Road Trip April - Day 25

April 6th 2026 (Easter Monday)

Boy did we sleep well last night! So much so, we were a little slow getting going this morning. The weather has gone back to being bitterly cold and overcast so not inspiring us to get up & go either!

Today's trip is to see Badlands National Park, it's just under an hours drive from the campground. On the way we kept seeing countless billboards advertising the amazing 'Wall Drug Store' and the sheer volume of signs meant it'd be rude not to go see what it's all about. So a slight detour... and... well....

Inside the Wall Drug store in South Dakota

Some of the history of the Wall Drug Store in South Dakota

The history of the place has been somewhat ruined by making it such a tourist attraction, although the decor inside the buildings have been done really nicely, with some interesting artifacts scattered around if you want to hunt for them, its all just been done to maximise tourist interest and take your money, like a theme park. As nice as it was, it really wasn't our thing and the essence of the old historic side of things has been completely lost. The only good thing from our visit, was we finally got to try a bison burger when we stopped for a bite of lunch at the cafe there. 

After lunch it was a short drive to Badlands National Park, entry is covered if you have an annual park pass. When we entered the park I truthfully hadn't anticipated the sheer expanse of the rock formations. Oh, I've been to the grand canyon, and of course this isn't to that scale by any means, but I really hadn't expected what I did see. Driving round the 244,000 acres and seeing the endless geological marvel go on mile, upon mile is quite mind-blowing.

Badlands National Park view across

Badlands National Park roadside view

View across Badlands National Park in South Dakota

Badlands National Park view spot to walk around

At times and with the light levels being what they were there was a couple moments when we said it looked just like a picture background on a movie set, not real at all, other times it reminded me of a Star Wars movie set. It truly is mesmerising and you can't help yourself taking picture after picture of the rocks - but I'll not subject you to them all lol. During our drive round we had more bison roaming freely, bighorn sheep and plenty of prairie dogs to watch.

The journey home Fred decided to go a different way.... this turned out to be a gravel road some 5 miles long, that shaked and shook us the whole time with the bumpiness of the "road". We also had a brief bison stampede happen as we went past them, but after awhile we were finally returned to tarmac.... though the initial first 2 miles of this road was covered in warning signs of "caution, uneven road", we had to laugh at the irony of it all.

Finally we arrived back to our campsite for our last night in Rapid City. Tomorrow we start the long journey home.... via Wisconsin as there is something I want to see, and as we're kind of passing lol.

Road Trip Day 25 - we've driven approximately 126 Miles today!