05.03.2008

050308 Badlands Bighorns
The Badlands National Park . . . the start of our Western road trip vacation.

Western Wonderland Roadtrip
In early May, I took Chris Coates with me on my first trip home to the rolling fields of corn in central Nebraska in five years. My mission was to see the family and get underground as much as possible in what I lovingly refer to as my “old backyard,” which consists of western Nebraska, South Dakota, eastern Wyoming and Colorado.

And so the voyage started by packing the car and hitting the road after dark and driving the first leg of our trip: 20 hours to Sioux Falls, S.D. We were contacted by caver Bonny Armstrong, a Park Ranger at Jewel Cave, almost at our destination telling us of a freak blizzard that hit the Black Hills in South Dakota. We were unaware that we were heading further into the cold front with heavy rain and 30-degree temperatures. Our plans were to camp and rappel the next day at Palisades State Park. Needless to say, we opted for a hotel room.

That was the least of our worries, as Bonny told us Interstate 90 was shut down from Wall, S.D. into Wyoming. How were we going to get to the Black Hills? We would have to backtrack into northern Nebraska and take highways to access the southern part of the Hills. Fortunately, the next day reached temperatures in the 50s and the 13 inches of snow melted upon arrival the next evening.

050308 Badlands Us3

050308 Badlands Snow

050308 Badlands Mirror

050308 Badlands Car

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