that I didn't have a nice camera. I got within about 80 yards but that is still to far for the go pro. I saw 4 coyotes and another swift fox this time just trotting about 60 yards in front of me. The white tail, coyotes, and pronghorn on the park were just as wild as anywhere else.... The bison and sheep were like pets. After it started to warm up I headed back to the tent to load up and get on my way. After making my way back to the car i knew I had to head to rapid city. (I had an air filter ordered to meet me there) and had to see mount Rushmore. Leaving the park I notified the rangers and they seemed genuinely interested in my sightings and had multiple questions for me. It felt good :)
Mount Rushmore was awesome. But I didn't stay long I needed to get more exercise today and the presidential trail wasn't going to do it... Oh and by the way I have had the damnedest time finding stickers for my cargo carrier! Can you believe not one bumper sticker at mount Rushmore and the same with niagara! Wtf? I ended up jogging the presidential trail just because I was sick of listening to all the people bitch about the stairs... I just wanted to show them, see this isn't so bad I'm JOGGING it! Oh I did stop to look at a random mountain goat just hanging out getting high on all the patriotism. Then I set out not knowing exactly where i wanted to go, when google maps showed a peak and I was like hmmmm... So I googled it and it was the highest peak east of the Rockies.... I thought well I gotta hike that bastard then. So I did. 8 miles and two-three hours later I was done. I'm so glad I did it. I have certainly done tougher longer hikes but The watch tower was awesome. Coolest watch tower in the world end of story. It was cooler than most castles in pretty sure. I Just had my typical pasta sides and tuna dinner and off to bed in free national forest camping. Love it!
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They were so thick in the primitive and free camping area that I decided to take advantage of the fact that this national park lets you explore and camp anywhere in the wilderness portion as long as you are atleast a half mile from the road and out of sight. So very late in the day after giving some impromptu educational tours about the wildlife too some city dwellers (people under appreciate how awesome pronghorn are and I couldn't let them refer to them as deer, also I needed to explain why some bison were by there lonesome). I Loaded up the pack and headed out. Not long after i headed out i spotted a very fast and very small canid running away as I made my way towards a grove of trees. It was a Swift fox score! I found the perfect campsite and quickly set up my tent so I could do a little bit of exploring before dark. In my short exploration I found two deer, a coyote, lots of nightjars, bats, as well as where I wanted to go in the morning.
I ended up sleeping outside of my tent and looking at the most amazing display of stars and the milky way that I have seen in a long long time all the while listening to the yips and howls of the coyotes. A little buck also came within feet of my tent. Sleeping outside the tent had consequences though and for the first time in the trip I got cold! I almost never get cold sleeping but the dew was very thick making my bag wet and the temperature dipped to about 45 degrees overnight. I wasn't too cold but I had to curl up in that bag just to get comfortable.
I officially woke up at about 6 and set out to do some exploring. I saw some monster white tail bucks and dreaded the fact that I didn't have a nice camera. I got within about 80 yards but that is still to far for the go pro. I saw 4 coyotes and another swift fox this time just trotting about 60 yards in front of me. The white tail, coyotes, and pronghorn on the park were just as wild as anywhere else.... The bison and sheep were like pets. After it started to warm up I headed back to the tent to load up and get on my way. After making my way back to the car i knew I had to head to rapid city. (I had an air filter ordered to meet me there) and had to see mount Rushmore. Leaving the park I notified the rangers and they seemed genuinely interested in my sightings and had multiple questions for me. It felt good :)
Mount Rushmore was awesome. But I didn't stay long I needed to get more exercise today and the presidential trail wasn't going to do it... Oh and by the way I have had the damnedest time finding stickers for my cargo carrier! Can you believe not one bumper sticker at mount Rushmore and the same with niagara! Wtf? I ended up jogging the presidential trail just because I was sick of listening to all the people bitch about the stairs... I just wanted to show them, see this isn't so bad I'm JOGGING it! Oh I did stop to look at a random mountain goat just hanging out getting high on all the patriotism. Then I set out not knowing exactly where i wanted to go, when google maps showed a peak and I was like hmmmm... So I googled it and it was the highest peak east of the Rockies.... I thought well I gotta hike that bastard then. So I did. 8 miles and two-three hours later I was done. I'm so glad I did it. I have certainly done tougher longer hikes but The watch tower was awesome. Coolest watch tower in the world end of story. It was cooler than most castles in pretty sure. I Just had my typical pasta sides and tuna dinner and off to bed in free national forest camping. Love it!
Sent from my iPhone
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