Badlands National Park

The first National Park I want to start my blog with is the park I visited most recently: the Badlands National Park. Located in South Dakota, my family and I took a trip to the Badlands in June of 2024, continuing the tradition of visiting a new national park each summer. This trip sticks out from the many other trips we have been on, largely due to the rural location of the Badlands. For example, the closest city to the park is Rapid City, SD with a population of roughly 80,000. In fact, a direct flight could not be taken on American Airlines from Philadelphia so we had a layover in Chicago, IL. The park itself was unlike anything I had seen before. Walking through the elevated rock formations, which were once submerged under a now evaporated sea, transported you into a whole new world. I no longer felt like I was in the Central United States, but rather an ancient desert. While the Badlands offer a range of trails, varying in length and difficulty, my family stuck to relatively short trails. However, short does not necessarily equal easy. The two hikes we did were the Window Trail (0.25 miles) and the Notch Trail (1.5 miles). While the Window Trail was more of an easy walk along a boardwalk through the Badland formations, the Notch Trail was more difficult despite its also short distance. Following a rocky path through the canyon, the trail eventually leads to a ladder made of logs, built onto the side of the canyon, as a way to climb the ledge and continue the hike onward. Although the trail wasn’t busy while we were there, if hikers are trying to climb the ladder as other hikers are trying to climb down, this can lead to major delays in the trail as the ladder is only wide enough for people to climb one direction at a time. Once you successfully climb the ladder, it is important to stay balanced and keep away from the ledge as there are no railings to prevent any falls. Fortunately I am not afraid of heights, but it is advised not the hike this trail if you do have such a fear. At certain parts of the trail, I found it necessary to crawl on all fours just as a way to stay balanced as I climbed over large rocks. The view at the end of the trail leads to a steep cliff that drops off, leaving you with a gorgeous view of the endless prairies that surround the park. I remember this view making me remember that I am actually in the Midwest rather than another planet. Because this trail is not a loop, we took the same path back to the car, once again encountering the ladder, but this time climbing down it. We toured the rest of the park mostly in the car, stopping for certain things such as the visitor center, the multicolored sediments, and the herds of buffalo roaming the prairies. Since we stayed in a nearby town called Lead, SD for over a week, we also spent time in other scenic parks in the area such as Mount Rushmore National Park and Custer State Park, both very popular tourist attractions in the area. We also spent time in the historic town of Deadwood, known for its connection to Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Overall, this trip to the Badlands National Park not only exposed me to new terrain, but also to the culture of small towns in South Dakota and their emphasis on sharing their history with visitors.