We boondocked the badlands of both South Dakota and North Dakota. In South Dakota they are called Badlands National Park, and in North Dakota they are called Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The badlands are a rocky terrain unique to the Dakotas. Legend has it that Theodore Roosevelt journeyed to the Dakotas to hunt bison and fell in love with the land, which sparked his interest in preserving natural wonders of the U.S.

Just prior to our time in the Dakotas, Jackson got a Lhasa Apso puppy who he named Harry. So that’s added to our adventures of late! He’s super cute, and a lot of work. Enjoy some fuzzball photos throughout this post. We are trying to socialize him like it’s our job, because his breed is prone to being nippy and barky if not socialized early. So far so good.

In South Dakota we boondocked in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland just outside the national park entrance. We saw prairie dogs, bison, mountain goats and a big horn sheep in the park. And a LOT of bikers. We coincidentally happened to be there during Sturgis Bike Rally week. We didn’t go to Sturgis (though we had planned to go to pick up some jerky, and decided against it because of the rally) but it was cool to see all of the bikes. We saw hundreds, if not thousands of them. The badlands are a really awesome place to ride motorcycle!

In North Dakota we boondocked in the Little Missouri National Grassland just a few miles from the national park. We hiked in the park’s Painted Canyon, where there are so many colors in the rocks. In both South and North Dakota we were camped along the rim of badland formations. The spots were amazing. In North Dakota there’s a wonderful little town called Medora that looks like an old west town. It’s an adorable welcoming town with good food, good ice cream, and good fudge.

We also visited Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, which is the country’s first national monument and a really unbelievable site to see. It’s a tower of rock columns that is giant and looming and hard to describe or explain. It was formed of lava under the earth, but has become visible upon the surface as the surrounding land has eroded away over millions of years. As columns break off the formation, they pile up as boulders at its base. (Jeremy and Jackson are convinced it’s the stump of a petrified old tree, the biggest in the history of the planet, lol.) While there we camped in the Black Hills National Forest.

Next we camped in Medicine Bow National Forest at Vedauwoo (pronounced Vee-da-voo) in Wyoming. Vedauwoo is a formation of walls and cliffs that are made of an enormous pile of boulders, which are quite amazing to see and climb on. Wyoming was flexing! Some of the boulders balance precariously, looking as though the wind could cause them to tumble downhill onto your head. But they are huge, weigh tons and have been in place for millennia. There are a lot of rock climbers with ropes and gear here. We don’t do that extreme adventuring, but we enjoy hiking around and through and climbing on the boulders.

We also stopped by the Vore Buffalo Jump in Wyoming. It’s a natural hole in the ground where Indians would run herds of buffalo over a cliff and then harvest them below. Many tribes would come together for the event, and all parts of the buffalo were used. Buffalo were vital to the plains Indians’ livelihoods.

An interesting monument at the Lincoln Highway rest area in Wyoming.😄

The past few weeks in the Dakotas and Wyoming can be summed up as simply butte-iful!👍