Badlands.

I can see haw as a settler, coming in with a wagon and horses and without the benefit of a well paved four lane scenic highway with convenient viewing pulloffs, they might call it the badlands. But it is basically an enormous playground for every kid that at some point in their life liked climbing things.

Go for it. leave the path. climb around unsupervised through canyons and rocky outcroppings. just bring water and try to stay within shouting distance. have fun! and did we ever. badlands = junglegymlands. jumping, climbing, sliding, clambering, stretching, posing, goofing. sure there's a safe path marked out with yellow stakes ... but what fun is that?

after jumping off of a good 10 foot outcropping down onto cement-hard rock ... that for some reason I thought would be soft clay (no sleep yet) and twinging the ol' ankle sprain, I only climbed a few more moderately life threatening peaks - including a boulder balanced on top of a peak, on the edge of a ridge - before heading back to the campground. The pictures are well worth the slight self questioning that preceded them - 'if I fall down the side of a ravine in South Dakota now ... that kind of mucks the entire trip ... but will I forgive myself for not taking full advantage of the opportunity to scamper about like a Spaulding shod mountain goat?

campsite in the middle of the mountains. huge open plains area. dry. tons of sunlight left for setting up camp, cooking, relaxing, going back up the mountains for an incredible sunset. bisons everywhere on the slopes next to our site, roaming the hillsides in a decidedly sedentary fashion. good bathrooms. shaded picnic tables. and it was all free!

glorious campsite. amazing park. one of those gems that you didn't actually expect to be nearly as great as the tourbooks say, and then it overshoots that mark in so many ways. Who would have thought there was something in S.D. other than Mt Rushmore and a capital that sounds like an impolite Frenchman?!