Relishing Autumn in the Midwestern States
Hi again, friends! First and foremost, we hope that you had a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends! It’s hard to believe that the festivities have concluded; however, with that said, a new year brings endless possibilities for fun and adventures!
Second of all, we sincerely apologize for the delay in providing updates on our travels. Our time spent in Montana seems like only yesterday, but in reality, we were there in September! After our time in that gorgeous state, we visited both Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio over the course of 6 weeks. At the end of October, we drove to Florida to enjoy a few months of sunshine while we plan our 2023 adventures!
In this post, we share some of the fun we had this fall exploring National Parks in North Dakota and South Dakota! Heads up: there are a LOT of buffalo! In a subsequent post, we will summarize our travels for 2022 and reveal our plans for 2023! We are glad you are here – thank you so much for following along!
The Dakotas
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
There are two units in this North Dakota National Park. Both offer a scenic drive, wildlife and hiking trails. We spent a few days in the ‘South Unit’, which was beautiful and peaceful. We later learned that the ‘North Unit’ offers a distinct quiet and solitude and is said to be worth the 70 mile drive. Needless to say, it’s on our list to explore!
The stars of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are definitely the massive buffalo! What surprised us most is that they have free reign of the park, which includes the campground! Imagine my surprise when I was out for a walk and happened upon this giant mammal smack dab in the middle of someone’s campsite! Furthermore, a buffalo herd stopped us on the road and we saw several while hiking in the park. We have all seen the images of a buffalo taking part in ‘tourist tossing’, so Mark and I were sure to give plenty of space to this animal (while rapidly taking pictures, of course!).
In addition to the bison, Theodore Roosevelt National Park has elk, bighorn sheep, free-range horses and black-tailed prairie dogs. The scenery is a wide prairie land combined with colorful, rugged badlands. We saw wildlife everywhere and the park was even more beautiful with the early changing foliage colors!
(Click on any picture to open the gallery and read the captions)
Caves and more buffalo in South Dakota
Wind Cave National Park has several unique attributes rolled up into a single park. The underground cave system contains 95% of the world’s known calcite formations called ‘boxwork’. The prairie lands support a diverse ecosystem with about 30 miles of hiking trails. And, the Lakota Nation recognizes the natural entrance to Wind Cave as the birthplace of their people. To this day, the Lakota view the cave as a sacred place and they continue pray and celebrate here.
Much like Theodore Roosevelt NP, the buffalo and prairie dogs were abundant in the park lands. However, a visible predator was also in full force: the coyote. We were lucky to witness several coyote hunting the prairie dog towns. We mostly saw them running from burrow to burrow and we didn’t see any coyote successfully nab a prairie dog. However, watching this piece of nature was fascinating to both of us.
The Elk Mountain Campground (in Wind Cave NP) served as central point to explore more of the Black Hills of South Dakota. We used the opportunity to visit Jewel Cave NM and Custer State Park.
Jewel Cave National Monument is currently the 3rd longest cave in the world; however, scientists believe that with further exploration, it could easily take the #1 spot. As the name suggests, Jewel Cave, literally sparkles with calcite crystals and delicate strands of gypsum. Wind Cave and Jewel Cave were vastly different in their formations – if you are into ‘bling’, then Jewel Cave is made for you! In a word, Jewel Cave is breathtaking!
Custer, South Dakota is probably best known for the wildlife and geologic formations found in Custer State Park. However, Custer is a cute, artsy town and we went exploring one afternoon. During one of our first stops, a shopkeeper asked “Are you in town for the roundup?”
This was the second time (in two days) that we were asked about our attendance to the Annual Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup. The first time was in the Wind Cave gift shop. The volunteer working the cash register told us that we absolutely needed to extend our stay to go to the roundup!
So, when the shopkeeper asked if we were in town for the roundup, we looked at each other and then looked at the shopkeeper and said “I guess so!” She was excited by our response and proceeded to tell us that she attends every year! We later learned that the roundup is the second-highest revenue producing event in the state of South Dakota (second to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally).
The event website boasts “Once a year, you can see a herd of 1,400 bison thunder through Custer State Park” and “Each fall, the ground rumbles and the dust flies as cowboys, cowgirls and park crews saddle up to bring in the thundering herd.” I don’t know about you, but this all sounds like a ‘can’t miss’ event!
Cars start lining up for entrance to the roundup at 4:30 AM. The park gates open at 6:15 and the roundup starts promptly at 9:30. We were up before dawn on the day of the highly anticipated event and drove an hour to ensure the very best viewing spot! Once parked, then we waited. And waited. Then we saw the South Dakota governor and other officials parade on horseback. And we waited some more. And, finally, we watched 1400 buffalo amble across a field to holding pen where they would receive medical examinations. I am not kidding: Mark looked at me and asked “Is that it?” To which, I quickly responded “No, I think that was only the first heat. I am sure there is more to it.” Unfortunately, I was wrong. That was all there was. We waited for hours to watch strolling buffalo.
We later scanned the televised footage on You Tube and it was really exciting! The buffalo were thundering with flying dust and cowboys galore! In hindsight, maybe they [the buffalo] were simply exhausted by the time they reached the spectator area! We are glad we attended for the experience; however, this is a ‘one and done’ event for us!
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
In my humble opinion, Badlands National Park doesn’t receive nearly as much hype as it obviously should. This lesser known National Park certainly holds its own against some of the more popular parks. However, because it’s a well kept secret, the crowds were limited and the hiking trails were wide open!
While roughly half of this park is prairie grasslands, the other half consists of colorful, staggering rock formations. The erosion of the soft rock has exposed vibrant bands of silt, gravel and volcanic ash. Along with the erosion has come a plethora of fossils!
Mark was lucky enough to find a piece of jaw from an Oreodont. Oreodonts lived about 35 million years ago and likely looked like a mix between a camel, sheep, and pig. The Badlands are home several types of fossils including an ancient alligator, a large cat, and large mammals. Finding fossils is relatively common in this park. The NPS asks visitors to leave fossils where they are found, document the location, and notify a park ranger. We took all of these steps and in exchange, we received a patch! It was a fun discovery!
Within the park, there is a loop road and several short hiking trails. The park also allows hiking and camping in the wilderness; however, there are no backcountry trails (except for social trails) and the park doesn’t maintain signage because the buffalo knock them down!
This was an unexpected treat in our journey. We found the landscape to be absolutely beautiful during our time in this park. On our last day, a ranger asked us if we were staying through the weekend to attend the Badlands Buffalo Roundup. We looked at each other and then something like “That sounds great, but we really have to get going!” (This is Mark and Deb code for “No way, Jose!”)
Mitchell, South Dakota: Home to the World’s Only Corn Palace
If you ever drove across I-90 in South Dakota, then you know there are two main attractions: Wall Drug and the World’s Only Corn Palace! In 2021, we hit ’em both. Last fall, in the essence of time, I was asked to pick one. Lucky for me, it is the easiest choice in the world! THE CORN PALACE! Home to the local high school basketball team: The Fighting Kernals (their mascot is named Cornelius)! It is an entire building decorated WITH CORN!
Each year, organizers decorate the World’s Only Corn Palace with a theme in mind. Last year’s theme was Under the Big Top and the outdoor panels displayed pictures of circus animals, trapeze artists, and a ringmaster – all made of corn! It really is an a-maize-ing place! This year’s theme is Famous South Dakotans, so start planning your vacation now (it’s bound to be remar-cob-le)!
Continuing our journey east …
We left the World’s Only Corn Palace on October 4th. I had visions of exploring the fall foliage in some of our favorite northern states as we continued to head east toward Ohio.
In Minnesota, my vision became reality. The honeycrisp apples were in season and we stopped at local orchards for apples, cider and other treats. The fall colors we breathtaking and the leaves crunched under our feet as we enjoyed the warm fall weather. We spent a few nights in a quiet state park and feasted on dinner from a local butcher.
From Minnesota, we stopped in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a beautiful small and charming town. The Cleveland Guardians were in the playoffs and we found a great place for dinner and to watch the game on TV!
From Madison, we stopped to visit family in Chicago before continuing east to Michigan. We had plans to meander across the state while continuing east to Detroit and Cleveland.
We spent a total of 4 days between Warren Dunes State Park and Holland State Park. Both are on the striking shore of Lake Michigan. Our first day was picturesque. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors. And then … the rain kicked in. We slogged through a consistent 3 days of rain with more in the forecast. It was cold. And miserable. And we hightailed it out of there to head to the dry house of Mark’s parents! It was a near-perfect signal that it was time to conclude our 2022 time on the road!
After drying out, cleaning the van, and visiting with friends and family, we left Ohio to winter in Florida. We have been enjoying the Tampa sunshine since November 1st and don’t plan to head north until well into the spring! During our time in the Sunshine State, we will compose a 2022 recap of our travels (and post it soon)!
We hope you are doing great and that our paths cross in 2023! Thanks for following our adventures! Have a wonderful day!
Mark and Debbie
One thought on “Relishing Autumn in the Midwestern States”
Glad you’re back on line! I sure don’t remember the badlands looking that great! Maybe we’ll go back! Watching the Buffalo roundup on Tv, it was exciting!
Enjoy the 🌞!
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