They Don't Call Them the Badlands for Nothing

We hiked our through the Badlands. OK, for those of you familiar with RMNP, this sounds like a big deal, but really there are only a few trails you can hike here, otherwise, it's here for your viewing pleasure. I can only imagine what the American Indians and Pioneers thought when they came over the ridge on horseback and saw these. I'm sure the first thought they had wasn't - Oh these are bad mountains but I'm sure there's a way around - It was probably more like - we'll just settle here.

We hiked up what was listed as a Strenous 1/2 hour climb. It also said if you have 'fear of height' issues, you should take note. Since Stacey has those isssues, she wanted a little credit for tackling something outside her comfort zone (in addition to the whole camping thing)

Once we got to the top, which wasn't strenuous at all, maybe in part due to the lower elevation here - appx 2500ft - there are beautiful vistas.

We hiked a 4 mile loop which had few elevation changes. It was an open grassy plain, with the beautiful formations surrounding. The Badlands are eroding at approximately 1 inch/year, so some of what we were hiking on were eroded mountains.

Afterward, we had a wonderful afternoon doing the nerdy dork thing going to the visitors center and then walking on the handicap accessible 'trails' and spotting signs of wildlife.

We also saw an original sod house and items from the 1800-early 1900's. Then we returned to the campsite, ate a wonderful dinner - burgers and salad - and settled down for a short winter's nap.