Tom's National Park Adventure

As I left the Sylvan Lake Campground this morning, i said goodbye to Diane as I drove by Sylvan Lake. I drove to the Kids Air BnB and said Goodbye to them all. They all have different timetables and return dates so it was just easier to say goodbye to them all at one time.

The agenda for the day was to drive to Wind Cave National Park, get my stamp, check out the rest of the park and then head on over to The Badlands National Park. I was able to do just that. It was a short driving day. That was a good thing. Tomorrow will be a very long driving day.

Wind Cave was just the 7th National Park to be created. Teddy Rosevelt signed the congressional order to create the park in 1907. The park was known to the indigenous people of the land for centuries before it was discovered by some white explorers. The cave gained national attention in the 1890’s. Primarily due to the efforts of one very curious and industrious teenager named Alvin McDonald. He used to explore the cave with a candle and a ball of string. He would let out the string so he could find his way back out! There are some rare growths of Chris-crossing calcite that cover the caves ceilings and walls. They are called Boxwork. One of the big reasons the cave was made a National Park was to protect it from the visitors and tourists to the cave. It seems they liked to break some of the boxwood off for souvenirs!

The park has two big areas to look at. The cave and the prairie above the cave. In 1912 the first attempts to reestablish the American Bison into the area was started in the park. The government brought animals from the Bronx Zoo and from Yellowstone to start a breeding program for the area. They were able to do that because of the lands status of being a wildlife sanctuary. This program is still ongoing and is considered to be one of the most successful in bringing back a species from extinction.

Unfortunately the elevator that you use to visit the cave is broken. So I got my stamp, watched a very good movie about the park, and then headed on my way.

It took me a little over 2 1/2 hours to drive to the Badlands National park. I followed my usual routine, got my camp settled, found the Visitors Center, got my stamp and found out that the AV system is broken and I couldn’t watch the movie. I was able to find out that the movie can be watched at http://www.YouTube.com and search for “Land of Stone and Light”.

I went to the Lodge next door and had a delicious Indian Taco for Lunch/Dinner.

I had talked to the information Ranger on Duty and decided my best use of the next few hours would be to drive the Badlands Loop Road and get some pictures from the vistas along the way. It turns out that this is the same route Diane and I drove when we came to visit Janine and Larry before they moved back to Iowa.

Badlands National Park became a National Monument in 1939. It didn’t become a National Park until 1978. There is so much history that is associated with this part of our country. As usual the spread of our country as we know it now came at the cost of the people who where already living here. We came very close to eliminating the Bison. The Lakota people depended upon the Bison for their entire way of life. We broke so many treaties. I know that before coming here I was ignorant of what the history of the area was. I am glad that we were smart enough to set aside these parks and protect them from ourselves!

Here are some of the pictures …..

Tomorrow I will be driving to Ames Iowa. I will be spending the night with Janine and Larry. Then I will get up and drive back to Cuba, MO on Friday.