Stage 6: Yellowstone to South Dakota Badlands

We woke up early to get ready for our first 500+ mile day on the road. James snuck in a quick morning run and saw the natural bridge pictured below, while MJ slept in after being up half the night with a sick-to-his-stomach Krieger (he's feeling better now, but it was a rough two days for the little guy). 

We said goodbye to Yelllowstone Lake, driving past the placid water and the geothermal vents that periodically dot the shore. The steam drifting over the lake and through dark green trees was quite peaceful as we wound our way out of the park. 

The surprise treat of the day was passing through the Bighorn National Forest. We passed through a tight canyon, with steep walls telling a geological story that is hard to fathom. Different formations were courteously labelled as dating from the Jurassic, Mississippian and other periods measured in the hundreds of millions of years. Between these rocks and the recent memory of prehistoric-looking bison, we felt pretty small and temporary. 

The descent from the Bighorn NF was a steep, twisting, smooth road that took us down to the grasslands of eastern Wyoming (miles and miles of them) before bringing us to South Dakota's Black Hills. We did indeed listen to Rocky Racoon while passing through those famous hills and decided that Krieger, with his salt-and-pepper look and his Gideon's Bible, is our very own Rocky (though, for the record, he likes to duel with raccoons, as the scars on his face make evident "Rocky said, "doc, it's only a scratch".)

James flipped out when the tripometer went from 1999.9 miles back to zero, but he regained his composure as we ended the day with a scenic drive through the Badlands National Park. We saw many prairie dogs, wild colors in the sedimentary rock (yellow, mauve, purple and all sorts of grey), and were in awe of the windswept landscape and the breezy prairie. 

That wind would come on in a vengeance that night. Preceding a thunderstorm, the winds almost laid our tent low, but James cleverly (if frantically) guyed out our cozy abode and we all made it through the night.