Badlands National Park: Saddle Pass and Medicine Root Loop

 After our hike yesterday evening, we went into the town of Wall to get gas, make dinner in a city park, and get ice cream at Wall Drug. This morning we awoke in the campground and spent some time observing the wildlife living nearby, including the prairie dogs,

and a killdeer mom with four chicks.

After eating breakfast and packing up camp, we headed east again to the Saddle Pass Trailhead where we would start our hike of the Saddle Pass Trail and Medicine Root Loop. Along the way to the trailhead we stopped at the impressive Toadstool Rock.

We also observed some wildlife on the way, including pronghorn

and bison.

Out hike started by crossing a muddy drainage on a bridge.

After a short hike in a drainage,

the trail climbs the steep and slippery badland formations to the top of the Badlands Wall.

Once at the top the terrain flattens out significantly. We opted to hike the loop in a clockwise direction, starting out on the Medicine Root Trail headed east.

The Medicine Root section of the hike was the least interesting. Still, there were wildflowers to be seen along the way, including plenty of wild rose.

We followed cairns

and a generally well-defined footpath.

As we approached the eastern junction with the Castle Trail, the dramatic formations that the park is known for started to come into view.

At the junction, we followed the Castle Trail west and back towards the Saddle Pass Trail. This section of trail offered the best scenery of the hike.

The final section of the hike, the descent down the Saddle Pass Trail, was the trickiest part. 

We took our time and soon enough we were back at the trailhead for the long drive home.

Badlands National Park: Door, Window and Notch Trails

We arrived at the trailhead for this hike in the late afternoon. Yes, it was the hottest part of the day, but the high temperature was only forecast to be about 69 degrees F. The first of the three short trails here we set off on was the Door Trail. The Door Trail starts out on a flat, easy boardwalk.

After a short distance on the boardwalk, hikers have the option to continue on a more rugged, naturally surfaced trail. We set off to explore this more rugged area.

The end of the trail is signed and offers nice views of the surrounding landscape.

After enjoying the view here for a bit we retraced our steps back to the parking lot and then made our way to the very short Window Trail.

The entire Window Trail is a boardwalk. 

It leads to a nice overlook of an eroded canyon system.

After a short time enjoying the view from the Window, it was time to hike the most anticipated of the trails in the area, the infamous Notch Trail.

The Notch Trail starts by following the bottom of a drainage.

After hiking in the drainage for a short time we ran into a pair of bighorn sheep ewes.

After observing the sheep for a bit we found ourselves at the bottom of the famous Notch ladder. We waited a bit for our turn to climb up and then made our way up pretty quickly.

The other side of the ladder is where the scenery got a bit more dramatic.

The trial ends at its namesake Notch, a break in the rocks that offers views of the grasslands and scattered badland formations below. We enjoyed the view at the Notch for a bit,

then made our way back towards the ladder.

We had to wait a bit for our turn to descend the ladder but eventually made our way down. Going down was a little trickier than the climb up, but not too bad. 

Soon we were back at the parking lot and ready to finish up our tour for the day. 

Badlands National Park: Loop Road

Yesterday evening after work, Noelle, Sierra and I packed up the car and headed north. After a stop at Runza in Alliance, we headed into South Dakota, driving through a few rain showers and spotting a few rainbows along the way. The sun set as we approached the south unit of Badlands National Park and we arrived at the Sage Creek Campground around 9:30 to set up camp.

This morning, I got out of the tent just as the sun was breaking the horizon. I wanted to take some photos in the nice morning light. 

The Sage Creek Campground at first light.

I was able to take a few nice photos of the sunlit hills 

and some wildlife:

grazing bison

burrowing owl

After a little while I returned to the campground for breakfast and enjoyed observing some of the resident prairie dogs while I ate.

Soon, Noelle, Sierra and I were ready to head out to the Scenic Loop Road to enjoy the wildlife and scenery. First, we had to drive the Sage Creek Rim Road. Our first stop was the Sage Creek Basin Overlook.

This overlook offered views of distant badland formations.

From there, we headed further east to the Badlands Wilderness Overlook. Here we were a little closer to the erosional formations that the park is known for. 

Noelle looked for birds with her binoculars. However, other wildlife was close enough that no binos were needed. 

After observing a few bull bison, we moved east again. Our next stop was the Hay Butte Overlook. This was the first overlook where we could really get immersed in the badlands. 

From here we joined the paved Badlands Loop Road. Our first stop on the Loop Road was the impressive Pinnacles Overlook.

From Pinnacles Overlook we headed east on the Loop Road. After a quick stop at the Ancient Hunters Overlook we entered a colorful section of badlands formations known as the Yellow Mounds.

After a quick stop at the Homestead Overlook, it was on to the impressive Burns Basin Overlook. 

Next up was Panorama Point. Besides the nice overlook, there was a singing meadowlark perched on the railing here.

We moved on to the Fossil Exhibit Trail where we went for the short walk on the boardwalk there to stretch our legs. 

We even ended up joining a ranger-guided walk before heading a short distance away to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. In the visitor center we enjoyed the exhibits 

and went into the paleontology lab where we got to see the hyracodon skull fossil that we had found at Scotts Bluff National Monument still in its plaster jacket. 

After lunch at a picnic table outside the visitor center, we left the park for a short time to check out the visitor center at Minuteman Missile NHS. Then we returned to Badlands to complete our tour of the Loop Road. Our first stop upon reentering the park was the Big Badlands Overlook.

Besides the view from the overlook, we enjoyed watching the cliff swallows build nests along the sides of the steep cliff faces.

From here we headed to the trailhead parking lot for the Door, Window and Notch Trails.