Wind Cave & Badlands (Sep 2021)

Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota

Wind Cave National Park, Custer County, South Dakota

Despite its length and complexity, Wind Cave has very few natural entrances. The largest and most well-known naturally formed entrance is only about ten inches wide. This is a very spiritual place to many different native people and is considered the birthplace of the Lakota nation. Wind Cave National Park, Custer County, South Dakota

Despite its length and complexity, Wind Cave has very few natural entrances. The largest and most well-known naturally formed entrance is only about ten inches wide. This is a very spiritual place to many different native people and is considered the birthplace of the Lakota nation. Wind Cave National Park, Custer County, South Dakota

Boxwork is found in small amounts in other caves, but perhaps in no other cave in the world is boxwork so well-formed and abundant as in Wind Cave. Boxwork is made of thin blades of calcite that project from cave walls and ceilings, forming a honeycomb pattern. The fins intersect one another at various angles, forming "boxes" on all cave surfaces. Wind Cave National Park, Custer County, South Dakota

Patrick Kane with the T-Rex at Wall Drugs, Wall, South Dakota

A large (several feet wide) Coelophysis fossil cast for $699 at Wall Drugs, Wall, South Dakota. Coelophysis is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 221.5 to 196 million years ago during the latter part of the Triassic Period in what is now the southwestern United States.

Tyrannosaurus rex skull cast at Wall Drugs, Wall, South Dakota

View from the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands boondocking site outside the north entrance to Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

View from the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands boondocking site outside the north entrance to Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Bighorn sheep at Badlands National Park near Bigfoot Pass Overlook, Wall, South Dakota (cell phone picture taken through binoculars)

Patrick Kane at Badlands Wilderness Overlook, Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Badlands Wilderness Overlook, Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

A bison near the Pinnacles Entrance Station at Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Start of the 4.6-mile Sage Creek Wilderness Loop hike in Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Start of the 4.6-mile Sage Creek Wilderness Loop hike in Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Bighorn sheep at Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Bighorn sheep on Sagecreek Rim Road at Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota

Bighorn sheep on Sagecreek Rim Road at Badlands National Park, Wall, South Dakota