Mako Sica is the Lakota Indian tribe name for “Badlands”. The Indians thought the lands were “bad” because there was little water, rugged terrain and the lands were difficult to traverse. Thanks for the question Wendy, I looked it up.
So Yes, we are in the Badlands of South Dakota!
6/5/21-When we were travelling through the plains of South Dakota, the road was pretty straight, the land was luscious green…for many many miles…and then we came to the crest of the hill, and there were the rock formations of the Badlands National Park. Quite striking! We settled into the Badlands Interior Campground which was 2 miles from the visitor center of the park. We desperately had to do some laundry, which was thankfully at the campground. Of the mountain of wash I had to do, I chose only the summer clothes and unmentionables to focus on, and as I learned, the dryers didn’t work so well so most of the laundry was hung around the camper for the night to dry. Glad I didn’t do more, we would have been surrounded by wet clothes. Paul said the humidity in the RV just went up with all the damp clothes hanging around…that’s not a bad thing in this climate!
It was pretty hot as the sun baked the RV but thankfully we had hook ups and electricity… Hello Air Conditioning! 😉
It was fairly quiet at the campgrounds, mostly full of RVs and some tents, they also have a 20+ room lodge here too. It was quiet until the sun set, the temperatures dropped drastically, and all the sudden people came out, kids were riding bikes and the campground came alive with action and people! That’s what happens with the temperatures are over 100 degrees and when the sun sets, it is a very balmy 88! Feels cool in comparison 😎
6/6/21- Time to explore this park. It was 118 degrees in the sun, according to our thermometer on the RV, so the only thing to do is an air conditioned tour of the park. We stopped at the visitor center and learned about the wildlife here and the fragile rock formations. Apparently every drop of rain erodes the soft limestone ridges and the formations have eroded several inches in the last 50 years. Here are some pictures of our first day in the park.
White River Valley 
Panorama Point 
Big Foot Pass 
Prairie Wind 
across the road from Prairie Wind 
Homestead overlood 
Yellow Mounds 
Pinacles overlook
😬 
When we were at the visitor center this morning, we noticed there was a night sky program at the amphitheater, so we took advantage of the clear sky and went up to the park for the presentation. It was well worth it and apparently the milky way comes up from behind the rocks at midnight… we didn’t stay up since we were getting up early to catch some wildlife tomorrow. It’s supposed to be only 88 degrees tomorrow, so we might get a few hikes in as well.
Good night!