May 31, 2013: A Day in Chamberlain
	May 29, 2013: A Day in the Black Hills
	Return to the Ruckman Haus Photo Gallery Page

Today, Ron and Prudence and Fred and I are going to drive back to Chamberlain from Rapid City. On the way, we're going to tour through Badlands National Park. As it turned out, we also made a stop at Wall Drug.

A Stop at Wall Drug

Before we left Rapid City, Fred wanted to find some plants that Guy had wanted but didn't have time to look for while he was here, so we found a nursery that carried them and made a slight detour out of our way to go there. Then we headed east on I-90.

The drive to Wall, South Dakota took a while, but with our conversations the ride was very pleasant. There wasn't a lot to look at out the window, though, just the endless rolling hills under a very big sky. I don't think that Ron actually intended to stop at Wall, SD, but he needed gas anyway, so we thought we'd kill a couple of birds with one stone and show Wall Drug to them.

The best way into the town of Wall is actually the same exit as for the Badlands, but Ron took the exit before, so we came into town a different way that when Fred and I had stopped here in 2006. We got our gas and then drove downtown to the famous Wall Drug.

I first became aware of Wall Drug in 1976 when Tony Hirsch and I drove across country from Chicago. We traveled along I-90, and just west of Minneapolis we began to see large billboards for Wall Drug. There were a lot of them, even though Wall was over five hundred miles away. (That would be like seeing signs for San Antonio hotels just south of Oklahoma City!)

It began as a drug store offering free ice water to try to get folks to stop in on their way across South Dakota. How it became the huge place that it is today, selling an amazing variety of merchandise in a Wal-Mart-sized building, is quite an entertaining story, so I've grabbed it from their website (oh, yes, they sell all their stuff online as well) and put it in the scrollable window at left.

Actually, Wall Drug wasn't a surprise for any of us by the time we got there. If you are curious as to where, exactly, "there" is, you can have a look at the sign on the side of the building.

We had already seen a number of signs for Wall Drug since leaving Rapid City- maybe ten of them. And I understand that coming from the west, there is actually a billboard for Wall Drug somewhere in western Montana!

Anyway, we found a place to park and walked down the street to an entrance. The building extends for a long block, and we took a few interesting pictures outside; there are clickable thumbnails for some of them below:

We thought this would be a good place for lunch, so we got in line to order some burgers and stuff. (Good thing we did, for no sooner had we queued up than a couple of large tour buses apparently disgorged their contents and the line quadrupled in length.) While we were waiting for the food to come up, I thought I'd go see if I could find the child-size moccasins that Guy had been looking for, so I wandered off through the amazing building. They had EVERYTHING it seemed, in the series of connected buildings that is Wall Drug. I found the moccasins- rather a large selection of them, so I called Guy to describe them and see which ones he wanted. Back in the dining room we had our lunch. (We even found that same rhubarb wine Fred had yesterday.) There were a number of carved Indians in the room, and Fred took pictures of most of them. Use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look:

After lunch, we headed off through town and south on South Dakota Route 240 to the Badlands National Park.

Badlands National Park

We crossed back over the Interstate and took South Dakota 240 to and through the Pinnacles Entrance Station. The woman on duty was kind enough to point out that if there was a "senior" in the car, then we should buy a Senior Park Pass instead- the entire car would pay less and whoever owned the card would get discounted or free entry to all the national parks, monuments, wetlands, grasslands, memorials, etc. (So I got one.)

As we drove into the park itself, Fred was taking pictures out the car window of the incredibly diverse scenery that we drove through, and I have put clickable thumbnails below for just a few of these pictures:

Today, the four of us are going to repeat the drive that Fred and I made in 2006- going west to east on the Park Loop Road from the Pinnacles Entrance station to the Northeast Entrance. This is, essentially, South Dakota highway 240.

We stopped at as many of the overlooks as we thought Ron and Prudence would enjoy. After a while, the scenery does become repetitive, but almost every overlook and pull-off had something really interesting to see.

For our drive through the Park, I'll just put each major stop under its own heading, and, if you want, you can follow along by returning to this map to see just where each point of interest was.

Occasionally, I may include an aerial view of the overlook or feature, although I should point out that the aerial views don't show either the incredible colors that we saw or give a really good impression of the topography. But they are interesting sometimes because you can see from the air some of the same features we photographed from the ground.

So with that said, let's make our first stop at the Pinnacles Overlook.

The Pinnacles Overlook

Our first stop inside the Park was at the Pinnacles Overlook, and it was a good introduction for Ron and Prudence to the beauty of the Badlands. At the moment, the sky is cloudy, but I hope the sun will come out soon, for it takes sunlight to light up the banded colors all around you. The Pinnacles Overlook provided us our first look at the Badlands.

The views of the Badlands from the Pinnacles Overlook were pretty neat, and I have put clickable thumbnails below for some of the pictures that we took from here:

It was at this overlook that we learned that, instead of being purely sedimentary in nature, the Badlands formations were actually volcanic in origin, although water action certainly played a part. We also noticed that, in many a small valley in the Badlands there can be some relatively thick vegetation, although it is more normal to see very little.

Both Fred and I made panoramic pictures from here. Fred's panoramas are done inside his camera; all he has to do is slowly sweep his camera across the area he wants to photograph. The panorama he took is below:

For my panorama, I took five pictures and stitched them together later. The result is below:

There was a long walkway out to a viewpoint, and I noticed Fred had already headed out there, so I went out to join him. Here is Fred at the end of the walkway. I'll wind up our stop here with some additional pictures that Fred took that I think are worth including here. First, there are clickable thumbnails below for some of the normal pictures that he took:

He made two other panoramas of note, and you can see them below:

The Yellow Mounds Overlook

We got in the car and headed off from the Pinnacles Overlook. We drove slowly, amazed by all the scenery around us. Fred and I had been here before, but when we were, there was not nearly so much green, so it looked different to us. At one point, we slowed down a great deal so I could photograph some roadside wildlife.

For his part, Fred was pretty much leaning out the window all the way along, taking lots and lots of pictures. The clouds seemed threatening, and they made most of the pictures look a bit dismal, but when the light was right, the colors of the hills really stood out.

Fred must have taken fifty pictures on the way to our next overlook; there are clickable thumbnails below for ten of them:

After a quarter hour or so, we came to the Yellow Mounds Overlook. The overlook was on a high point, and looked out across a valley towards the northeast. The road ahead wound down into that valley, and there was another stopping place down among the rounded yellow hills.

The views from here at the overlook were pretty neat, and there was again a walkway you could take out away from the road for better views. Below are clickable thumbnails for some of the views from here:

I also took a series of pictures to construct a panorama of the view from here, and you can see the panorama below:

The Burns Basin Overlook

Between the Yellow Mounds Overlook and our next stop at Burns Basin, the weather, which had been very cloudy, kind of dismal and a little threatening, began to clear up, and by the time we got to Burns Basin, we had blue sky and puffy white clouds. The pictures we took of the Badlands changed dramatically. The series of pictures below, taken left to right in time sequence, illustrate the change:

At the Burns Basin Overlook, there was again a long walkway that led out to a viewing platform that offered some of the best views yet of the Badlands. These views were looking south.

It was just after we arrived at the Burns Basin Overlook that the skies really began to clear. Off to the north, it was still cloudy and a bit threatening, but, actually, the cloud formations were quite beautiful. There are clickable thumbnails below for five of the best cloud pictures that Fred took on the way here and when we arrived:

All four of us walked out to the viewpoint and the three of us took quite a few pictures. I tried a movie, but the wind was fairly brisk and so there was too much wind noise for me to include it here. Our pictures will have to suffice. I have put clickable thumbnails below so you can see the best of them:

I thought this would be an excellent place to take a large panorama. There was a fixed railing that I could lean against to hold the camera at the same height, so I carefully took a series of seven pictures, merging them together into the panoramic view that you can look at using the scrollable window below:

The White River Valley Viewpoint

The driving was a lot more pleasant now that the sun was out, and our trip from the Burns Basin Overlook to the next viewpoint offered a great deal of beautiful scenery.

The views from here were really spectacular, made all the more beautiful as a result of the clearing sky. The sunlight brought out the bands of color in the formations quite clearly, and the contrast of the colored rock and the blue sky was dramatic. One of the first things I did was to make a movie (the wind had died down quite a bit) of the scene in front of us, and you can watch the movie with the player below:

Loading the player... From the White River Valley Viewpoint

The scene was so beautiful that I must have taken twenty or thirty pictures, but I have chosen six of the best, and have put clickable thumbnails below for them:

I also set something of a record here at the viewpoint- I took 18 separate pictures and was able to merge them all together successfully into a single panoramic view that sweeps from the northeast end of the parking area and loop road, all across the view in front of me to the south and west and continuing on to the northwest end of the parking area. I'd never attempted to stitch together so many pictures before, but I think the result turned out well. You can use the scrollable window below to survey the scene:

Fred also took a great many pictures, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at the best of them:

Fred also tried his hand at a very large panorama, utilizing his camera's automatic features. I think the result turned out well; it presents a different perspective than mine. Use the scrollable window below to see if you agree:

A Drive Out Into the Badlands

Just east of the White River Valley viewpoint, we found a road that headed south out away from the main road and into the Badlands proper. I think it was a road leading to some sort of group activity site; we just wanted to see where it went. We drove about two miles down it, admiring the scenery, before we turned around to return to the main road. Fred was taking pictures all the while, and I have put clickable thumbnails below that you can use to see some of the best of them:

At the Ben Reifel Visitor Center

We continued along the Loop Road for a few more miles, enjoying the scenery in what had become a very pleasant, sunny afternoon. We passed iconic, amazing scenery, and there are clickable thumbnails below for some of the pictures I took as we were riding along:

The Loop Road eventually brought us to the same Visitor Center that Fred and I stopped at in 2006. When we were here by ourselves we used the center as the starting point for two hikes- one long and one short- that took us out into the Badlands and out of sight of roads and civilization. Today, with Ron and Prudence along, we didn't plan on doing any hiking, but just stopping in to the Center to look at the exhibits.

The scenery around the Visitor Center was just as pretty as any we'd seen on the way along the loop road, and we took a number of pictures before we went into the Visitor Center. Below, I have put clickable thumbnails that you can use to see some of these pictures:

We wandered around in the Visitor Center for a while; I think that Ron sat in on a movie about the Badlands while Fred and I walked through the small museum and the gift shop. Fred is interested in all things buffalo, and found some artwork and artifacts depicting them. Click the thumbnails below to see some of the items he found:

After forty-five minutes or so, we were all ready to head on out on the Loop Road, heading back to I-90. Before we leave, though, I want to show you another of the panoramic views that Fred created with his camera:

The Big Badlands Overlook

From the Visitor Center, the Loop Road headed north-northeast towards the park exit and I-90 beyond.

Loading the player... The Loop Road in Badlands NP

As we were driving along, Fred was taking pictures out the car windows, but I rolled down my window to make a movie of the scenery as we passed. When I reviewed the movie for this album, I found that there was so much wind noise (naturally) that it detracted from the movie itself. So for this album, I've eliminated the audio. You can watch this "silent movie" with the player at left.

We got a few good pictures from the car before we stopped at the last overlook, and I have put clickable thumbnails below for these pictures:

Our last stop was at the Big Badlands Overlook, where we were again treated to expansive views of the northeast corner of Badlands National Park. I think you'll agree that the vistas were amazing if you use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of what we saw:

Soon after the last overlook, we passed out of the National Park via the northeast portal, and a few miles later reached I-90 once again. Then we headed east to arrive in Chamberlain about an 90 minutes later, and soon we were back at St. James Church.

Dinner in Chamberlain

After relaxing at the Rectory for a while, waiting for Guy to finish up with his daily responsibilities at the church, we headed across the Missouri River to the Cedar Shores Resort for dinner.

We had thought we would eat outside at the resort's restaurant, so we got one of the tables on the patio (where the picture at left was taken). From here, there were great views across the river towards Chamberlain; actually, we were right across the river from St. Joseph's Indian School- which we plan on visiting tomorrow. But it was to chilly outside that we got our drinks and headed into the restaurant proper, where we had a very nice meal.

On our way out, Fred snapped this picture of the Cedar Shores Resort lobby.

You can return to today's index or continue with the next section below.

 

Evening at the Chamberlain Overlook

Three days ago, Guy had brought Fred and I up to a hilltop above the Indian School that offered wonderful views of all of Chamberlain and the Missouri River flowing past. You probably saw those pictures a few pages ago. Guy wanted Ron and Prudence to experience the views as well, so after dinner we crossed back to the east side of the Missouri and then went through downtown Chamberlain and up the road that ascends the hill above the Indian School. At the overlook, we parked and walked to the same spot where we'd been the previous time.

The view of Chamberlain in the evening was pretty impressive- and quite beautiful. If I were Guy and lived here, I'd come to this overlook frequently- just to sit and admire the view and nature's handiwork. Fred used his camera to make a panoramic picture of the scene, and I have put that view below:

This brought our long day to a close. Tomorrow, we'll be spending another day here in Chamberlain with Guy.

---

	May 31, 2013: A Day in Chamberlain
	May 29, 2013: A Day in the Black Hills
	Return to the Ruckman Haus Photo Gallery Page