Wet Badlands 2019

I don't know what we were thinking, but we stayed pretty busy after returning from the Mexico trip...maybe because Terry took the week off to recuperate after working for two solid weeks, maybe because we didn't know what to do with ourselves without our team, maybe because we were bored. Anyway, the day after we returned from our anniversary getaway, on Friday, June 21, we went to the Badlands. Apparently, we're starting to make it an annual thing (first time in 2016, 2017, and 2018).

Perhaps we should have paid closer attention to the weather since it was rainy when we first got there (see south of Wall). It was the wettest summer on record I believe...

Everyone was in shorts and the littles didn't grab their coats as I had instructed. That's why Ezra is wearing mine. We ate lunch in the van after arriving to wait out the weather. 

We stopped at the first northerly lookout and walked as far as we could to the north. 

End of the line. Samuel and Ezra in me and Terry's coats. 😂

Going back to that most elevated green hill to the left.

Roadside stop to say hello to some resting Bighorn sheep...lambs.

They were everywhere up north.

We walked on down the trail and then bushwhacked until the end of the cliff. 

Looking down from that cliff area to the road scenes below.

Everything was so incredibly lush due to the abundant rain. There was clover absolutely everywhere. All the fields looked yellow or lime. Of course later in the fall, in September, all the clover had died and turned brownish black!

Another roadside stop.

So beautiful!

We parked at just about every stop and hiked however far we could.

Here's the end of another line.

💚

Ezra's face and wiggly jacket arms. 😂

At this stop we ventured into muddy areas with less grass and all came away with at least an inch of it caked to our shoes.

Another end of the line.

Lots of family shots.

And more.

And another.

Hey there's me!

We decided to do the Notch Trail again (the one with the ladder). CLOVER!!

We abandoned the elevated trail and explored along the floor of the area. 

Evie managed to get over the mud puddle but the littles had to go a different way.

The highest point at the end of the trail.

Pretty girl.

Heading back. You can see the ladder in the distance.

Littlest first. 

One, two, three, four.

The littles climbed on whatever they could on the way back.

See what I mean about everything looking yellow? It was so beautiful.  

I took a couple short time lapse videos of our Notch hike.

Badlands & the Notch (ladder) Trail

 After the Sean McDowell event and Awana Awards at the beginning of May, spring fever set in and I felt like we just had to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. So on Friday, May 4th, that's exactly what we did.

Spring had come late, or seemed to due to snow storm after snow storm. I had been taking copious amounts of pictures of green things growing so after I saw this Instagram photo of a hike I had never even known existed in the Badlands, I wanted to try it. 

We still had Evie's Every Kid in a Park pass so, once again, we got into the Badlands for free. We are working the system folks. Right away we saw a few buffalo chilling with some prairie dogs. Come on buffalo, you can do better than that. Stinking prairie dogs. 😑

We ate lunch in the van and then got out at the same viewpoint we stopped at for our 2016 staycation. 

It's the first one after you come in the Wall entrance.

Zooming a little to the left/south.

Zooming to the west.

Little Samuel heading to the right. 

The kids wanted to throw rocks. We had to make sure they didn't throw themselves. 

I walked ahead to get more scenery.  

It was the perfect day to be out there. Usually the Badlands are just baking hot, but since it was so early in the season, the sun and heat were just right, though it was quite a bit windy up there. 

Looking down south again.

We went along as far as we could, which was also as far as we'd ever gone before, and then turned around. 

We still had to get to the end of the park to do that hike. 

This was from the left of the viewing point as we were walking back. 

It's just a beautiful drive through the park and I wanted to stop every few minutes but contented myself with just one shot before an actual pull in viewpoint.  

Fat prairie dogs on the road's edge. 

We stopped for a long time at the Conata Basin Overlook. 

Samuel and Ezra were dressed very alike that day (I enjoy doing that since people think they look the same), but Ezra was always wearing a hat.

Whoops, I guess Samuel was wearing a hat too. Ha ha.  

Not a bad photo Noah! 

I was trying to shoot a good panorama and when we all got a kick out of how people would have body parts erased, we started messing around, trying to intentionally mess up the photo. Everyone is chopped up except Ezra here. 😂

Terry's missing his back half and I'm elongated with several legs.

Over looking Yellow Mounds.

Here's a legitimate panoramic. It was so pretty just there.  

Zooming up north. 

A short video of the area.

I saw and heard this bird singing my favorite song on the way back to the van and later found out it was a Meadowlark. I just love their song. It makes me feel so hopeful and happy, like spring after winter. 

Another shot from the road? 

We had stopped here before but I had forgotten and now I don't even remember what it was called. 

Teaching the kids how to whistle with a piece of grass. 

Finally we arrived at the southern portion of the park, where most of the map trails are located. I wonder if there are others that aren't on the map? I'd love to explore some more, especially in the northern section.

To get there, you pass the Visitor Center area and continue north just past Cliff Shelf Nature Trail (which is actually what you look out over when you get to the end of the Notch Trail).

We've never seen a rattlesnake out there yet, but there are plenty of signs.

Just starting out.

I was just reveling in all things spring so these little yellow flowers were magical to me. No more snow! Spring and sun and blue skies and warmth are amazing!

 Starting to turn a corner towards the outcroppings.

Just around this corner is the ladder. 

The ladder is actually just to your right as you hike along but I went behind Terry and the kids to try to capture some of the surrounding area. 

The ladder wasn't as steep as I thought it would be so we let the kids go up by themselves. 

Terry did some recording of them climbing and then I bustled up after Ezra to make sure he was okay on the steepest part. 

Terry's footage.

At the top it was hand over hand like a real ladder.  

Super cool right?! 

Terry coming up the ladder.




The remaining trail clung to the the edge of the outcroppings and though the sign had warned of steep cliffs, it wasn't bad at all. It was totally fine. There were some nooks that the kids kept climbing into.

Looking back towards the ladder, though it's mostly hidden. I believe if you zoomed in you could see someone just starting to go down.

So to Terry's left is the "cliff."

Terry told Samuel to be careful, but there was plenty of room and even if he had been foolish to fall he only would have slid down a gravel like hill like ten feet.

The Badlands are such a strange and beautiful place. All that rock is so barren!

It didn't take long at all, like three quarters of a mile, and we were at the end.

Looking to the right...

Looking straight ahead in those trees is the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail.

Looking left.

The kids want to climb everything when we're out there.

Selfie with the badlands behind us...

...and then with the kids behind us.

We made the kids get down and line up for a photo on the edge.

The overlook.




We walked back and it seemed to take even less time. I got a much better shot of the ladder!

Terry going back down the ladder in stop motion.




I had Terry go down the ladder first and take some photos of us on it.

We're good to go.

You have to be careful going down at the top but at a certain point you can stand up and walk down.

They were still having to be careful. It was easier to go down backwards, with the front of your body facing the ladder so you could look down at your toes.

I liked the kids stop motion coming down the ladder, they all slipped on the gravel when they tried to get off the ladder and go the quick way.

I lagged behind the others just admiring the sun on the green grass. 

My watch tracked our hike. Not even two miles.

It was so quick in fact that we didn't want to leave yet. So we went over and did the the Window "Trail." 

It's actually a boardwalk to an overlook so I don't know why they bother calling it a trail. Kinda lame. 

But we'd done the Door Trail last year so we wanted to be able to say we'd done them all, or at least I wanted to say that.

It goes out to a "window" in the wall and you look out to where people are actually hiking the Door Trail. It's pretty.

Observing.

Feeling a little let down, we climbed around on the surrounding rocks.

Terry went all Karate Kid once he'd climbed up on top of the wall. 

Mid-jump...

...and opposite leg kick.

Chillin on the wall. 

There's the view, sort of.

From there we took the scenic way home via Highway 44. Ezra promptly fell asleep.

Yet once again we went to On the Border just like the last two years. It was a great day!