After fast tracking it through Minnesota and most of South Dakota (and after lots of time on I90!), we finally made it to the Badlands!  The Badlands was our introduction to the amazing world of parks in the Western part of the United States.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Badlands, the geology of this park is the big draw- striations of grey intermixed with yellow, purple, and pink, hues that you would normally associate with a sunset, not rocks.  The park is a process of deposition and erosion, meaning that the various layers were slowly deposited over time (the earliest layers are estimated to be between 69 and 75 million years old), and in the last 500,000 years they are being eroded away.  Water is largely responsible for the formation of this area (whether it was the inland sea that once covered the area or flooding rivers that brought some of the other layers in) as well as its erosion.  Since we visited at the end of August, in the heart of summer, when the sun blazes all day and with highs between 90 and 105, it’s hard to imagine water in a place so hot and dry.

We spent two nights in Cedar Pass Campground, the developed campground in the park (there is also a primitive campground, Sage Creek, but at this point we are prepared for car camping, and not so much backpacking.)  The campground was quite unlike anywhere we have slept to date – there were no trees which meant no shade and no privacy.  We woke with the sun (which on top of being super bright, heats up the tent rather quickly).  Thankfully each campsite comes with a covered picnic table that helps shield you from the sun during mealtime.

Hiking in the Badlands

The heat was somewhat prohibitive for long hiking – there is little to no shade along the trails.  But we did hike the Notch Trail, 1.5 miles through a canyon of geological amazingness.  Added bonuses were a small technical challenge – a climb up and down a log ladder, and at the end of the trail was “a dramatic view of the White River Valley” (I agree with the park service, it was quite dramatic – it’s surprisingly lush so close to the arid rock formations we were hiking through).

As the title of this blogpost indicates, we did hit a bit of a snag along this route.  Along I90, we heard a ding of metal and a small thud.  Given that our car appeared intact and there were no other cars on the road around us, we didn’t think much of it… that is, until we we arrived at our campsite.  While unloading our gear from our cargo box on top of our roof rack, we noticed that our rack was no longer fully attached to our car.  One of the 4 podiums holding the rack to the car had lost its bolts and anchor, leaving the bar and our cargo box resting on the top of the car.  panic.  Where were we going to go to fix this?  We needed 2 bolts and a very specific approximately 3″ long metal bar into which these bolts were affixed.  The Badlands is basically in the middle of nowhere!  There is no LL Bean (where we bought the rack) nearby and no REI.  Adam and I frantically called sports/recreation shops in Rapid City (80 miles away) to see if they carry Thule roof rack equipment.  We got lots of nos.  Adam then had the brilliant idea to call all of the bike shops in Rapid City (since Thule makes roof racks to haul bikes as well as cargo boxes).  While many of them sold our roof rack, they didn’t keep inventory in their stores.  However, they could order it (yay!) and it would arrive after the time we were planning to be gone, (crap! We really couldn’t leave until we fixed this problem- it wasn’t safe).

Finally one bike store had one kit left in stock that might help us; it wasn’t the exact same model but it might be similar enough to have the two bolts and metal bar that we needed to repair our rack.  We hurriedly emptied our cargo box and removed it from the top of our car, leaving it next to our tent in the Badlands.  We removed the unsecured roof rack bar, and bolted to Rapid City.  We arrived just 5 minutes before Black Hills Bicycles closed shop for the night. $212.95 later, (oof, an expensive fix but we were desperate!) and we had an entirely new kit from which we could take out the few small pieces we needed.  Phew; we were relieved; this was going to work out.

We took our time getting back to our campsite, stopping for a bite at Wall Drug, a well-known tourist attraction (shops and food and such) that got its start by offering free ice water.  (Sidebar if you end up in South Dakota, I90 is now FILLED with signs announcing the number of miles until this epic stop, even when you are 250 miles away!)  After dinner, we briefly meandered around the shops before getting back on the road.  It was supposed to be an easy and boring 25 mile ride on I90 back to the park.  But this was no ordinary day.  Midway into our ride, I scream as I see a bird plummet into the windshield and promptly bounce off, presumably to its death behind me.  Really, universe, as if we hadn’t had an emotional rollercoaster of day already?!  We got back to the campsite pretty defeated and decided to start anew the next morning.

Minuteman Missile

The Badlands is a short drive from Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, a decommissioned missile site dedicated to informing the public about the missile development and the nuclear arms race that look place during the cold war.  The site was created as part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty; both the US and Russia were allowed to preserve one facility for historical purposes.  Minuteman Missile consists of 3 different sites (all within 10 miles of each other)- a visitor center with some nice historical exhibits, the D-01 control center site, and the D-09 missile silo.

The D-01 control center site is only viewable by a guided tour; the tickets are free but they do run out quickly, particularly if you want a morning tour.  I got there before the visitor center opened on a Monday morning, and there was a short line for these hot commodities.  We ended up getting a private tour of the control center, as the other ticket-holders did not show up.  We saw both the main part of the facility, where the workers ate and slept (sidebar: the beds and desks were identical to our furniture in our dorm rooms at Bucknell; this of course prompted a chuckle that was not appreciated by our guide on this serious tour.)  We also took an elevator 30 feet underground to the control facility which was pretty humbling.

Just off I90 at exit 116 lies the D-09 missile site, a quiet site with a big purpose.  A cell phone audio tour provides some background on the site (why South Dakota?  …because of its large expanse of land and low population) as well as some detail on the specifics of the site, the missile, the antennae, and the hatch.