The Badlands and Beyond

We get an early start and head to the Badlands for breakfast at the Cedar Lodge before attempting the Notch Trail.

There was a passing thunderstorm the night before so the path is a bit muddy starting out

The trail takes an upward turn using a 60 rung ladder made out of pressure treated logs fastened to the hill. 

Once you get past the ladder the view is great!

Gee that ladder doesn't look so big anymore!

Again, sometimes it feels like your walking on the Moon

The view at the end of the trail.   (The large boulder below is another hike)

Best to follow the signs!  

Going back down is always harder! 

We also did a trail I referred to as the Stair Master Trail - actually it goes up to the top of the piece of Rock that fell out of the Notch

We've had fun in the Badlands but we decide to see what else is in the area.  We find an old Minute Man Missile site and get a tour

Back in the 90's the crew had fun painting the door to the control capsule.  The bombs if released would reach Russia in 30 minutes 

The gentleman who gave the tour was actually one of the crew in this capsule - he was in it when Kennedy was Assassinated and was under lock down for a couple of hours in high alert.

Oh No!  Jack caught up with us! 

Hard to believe there were hundreds of these located in the Mid-West and West.  There were nearly a dozen within a 50 mile radius of the Badlands - gives a whole new meaning to Badlands.

Next Stop - 1880 Town - back in the early 70's some people created this Village/Museum - they brought in several historic buildings from across the State.  From the distance it looks like it will be lame but once you get inside it is really quite interesting.  Some of the buildings have been restored completely other's partially and a few are left in states of disrepair.  The Main building - an old Round Barn houses a museum and gift shop and one of the outside buildings houses another museum with a large collection of paraphernalia. 

We can't seem to lose Jack!

You can rent period costumes for $5 

Some young guys were making a film

They pretty much have it all  - church, stable, livery, post office, apothecary, doctor's office, newspaper, feed store, train and depot, bank and more 

You can go into the saloon and have a sarsaparilla 

Man walking his Dinosaur statue up the road.

One last stop at the Petrified Wood Museum - this one is a bit lame but the shop has some cool rocks for sale.

Well it's getting late and it's a 2 hour drive home - tomorrow we will hopefully hike out the arm of the Crazy Horse Memorial!

Till Later,

Meanwhile we keep on Trek'n

Melissa and Gary