from the other side

I thought we might be driving a bit this morning before hiking; Denise told me yesterday that we might visit a park on the edge of the Black Hills today. I thought we should stay near and in Badlands. I told her that last night and she listened to me. I think that's a good thing.

We started our wanders this morning with a drive to Scenic, South Dakota. (I still think the town names here sound like descriptions instead of names. What do you think?) It looked like there were a couple of houses where people live, and there was a small post office too. Most of it was a ghost town, with lots of abandoned buildings. Denise played with her camera there for a while, and then we headed back to Interior and drove back into Badlands National Park.

Yesterday we walked part of the Castle Trail starting in the east. Today we again bounced down part of the trail, this time starting at the western end. The two ends of the trail are very different. The eastern side goes through badlands formations while the western side has more grasslands. As we walked more formations started to appear. The two ends of the trail are very different; I liked both of them!

After our rather hot walk we continued along the loop road, stopping when the mood hit to walk and to play with the camera.

This afternoon the car thermometer said that it was 104 degrees (Fahrenheit). That's really really hot! Luckily it was quite windy. I think that helped us feel a bit cooler than we would have felt without the wind. The wind also managed to blow the haze from the forest fires away for the day. I hope that the strong winds we have right now are a sign that tomorrow will allow blue skies to show again.

I was surprised when we turned off at one of the small hotels in Interior before we got back to the Circle View Ranch this afternoon. Denise's friends Barb & Harvey just arrived here today and Denise saw Barb standing there. So we stopped by to say hello. We're all going to be wandering in the park together tomorrow. I think it will be fun to share this beautiful place with our friends.

--- Rover