Badlands National Park, part 1

Friday, June 2
We enjoyed the cool morning air while we walked the dogs around the campground, chatting with some of the other campers and wished them well as they hit the trail. Another round of folks will pull in this evening, seems few people stay more than a night or two. An occasional camper will stay 3, like us, or more.

Setting up camp here felt a little like the old tailgating days - not much space, but what a view! we do have a nice stretch of grass for our chairs, and the dogs have room to lounge and wrestle, and the view! Wow! We really enjoy the changing shadows as the light shifts throughout the day.

We had a quick breakfast and then, after settling the dogs in the trailer - air conditioning running and shades up in all the windows, we headed north.

Our first stop was at a privately operated historic site, the Prairie Homestead. The sod and dug-out structures are the original residence and farm buildings, not replicas, built here in 1909.

The home, barn, shed and chicken coop have all been well preserved, and visitors can actually step into the home and the outbuildings.

The home is furnished with period items, and the setting is very realistic, right down to the prairie dogs living in the front yard! They keep good company with the "prairie lawn mowers.

Prairie Lawnmower

These prairie dogs are special - white, rather than the usual fawn color. The owner of this establishment brought several here when the Pine Ridge Reservation was trying to minimize the numbers they had to deal with. White is an unusual color, so this setting preserves the variety.

Rather than feeling like a museum, this setting provides a pretty good example of what it would have been like to live on the prairie in those times. Interesting for anyone, but especially good for children. Experiences like this are few and far between, as the older buildings fall into disrepair or are so "protected" that the experience becomes sterile.
Prairie Homestead album

From the Prairie Homestead we traveled on to the Minuteman Missile historic site. The visitor center was interesting, with maps, diagrams and memorabilia from the cold war era. We remember it all quite vividly.  

After touring the visitor center we drove a short distance out to the location of one of the few silo remaining. Thee is a cell phone tour and map of the site available to explain the workings of the installation.
Minuteman Missile album


   We went on west a few miles to Wall for lunch and a quick trip to the post office. The visitor center for the National Grasslands is there too. I didn't realize there were so many sections, and this one visitor center represents them all.  After browsing their displays we decided it was time to get back to camp so we could take the pups for a walk.

When we were here in the Badlands last year it was so overcast there were few shadows to show off the erosion. We can't say that this time!

Bright, sunny, and hot during the day, the scene was made even more interesting when beautiful thunderheads came up in the afternoon, very picturesque!

We took advantage of the nice shadows to snap a few photos on the way back to camp.

These peaks, gullies, buttes, spires, and mesas are all carved from layers of sand and soil laid down thousands of years ago, as part of an ancient seabed. They layers trapped fossils of all kinds, including species with no known living relatives.

Back in camp we sat outside, watching the newcomers set up their camps, and watching the clouds and the occasional lightening strike. Winds eventually reached 28 mph according to our weather app, with gusts much higher. Eventually the gusts were so powerful we could hardly get the trailer door open, so we retired to the inside for the evening. Time to enjoy the view from all our windows, sans wind!!

Headin' North - to The Badlands!

Monday, May 29 - Liberal, Kansas
Named for a farmer who was very "liberal" in sharing water with those passing through, so they say. A very tidy little town, I can't say how "liberal" they are these days, but the folks we met while there were certainly friendly! We're just passing through, so we spent one night in the fairgrounds RV area. This is the cleanest RV parking area we've ever seen at a fairgrounds. The lot is wide, completely graveled, spaces are adequately large, and there's a Walmart grocery right across the street. What more can you need, and at $15 a night for electric and water the price is certainly right!

Tuesday, May 30 - Red Willow State Recreation Area, McCook, Nebraska
Another quick stop, as we've got reservations in the Badlands and can't take extra days to get there.

This very large campground was completely full over the holiday, so we heard, but when we pulled in there was only one other camper in residence.

Having the place basically to ourselves was nice, and the pups had a lot of freedom. The spaces are generous, both in width and depth, but there is little vegetation or other division between, so not much privacy. As with many parks in the northern states, there is no water at the individual sites, they are electric only, $28/night.

Wednesday, May 31 - Cottonwood Lake State Recreation Area, Merriman, Nebraska.
60 acre Cottonwood Lake is surrounded by 180 aces of sandhills - and those sandhills are full of birds, and they all sing all the time! What a musical experience! Definitely a bird sanctuary - too many species to list, but a list would include swans, warblers, redwing blackbirds, and many more.

We also saw a muskrat swimming across the lake. Good fishing, on some days. The lake looked like it would be nice for canoeing or kayaking. On the down side, the weather was cold and windy so we didn't spend as much time outside as we might have.

Take a gander at the picnic shelter shade near our site, 'recognize it?
That's a giant satellite dish - very practical roofing material!

Management of the camping area is pretty casual, and we were able to settle into an area that wasn't crowded so the dogs wouldn't bother anyone. . . there are ticks here in addition to all the lovely birds, so dog owners beware. I pulled two off of each dog this morning. There's an $8 park permit fee, and $8 per night camping fee.

The permit is good until noon, so it also served as our entrance permit to the Bowring Ranch State Historic Site, which we visited on Thursday morning on our way out of town.

Arthur and Eve Bowring were very successful ranchers, as well as active in their community, and in later years Eve Bowring was a U.S. Senator.

The visitor center details their lives and the history of the ranch, as well as the story of cattle ranching in the area. We found it very interesting as there are strong ties to Texas.

The ranch is still a working concern, and plump healthy Herefords are lounging by the fence to greet you when you arrive.

The sod house that was the first residence on the property has been preserved, as well as the more modern ranch house. A visit to the site is well worth the drive down the short, well maintained gravel road.

We took a short detour through the little town of Merriman and sited this collection of brands representing ranches in the sandhills area - it's a pretty collection of brands, and a demonstration of the number of ranches as well as the importance of cattle in the area.

Nebraska album

Caprock Canyons State Park, TX

Friday, May 26
Lake Colorado City
We stayed here in 2013, back when the drought was pretty bad, so there was little water in the lake. Now, the lake is looking pretty good, very picturesque, surrounded by red, rocky cliffs and cactus. It's hard to get to the water though, so no swimming for the dogs. Typical of reservoirs, the lake walls are steep, and in most place dense with cactus and brush. It's a good lake for boat fishing, and there's an area set aside for shore fishing, so a little something for everyone. It was HOT, but we managed to chase the shade and rest up a bit from all the loading up chores. More fun tomorrow!


Saturday, May 27
We're up and out early, and on to the next stop, Cap Rock Canyons State Park.

Access to the park is through a little town named Quitaque. You could work all day at trying to figure out how they pronounce that, so I'll save you some time. . . they put the phonetic spelling up on the sign coming into town, . . .  it's "Kitty-quay". Quitaque is billed as The Bison Capital of Texas, as the state park is home to the Texas State Bison Herd. The bison theme is evident all over this little town, population 411. Yes, that's about all it's been for many years, but it the cutest, cleanest little town we've ever seen. This beautiful mural is on the wall of what turned out to be a solid block of empty shops, the windows of which are all filled with wonderful museum type displays.

All the shop doors along the block are emblazoned with the Quintaque Country Club logo.  There are a few business still in operation - cafe, gas, groceries, farm supplies etc. There's also a pottery studio, beautifully interpreting the bison theme on their walls.

Our first afternoon in the campground was spent trying to keep the rig below the 102 degrees outside. The weather was predicted to be cooling, and it did. A terrific wind came up during the night, and by 5:30 the next morning (Sunday) the temperature had dropped to 56. Seems there's no middle ground around here!

The natural history of  this park is interesting, and old. These brilliant red spires were carved by river erosion into layers of sandstone laid down  280-250 million years ago, when this area was still under the ocean. Now, the land is high plains prairie, covered with grass, junipers, and a wide variety of other plant life. The park is a network of trails of various lengths, allowing everyone to get up close to the geology, but you can see a lot just following the park road to the various campground sections. The views are spectacular! These cliffs are a deeper red than any we have seen previously.

 Archaeological evidence puts humans and bison here 10-12,000 years ago. A nicely arranged information area has a replica of the bones found locally and also a nice shelter with additional information, and a lot of cliff swallows that are also taking advantage of the shelter.

The park is home to bats, a fern cave, antelope, prairie dogs, many varieties of birds, and . . . as evidence shows, some very large rattle snakes!

   
It makes sense that in an area with protected prairie the original occupants would thrive, so the park is home to the Texas State Bison Herd.
This is a unique herd of southern plains bison.
At his wife * Mary Ann's urging, famed cattleman Charles Goodnight started the herd in 1878. It is one of the five foundation herds that saved this animal from extinction.

From the park brochure, "Following the death of the Goodnights, the herd eventually faded from public awareness until wildlife conservationist Wolfgang Frey learned about the remaining herd of 50 or so bison on the JA Ranch and contacted the state of Texas in 1994. After genetic testing by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a rare genetic marker was discovered within the herd revealing it to be perhaps the last remaining group of southern plains bison. The JA Ranch donated the herd to Texas Parks and Wildlife, and in 1997 they were moved to Caprock Canyons State Park. Unique not only in its historical importance but also in its rare genetic makeup, the herd has been designated."
  ( * The link from Mary Ann's name provides a great history of the herd - worth the read!)

We heard from a ranger while we were at our last stop they were nursing a snake-bit buffalo calf here (sorry - bison - old habits - bison calf), so upon arrival we asked about it. It turns out, the cow had abandoned the calf, and that's why they had to bottle feed it, and it was also being treated for the rattlesnake bite. 'Not sure which event came first, but the little one is reported to be doing well.

We stayed in Honey Flat, space 14. Most of the full service (water and electric) campsites are comfortably wide, set back from the road, and carved into the brush so you have a bit of privacy. The park also provides a range of tenting and no service options. Restrooms with showers are available, but limited.

We've really enjoyed our stay here and there's plenty to do if we come back again. It's a beautiful park!


Caprock Canyons album

Tomorrow we depart for Kansas.