The Badlands

South Dakota was a new state for the kiddos (for the oldest 3 it's their 44th state.  Little Guy wasn't alive when we went on our Minnesota trip, so he's missing 2 states the others have). It stormed on our drive in, but we were greeted at the hotel with a beautiful rainbow.

We woke up early in the morning and headed straight to Badlands National Park.  I took way too many pictures, but I couldn't help myself, because the landscape was absolutely stunning and so interesting.  We entered at the Pinnacles Entrance and worked our way across.  1st stop: Pinnacles Outlook!

We then drove around to the Yellow Mounds.  Each color is a timestamp of a layer of geology.  Little Guy loved the bunny.

We walked along the Fossil Exhibit Trail.  It was nerdy geology exploration time.

We got to the visitor's center just as started to down pour.  We were afraid it was going to ruin the 2 hikes we wanted to go on, but by the time we were done it had slowed to a drizzle.  We got out and walked part of the Cliff Shelf, and it stopped raining.  

We walked the short boardwalk of Winder Trailhead, because we thought for sure the Notch Trail would be too slick and muddy, but we decided to just try it, and I'm so glad we did, because it was a great hike.

We actually climbed up the side rather than use the ladder, because there was a long wait for people trying to get down it, and it's one person at a time.

The climb down was a bit more slippery with the mud, but for the most part the trail itself wasn't bad.

You can see the pooled water from the earlier rain storm.  It was a great hike and the weather held out enough for us to see the Big Badlands Overlook. 

We loved our time at the Badlands!