Badlands National Park, SD are so Good.

Miles Driven: 24.7 September 9th Wall Drug, SD to The Badlands, SD
Total Miles: 2137.3
Entrance Fees: $15.00 (covered by America the Beautiful Pass)
Camping Fees: $14.00

Only minutes from Wall Drug, I entered the Badlands via the Pinnacles Entrance.  In another 10 minutes or so and around a corner, bang, your jaw drops and you almost drive off the road.  The Badlands are breathtaking. They appear out of nowhere. What you see is absolutely amazing.  It is hard to put into words what you see.  The Badlands are notched into the landscape in some areas, while in other places they grow up out of the ground.

Pinnacles Overlook Storm Approaching Badlands, SD

Pinnacles Overlook The Badlands, SD

Pinnacles Overlook is where I stopped and stayed for hours just taking in the sites with over 300 photographs.  In the distance, a storm was approaching, which made great scenic shots.  Some goats came wandering up out of the canyon and started munching on the grass growing around the parking area.  The males had  neck tags on to monitor their whereabouts.

Mountain Goats Pinnacles Overlook Badlands, SD

Lightening Bolt Camp Site Badlands, SD

As the sun was setting I drove further into the Badlands to look for a camp site.  Driving around the roads in the waning light looking at all the different kinds of rock formations gave me ideas on where to head out in the morning.  The storm was getting closer and closer and I wanted to get my tent up before it started to rain.  The wind picked up and I had to steak the tent and fly down.   As soon as the tent was up and secured the winds and rain came.  The storm, which looked great in the distance was not great in the here and now.  There were massive jagged bolts of lightening lighting up the sky.  The thunder vibrating off the rocks at times was deafening.  Trying to take a photograph of lightening is somewhat impossible.  My Nikon D90 wants to focus on an object before you can take a photograph, trying to focus manually on an object that is not there yet does not work.  So I opted to try with my little Sony point and shoot digital camera.  I had some luck, but again shooting in the dark waiting for lightening to happen is hard.  The shot I did get is a bit out of focus but it should give you an idea of the storm.

Raining for hours my tent was starting to leak in each corner.  Finding only socks in the dark I soaked up the water and rang it out in a plastic container, which I then had to empty out.  These actions were repeated well into the night.  Several hours later the rain stopped and I could get some sleep.