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1997 |
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| My friend Jon and I arrived in the Badlands during the early afternoon hours. We drove to a parking area in the middle of the park and set out in search of a place called Deer Haven. We thought we could find a way to get around or over some of the smaller buttes. After walking around for a couple of hours we decided it was not possible and we returned to the car (which was a blessing in disguise later). Since it was late in the day, we decided to not backpack and instead drove to the Sage Creek Wilderness campground. We set up our tent and proceeded to eat dinner. We climbed one of the highest buttes in the area we could find and watched the sun set. It had been a beautiful day and a nice evening. We hiked back to camp and watched the stars come out and even the Hale Bopp comet. As we were getting ready for bed we could hear three different coyote packs howling at each other. |
| The next morning we woke up early so that we could see the sun rise. It was about 5:30 in the morning and we hiked about 15 minutes to the top of one butte and we waited. The sun started to peak up over the badlands, but clouds began to roll in. After we knew the sun would not give us the color and rise we wanted we went back to camp to get more sleep. However, the wind began to pick up and we decided it was best to pack up our things and get ready to go. As we were taking down the tent the wind picked up some more and broke one of our tent poles. We finally managed to get everything in the car before it really started raining. A thunderstorm was blowing in and we headed towards Rapid City. We were glad we did not make it to Deer Haven because we would have been caught in this weather. We made to Rapid City, had breakfast and drove to Deadwood, got a room and laid down on the beds for a nap. It was only 9:00 at that point but we had had quite a morning already. |
| After we hiked in the Black Hills we decided to give Deer Haven another chance. It was raining so after we waited a while, we ended up spending the night in Wall to see if it was better the next day. The next day, we drove to the parking area where we had parked before. It had been raining so the dirt was actually mud and the badlands were like ice. We found the area where we think we could climb to get to Deer Haven, however, it was too wet for us to go that day so we decided to get a head start on getting home. We vowed that we would return and discover Deer Haven. |
