Amongst the pines of The Black Hills.

After finally finding the moon in The Badlands at 4am, I slept just a little bit better, just a little bit longer. However, we were quickly woken by some insane desert bird, just about a foot from my face. Being in mountain time, we keep getting thrown a bit off track and ended up starting our day quite early despite the pesky thing, after a really disgusting cup of Nescafe. We were already hiking The Notch Trail at 9am... and thank GOD. It is hotter than hell here. Let me just say this about that trail, INSANE. You moms would probably have died, had you seen it. When they say "difficult", they should have said, "psychotically treacherous". I will leave it at that!

So, The Badlands. WE LOVED THEM! It really was, like being on the moon.

We then made our way to Wall Drug. What can I say? A pretty lame tourist trap, and exactly what we expected. We just felt that after miles and miles of billboards telling us to go, that we had to. Yep, I got a free bumper sticker. No, it's not going on my car.

Finally, we arrived in Rapid City, and into The Black Hills. You're right, dad, you can just feel the difference once you enter. They are nothing short of breathtaking. We drove through Hill City and Custer, making our way to Custer State Park, where we talked to our first American Buffalo car-side. He was HUGE! He could have cared less what we said to him out the window, he just wanted to munch grass. Do you know those guys weigh up to a ton? That's nuts! After getting a bit more info from a ranger regarding the annual roundup tomorrow, we found our way to Rafter J Bar Ranch, for our second evening.

Tomorrow's agenda:
.American buffalo roundup at 9am; 1,300 of them at once!
.Wildlife loop
.Needles highway, leading to our hike starting from Lake Sylvan to Harney Peak; the highest point in the states, this side of The Rockies.
.Oh, and maybe Mount Rushmore..