Badlands National Park -- they cancelled our campground reservations!

Before we blog about our time at Badlands National Park, we have to rant. Several months ago we made reservations at the national park's Cedar Pass campground for an electric site for three nights. That determined our traveling days and how our other reservations wove together. But five days before we were supposed to arrive, we got a phone call from the company that runs the campground (Aramark) that said our electric site reservation had been cancelled. What?!? We checked the weather forecast to see that high temperatures during our stay would be in the upper 80s and into the 90s. We know from experience that those high temperatures outside will mean that we will be over 100 degrees inside our dark-colored motor home. We really needed electricity for some air-conditioning! A phone call to the reservation line gave no information, but the operator guessed that it was a safety issue because "Aramark's first concern is their customer's safety." That was a blatant lie, as two days later (after being on hold for forty minutes) we found that they had just over-booked the camp sites, and they were having too many people show up. I'm guessing that it's pretty ugly at a campsite when too many people with reservations show up for too few camping sites. Several phone calls and an email with no reply brought no relief. Aramark did nothing and just ignored the fact that they were ruining people's vacations. 

We were scrambling for another option, and managed to get a two-night reservation at a private campground outside the national park. It was the last space they had available, and it was much more expensive than the national park campground, but at least we have electricity. We're not sure where we will stay for that third night that was cancelled, because it's on a busy weekend. This is the first time in more than eight years that we had a reservation cancelled, and we're certainly not a fan of Aramark right now.

Okay, enough of that rant! We got settled into our campground by noon, and started exploring Badlands National Park after we fixed lunch. We see rain in the forecast, so we took advantage of the dry weather on the day we arrived. After a stop at the ranger station for advice, we had a list of hiking trails and we're ready to go.

The best hike in the park is the Notch Trail,  But it is rated as moderate to strenuous, and isn't recommended for anyone with a fear of heights. The strenuous part is the long hanging ladder that hikers must climb to get to the higher ridge.

Then the hike continues along the edge of the tall ridge. Even though it allows for great views, this is the part that would cause a fear of heights.

Looking down from that ridge, we can see that the ladder often gets clogged with people trying to come up, and others wanting to come down. Because some of those people are very slow, the problem is compounded.

We enjoyed our first views of the many sandstone formations that look like God has been building sand castles in South Dakota. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

After about three-quarters of a mile, we got to the "notch" that gives this hike its name. We were hiking right behind a group of seven college-aged guys, and they offered to take our picture in the notch right after we took a group picture for them.

The notch opening gives a dramatic view of the White River Valley far below.

Most people will turn around and go back the way they came on a hike. But what fun is that? The seven guys all dispersed in different directions, checking out the different canyons and crevices here on the ridge. The Badlands is a "hike anywhere you want" park. So while they have trails, visitors are welcome to explore anywhere they want. 

This might become Mark's favorite national park ever, because he loves scrambling up rocks! We found lots of neat formations, and a couple more notches with steep drop-offs to the valley below.

We decided that this should be "The Notches Trail" instead of just "The Notch." We scrambled and took more pictures at other notched openings in the sandstone wall.

The ranger did mention that people can climb any where they want . . . BUT they have to be able to get themselves down. Mark is experienced at getting Denisa down from these climbs. A couple of the seven guys that we met earlier came to explore our second notch with us.

While the Badlands are pretty barren of color, we did find our first bloom in this national park.

We were still scrambling on the ridge, when several of the other college guys came out of this crevice, looking a little pale. While coming down this narrow and steep space, they were surprised by a snake. Their hearts were beating as they made a fast exit. When they mentioned "snake" most people would turn the opposite direction. Not Mark--he headed straight up that same path to get a look for himself.

This was the snake that surprised them.

It was an ugly rattlesnake, with those slit eyes and thick head. Mark was busy taking pictures while Denisa chose to watch from afar.

It's warm today, and we weren't surprised to see that snakes were out. That was enough rock scrambling for Denisa, as we walked back down the ridge.

Then it was time to head down that swinging ladder. Denisa will say that the climb down is definitely harder and seems higher that the climb up.

It's a long trip to the bottom, and those ladder rungs seem a long ways apart when you're going down. It's only attached at the top, so there's a lot of swing in this swinging ladder. But we both made it safely down. That's two miles of hiking finished, and we checked off our first Badlands hike.

The next hike leaves from the same parking lot, and is just a half-mile long. The Window Trail is an easy flat trail that ends at a rail for a viewpoint into an intricately eroded canyon. You can see Denisa at the left edge of the picture below, standing at the rail like the other normal people.

You can see Mark, standing high above the rail on an unprotected ridge taking that picture. He's not like any normal person, but he likes this kind of hiking!

Check off the second hike from our list, as Denisa took a picture of a meadowlark singing near the parking lot.

The third hike of the afternoon is "The Door Trail" that begins through a "door" in the badlands wall. After going through the door, visitors are warned to travel at their own risk because there are many steep drop offs. You can meander aimlessly, or you can follow the numbered posts that stick out from this lunar landscape.

This is one of those steep drop offs that visitors are warned about. But Mark seems to relish putting the toe of his hiking boot on the edge.

Sometimes it is hard to know when you're finished with a meandering trail, but this one has a sign that lets you know the trail has ended. It's time to go back through the door and check hike number three off that list.

Temperatures have hovered in the 80s this afternoon, so we are hot and getting tired. So how do we feel about starting the longest hike of the day now? We must feel fine, because here's a picture of Mark on the four-mile Medicine Root Loop.

We spent most of the hike walking through tall grass, with the Badlands' interesting formations in the distance. But we had flowers in this grassy prairie, so Denisa had something to photograph.

We've never seen this unusual flower before, and we're still not sure what it is.

The sun was getting low in the sky behind us as we finished up this four-mile loop. Check off hike number four for the afternoon. 

All total, we hiked eight miles on four different trails, and we didn't even arrive in the national park until around 2:00. We even went to the 9:00 p.m. ranger program at the amphitheater this evening. Since our stay here got shortened by a day when they cancelled our reservation, we had to hit the ground hiking!