76.49 mi / 5:58:20 time / 12.8 mph avg. / 32.0 mph max. / 2608 ft. climbing
Staying at Badlands National Park Campground

It seems like my previous tours have had a day, about a week or so in, that make me say “yeah, now that’s why I do these rides!” Well, I’m still waiting for that day on this tour. Haha, no, just kidding! Today was totally that day!

Not only was there no rain today, there was barely even a cloud. That meant that my thermometer eventually reached 105 (I’m presuming it exaggerates a bit while in the sun, but even in the shade it said 97). It never really felt too bad though, probably because of that “dry heat” thing, as well as a strong south breeze.

The area west of Murdo was even more empty and “Dances With Wolves”-like than before; lots of rolling grassland with plenty of rolled up hay bales, but not a lot of cattle, and not a lot of buildings suggesting that the land belonged to someone. Since Old Highway 16 / Business 90 spent a lot of time quite close to I-90, I did see plenty of signs for Wall Drug and other various tourist nonsense. Last night in Murdo I spoke to an older local couple who was quite knowledgeable about the area, and when they found out I was getting away from the Interstate and going through the Badlands, they said “Oh…but then you’ll miss Wall Drug! It’s really quite something.” I was surprised they’d say such a ting, but then I figured that maybe it’s just what you’re used to. Living near one of the biggest cities in the country, I’m constantly inundated with crass commercialism; out here, there are usually no businesses in a town that are even part of a chain. So the opportunity to experience crass commercialism must be just as exciting to them as experiencing natural beauty is to me. I passed someplace called “1880 Town” that has a logo (and full-size model alongside the road that I saw) of a boy leading a dinosaur skeleton. I didn’t even bother to check if it was some kind of weirdo Christian fundamentalist thing. It is interesting to notice that a large percentage of vehicles traveling I-90 appear to be vacationers of some sort: either RVs, or cars and SUVs with bicycles strapped to the back.

I did some more ups and downs today, climbing 50ft, then dropping 30, and so on. When I crested one hill at something like 2700ft., I looked to my left, and wow, there are some badlands! I walked off into the grass to take a picture, and almost stepped on a cactus. This was still a long way from the National Park, but then as I got closer, I could see the jagged cliffs rising up above the landscape.

The park is amazingly beautiful. Since it was a short day, and I crossed into Mountain Time at some undefined point (“gaining” an extra hour), I got into the park at around 2pm. Before going down to the campground, I took a hike up “Notch Trail”, which is labelled “strenuous”. Of course, that means it was almost empty. And it was quite strenuous, and dangerous, with a rope-and-log ladder you had to climb and plenty of cliffs you could fall off. That’s my kind of trail, with a great view at the end (and really, you can roam free and go hiking/climbing anywhere in the park). Then I rode over to the campground, realizing that it was perhaps the first time I’d rode at ~10mph without minding at all, because there was just so much for me to gawk at. I grabbed a campsite, worked on my bike a bit (there aren’t many trees, but each campsite has a wooden awning over the picnic table, which is really nice), and then got some dinner at the park restaurant while I waited for the sun to get lower.

Then it was over to “Saddle Trail”, another steep, treacherous climb, and plenty more incredible views, with the setting sun lighting up the cliffs. I climbed up to the very peak of a mountain and sat there all monk-like to watch the sun disappear. Then I turned around, and there was the almost-full moon rising. Perfect. I managed to get back down from the mountain without killing myself, and now the moon is even lighting up camp. Now I think I’ll go to sleep while listening to Calexico’s “Feast of Wire”.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 2:47 pm and is filed under bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.