Traveling Across America Day 5: Bad Weather and Beautiful Colors

4 American icons

Believe it or not over 2 million people visit Mount Rushmore everyday. If you do the math that’s an average of about 5,500 people everyday. So, the fact that only six other people were there when we arrived was incredible.

We had free range to take all the cool and quirky pictures we wanted. There was only one problem: the weather was terrible.

Instead of clear and sunny like the last four days, today was overcast, rainy, windy, and freezing. Apparently everyone in Keystone realized this as well, because the only store in the entire town even open was the gas station.

After several pictures I could barely feel my hands, but we forced ourselves to walk the Presidential Trail (minus the audio, which was a mistake).

Bad weather in the Badlands

The bad weather only got worse as we entered Badlands National Park.

After passing the ranger station we could barely see any portion of the park. It was cloudy, foggy, and the rain was starting to pick up even more. We pulled over and talked about the idea of just skipping Badlands and heading straight to Sioux Falls. But that little voice inside spoke up: “When will you ever be back here?”

So, we drove on.

Within about fifteen minutes the rain let up and the normally bland painted hills were shining vibrantly from the water. It was still overcast, but we could actually see the Badlands, and it was definitely worth it.

We ended up hiking two trails:

Fossil Exhibit Trail. This trail was borderline terrible and unbelievably short.

Notch Trail. About a 1.5 mile hike in and hike out trail that was pretty dang incredible. There is a ~100 foot cable ladder at about the halfway point, which we actually didn’t use hiking in because someone was having trouble getting down. The trail then narrows to a gravelly ledge that you walk along until a pretty spectacular view of endless land.

Searching for wildlife

During the drive we saw several Bighorn Sheep, and a family of White-tailed deer.

The silent gray ghost

Along the way we saw deer, big horn sheep, rabbits, and then a lone coyote.

I slammed on my breaks in the middle of a winding road to see a single coyote standing chest deep in burnt yellow grass. Can you spot him?

At first he didn’t move, but then slowly he started to trot along the edge line until he was out of site.

Even though we had seen gray wolves and bears just two days ago, there was something special about the coyote. Something about the way he looked or move.

It was magical.

Other posts in the Traveling America series:

• Day 0: I’m Traveling Across America (And One Day You Should Too!)
• Day 1: Discovering Snake River and Eating Chick-fil-a
• Day 2: Someone Turned Down the Shoshone Falls
• Day 3: Face to Face With a Grizzly Bear
• Day 4: Rediscovering the True Wild and the Old West
• Day 5: Bad Weather and Beautiful Colors
• Day 6: Every City Needs Waterfalls
• Days 7 and 8: The Windy City is…Really Windy
• Day 10: The Most Beautiful Scenery and the Most Disgusting Hotel
• Days 11 and 12: New York Countryside and Massachusetts Coast
• Day 13: New Haven and Old Friends
• Day 14: The Land of the Free and Chocolatey
• Day 15: Science, God, and Disappointment
• Days 16, 17, and 18: The Blue Ridge Parkway (Still Amazing)