We decided to take it easy today and give the driver a break, so we drove a short distance to the Badlands State Park for a hike. The weather was perfect–65-70 degrees, sunny, no humidity, and blue skies! The smokey skies cleared with the nice north breeze, so the formations appeared much more colorful today.

We entered at the Pinnacles Entrance and were greeted by thousands of chirping prairie dogs, scurrying around until humans invaded their personal space, then into their burrows! (They were cute little varmints, as they stood on their hind legs). The next sight was a herd of Pronghorn, unfazed by humans as they grazed by the roadside and crossed in front of traffic. Our last wildlife close encounter included Bighorn Sheep, grazing on grasses.

We stopped at dozens of overlooks, but decided today was the day for a hike, so we hiked the Castle Trail. At our age, we did not push ourselves to go the entire ten miles, but we hiked about 21/2 miles. Neither of us thought to apply sunscreen, so we did not hike as long as we would normally. There were no trees for shade, but beautiful even terrain, with grasses and wildflowers, some rocky climbing, and views that were spectacular.

It’s a day to relax and recover, take-out food to our cute cabin, and some sports for Bill. Tomorrow we head to Deadwood!