Day 48: South Dakota to Minnesota

 Saturday, June 29

With much reluctance, we left our lovely boondocking site on Nomad View in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and drove into the nearby kitschy town of Wall SD, home of the original Wall Drug store and now a tourist mecca off I-90. Here you can always get a free cup of ice water if a five-cent cup of coffee and see Western art for free and explore the bizarre city block.

Then we headed east across I-90 to Chamberlain SD and the impressive 2016 Dignity of Earth and Sky statue and the Lewis and Clark rest area. 

We continued our eastward journey to Sioux Falls SD and parked at Falls Park to see the falls from the free observation tower and by climbing on the rocks at the side of the river. 

Finally, we headed east again on I-90 another couple hundred miles into Minnesota. We treated Vanna to a well-needed shower (she needed it even more than we do) and got most of the mud and dead bugs off of her. Then we settled into our Walmartdocking spot at the Walmart Supercenter in Austin MN for the night.

Day 47: Badlands and Mount Rushmore

 Wednesday, June 26

We pretty much just drove all day (over ten hours) from Hinton, Alberta (west of Edmonton) to Lyndon, Saskatchewan (near Regina), where we stayed at a municipal park for $25 Canadian, I actually ran a mile or so, and got showers!

Thursday, June 27

Another driving day from Lumsden, Saskatchewan and crossing back into the USA and ending outside Badlands NP near Wall, SD on the most amazing boondocking site called Nomad View. Here, I flew my drone to show pictures of the area and lost remote control connection so was unable to land or find it. I am still mourning the loss of my drone. And the Phillies lost Harper and Schwarbwr to injuries, not to mention that debacle of a Presidential debate! Some good sunset views from our site though.

Friday, June 28

We got up at 5 AM for sunrise over the badlands at our Buffalo Gap National Grasslands site on Nomad View just one mile from the entrance to Badlands NP. Driving the park roads at this hour is amazing as all the wildlife are out without any crowds and with cool temperatures. The prairie wind and sounds of the birds were so soothing to my soul. We saw bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and bighorn sheep all very close to the road.

Then there are the views of the badlands themselves. And we did several short hikes called the Window, the notch, the Door, and Shelf Nature trails. One involved climbing this really long ladder on the side of the hill.

After a picnic lunch at the Visitor Center, we drove 1:45 west to Mount Rushmore and walked the Trail of the Presidents. So different from 1992 when we could just drive right up and there wasn’t so much fanfare and staging.

Then we drove back 1:40 to our boondocking site on Nomad View again. Another beautiful night!

Day 44: Icefields Parkway and Jasper NP

Tuesday, June 25

After sleeping in til 8, we made blueberry pancakes in the van with my homemade maple syrup for breakfast. Then we started out on the Icefields Parkway to pick up where we left off yesterday heading north. We did stop again at Herbert Lake and Waterfowl Lake for some reflection and the mountains first.  

Once we passed the Columbia Icefield and its several glaciers, we were in Jasper NP. Last time we were here in 2010, they had snocoach tours of the glacier, but it has receded so much since then (thank you global warming) that they now only do bus tours to an overlook and take some passengers by van to the glacier. It’s kinda sad to see so much change so fast.

The next photo stops were at Sunwapta Falls, Athabasca Falls, and Mount Edith Cavell with Angel Glacier. 

Then we stopped in the town of Jasper to renew our park pass for another day (it expired at 4 pm), see the historic train station and totem pole, and grab some pizza before heading to the Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake, and Maligne Lake area on the eastern side of the park. 

I would say that there is a noticeable difference between Jasper and Banff national parks. Jasper is more wild and rugged with fewer tourists while Banff is more boreal and polished and has greater infrastructure for tourism. Today, for example, we saw a huge male elk, bighorn sheep, bald eagles, and a black bear in Jasper. We exited Jasper at the northern end taking 16Emeast about an hour to a Walmart parking lot in Hinton, where we camped overnight.