The Badlands. Wow, seriously. Finally got to my first National Park, and this was a great way to kick off that part of my trip. The Badlands were absolutely amazing. I have never seen something like this in person in my entire life. The layers of geology that make up these formations are fantastic. And because of the way they were formed and continue to be altered, rapid erosion from wind and water, they will never be the same should I come back. I hit 7 hiking trails while I was there and was amazed at the vast terrain in such an overall small vicinity. It's crazy how you can be flying down I-90 with nothing but farmland to look at, and 5 minutes off the exit you have fierce crags, towers, spires, flood plains, grasslands, and wide open prarie.

Up to this point my trip had been mostly driving and skydiving, while I love skydiving, this was a very welcomed change. It completed validated my desire to go on this trip, things like this just HAVE to been seen with your own eyes.

Of the trails I hiked I got a taste of most of the terrain, but my favorite trail was The Door. Once you get to the edge of the manmade trail it's an option to venture out into the Badlands and wander around. I loved every minute of this. Getting up, down, and around the formations let me really experience them. At one point I saw a way to get down into a flood plain, so I hopped down the side of the wall and stood at the bottom. Once down I saw an opening in the ridge and couldn't help but wander back to find out what was behind it, after about a half mile I found some rocks pointing an arrow back to the beaten path, but around that bend was even more canyons of rock formations. The colors are wonderful, and as the sun changes in the sky, the rock changes complection.

Later in the day I watched the sun set on the Badlands, once again changing the view. In the morning I did a 5 mile loop that took me up a steep incline to the top of one of the formations, then off into the open prarie. Luckily, I found no rattlesnakes, but a few deer along the way. As I drove out after my hike it just made me excited to press on to all the other national parks to see what they have in store.

After leaving the Badlands, I stopped at Wall Drug, in Wall, SD. You have to go there if you ever get out this way. Jackalopes.

A short drive took me to Mt. Rushmore in the Black Hills, which once again amazed me at the quick change in terrain. Mountainous area, covered in dark forest. South Dakota is crazy, I would never want to live here I don't think, but it's definitely a great place to visit for the outdoors. The monument itself was pretty cool, I can't imagine blasting away with dynamite to create it back in the 1940's, but sure. It was nice to visit, and I HAD to take a picture with a mini monument of Delaware! I was born in the 1st state and thought it would be funny!

After that, I shot down to see the progress on the Crazy Horse monument. Honestly, this was much more impressive and interesting than Rushmore and it's not even have finished. The history behind this monument and the man would initiated it's creation in conjunction with the Lakota Indians is just unreal. If you don't know the history, I recommend you check it out.

I'm camped out for the night, it's starting to rain! Lovin' the life on the road!

Devil's Tower and on to Yellowstone in the morning!