It turned out to be a gorgeous, huge lake with miles of beautiful beach. It is in the South Dakota State Park system and has three or four nice campgrounds with electric hookups. It was a hot weekend (90s), and there were a number of people boating and enjoying the lake, but it was so large it didn't seem crowded at all. We walked the bike path a ways, and definitely made a note to come back when we head west.
We left our KOA Tuesday morning and started toward our next stop in Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug and the gateway to the Badlands. Along the road, we saw a Class A motorhome pulled over with lots of flashing lights. As we got closer, we saw that their "toad", the small SUV they pull behind for side trips, was on fire! Fortunately, they had been able to unhook it and pull away from it, but WOW - that would be scary.
Got settled in our campground in Wall, and headed to the Badlands for a look.
It is an unbelievable place, hard to explain, hard to capture in photos. The loop road winds for 22 miles through landscape that seems otherworldly. In the bottom photo, you can see the Black Hills in the distance (they are 60+ miles away).
I always wonder, when I look at the Badlands, what the heck the first settlers in their wagons thought when they got here. How did they even consider continuing on?
Ron had never seen the Badlands - he was amazed!
The colors were beautiful - yellows, reds and subtle greens and oranges. Formations that are always changing, spires and mounds and canyons.
Despite the barren looking conditions, there is a lot of wildlife. We saw birds nesting on the cliffs, baby bunnies chasing each other from shade patch to shade patch, and this mountain goat browsing along side the road.
Fortunately, we didn't see any reptiles!
Of course, I would love to post all of my pictures, but you know what they say about boring travel photos - but I will share just one more.
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