5/26/17 South Dakota, Wyoming

Ok so we didn't stop at the lake last night. We actually drove all the way to the badlands and got there at 1am. Partially because we wanted to fit everything in today before the memorial weekend crowd, but mostly because South Dakota has NOTHING but never ending stretches of highway with no good concealed pull over places to camp. It made for a beautiful sunset though. 

We drove 12 miles back in the badlands on a dirt road that I'm sure was a fantastic view in the daylight. Camped at Sage Creek Campground, a free Campground which is basically a dirt road forming a circle around a small grass area where everyone piled their tents on top of each other. I was very grateful for the truck camper. 

Woke up to some friendly neighborhood bison strolling through the camp. 

The badlands were not what I remember them to be. Everything was GREEN! 

Today we hit Mount Rushmore and crazy horse.  Mount Rushmore never gets old. It was Kyle's first time there and my third. Fun fact, Thomas Jefferson was the author of the original ice cream recipe. So of course we had to have Thomas Jefferson's ice cream made with his recipe.

We did drive into Custer State Park in the morning, but decided the price of the park was not worth driving around for 30 min. It's the same price for 10 min as it is for 10 days which doesn't make sense. 

We then headed into Wyoming and stopped at devils tower national park. Took a little hike around the rock. 

What you can't see are all the rock climbers way up on the cliff. Maybe next trip :)

Heading towards bighorn national forest where we plan to find a little cove back in to camp for the night. We are learning that national and state parks are over crowded and have stricter rules, whereas national forests are less crowded and "dispersed camping" is permitted (free camping and secluded). Tomorrow we will explore the grand Tetons.