roadtrip: the badlands

a 21-mile loop circles the more visited parts of badlands national park, with numerous trails along the way.  we climbed through the badlands 'wall' on the saddle pass trail, and followed the medicine root trail through part of the grasslands on the plateau.

little dude amazed us by climbing maybe 2/3 of the way up himself

but he was a little slow, so up he went =)

at the top

 

always collecting rocks

naptime ;-)

the girls loved the climbing part, but not so much the flat trail, so we had lunch and turned around

coming down was precarious

back at the bottom

other stops along the driving loop

who can resist throwing pebbles into a canyon

but keep a handle on the little man ;-)

just extraordinary scenery

 

we'd highly recommend visiting!  south Dakota may be a bit out of the way, but it's worth it =)