In 2017, we approached Badlands NP on I-90 from Kadoka where we stayed overnight on the way from Minnesota. We then hopped on the route 240, the scenic road, that took us to various overlooks in Badlands NP. It was a beautiful drive and I was in awe with the badland's landscape. I remember taking a photo of Big Horns crossing the white salt flat between multi-colored badland hills from one of those overlooks. Then we followed 240 to Wall instead of continuing on the scenic route. I remember wanting to go down further on that road. But the scenic route from that point on wasn't paved and the car was also running out of the charge.
Badlands this time was a bust. Not only did I arrive in the late afternoon not leaving enough time to drive around the park, I also ended up taking route 40, a highway through interior, not the scenic drive, to get to East entrance. I had barely enough time to do Notch trail when I got to the East entrance, and then drive to Panorama point, well short of our route in 2017. Had I taken the scenic route from the west, I could've covered the section that we didn't in 2017. The upshot was that I ended up driving on not so interesting interior road and then only had 2 hours to do Notch Trail and retrace our steps.
Wyoming started turn green as I drove past The Great Divide basin. By the time I got to Casper, it was more Nebraska than Wyoming. In fact, the charging station there looked exactly like the one in Grand Island NE, complete with Sinclair gas station. From there, it was grasslands till you get to Badlands where the scenery over again turns western.
When we crossed the Missouri River in 2017 along I-90, the landscape turned western. It all fit. St. Louis on Missouri River, after all, is the gateway to the west. So I concluded SD was West. In reality though, SD is mostly green. It's only the south approaching Badlands that looks West. The rest of the state is grass lands and farm fields. In fact, the composition looks just like Nebraska whose west like, well, West, while the rest of the state is grass lands and farm fields.
North Dakota is even greener. In fact, I haven't seen anything that would qualify it as West. Even the badlands ere green in ND, the terrain around was green, and the oil field was green. The popular image of ND that of an oil state. And being an oil state would conjure up a landscape like Texas. Again, the imagination didn't agree with the reality when actually visited.
The light in Dickinson was mellow. It is in the far north of the country; the sun was less intense and lower on the horizon. I stayed in Dickinson and commuted to TRNP for 2 days. Medora would've been more convenient -- the picturesque town is right at the entrance to the park -- but the lodging there was naturally more expensive.
I slept at Tesla station at Wall after doing Badlands NP, grabbed a coffee from a gas station there and left early for ND. I reserved a room at Red Roof Inn in Dickinson on the way, and I got there early enough to do TRNP on the same day. I got my car charged and then went for lunch at King Buffet, a Chinese buffet restaurant. I think I ate there every day while I was in Dickinson. Good Chinese restaurant were everywhere, it seemed. Cedar City in Utah has a good Chinese buffet too, as I found out on my way back to CA months later.
TRNP is a large park with three separate units, with north and south units separated by almost 2 hours of driving. The south unit was off I-90, 30 minutes away from Dickinson. I had enough time to complete the loop. The loop was closed in the middle, so I had to come back out and do it in the other direction. In effect, I did the loop twice.
This is the best national park to see buffalos. YelloO Stone and others have them too, but not in the numbers that TRNP has. As I approached Boicourt overlook, buffalos were everywhere walking and lying next to the road.
The North Section had even more buffalos. I walked down a trail that was supposed to lead me to Little Missouri River following a creek. Soon after, a I passed a prairie dog town. Then I came up on a huge herd of buffalos. I didn't see it as I approached; they were hidden behind a hill. They didn't mind me, however. They went about grazing the grass and chasing flies off their hide.
Caprock Coolie, located in the North Unit, was the main attraction of the second day. It is a loop trail that goes up north from the main road, loops back and cross the road, and then loops back to the starting potin with the view of Little Mo to the south. The first half of the loop through the wood was rather mundane. Then, as soon as you cross the road, you come to the view of Little Mo and spectacular River Bend Overlook. From there, the views are nothing but mundane.
I drove all the way to Oxbow Overlook after I was done with Caprock Coolie for the final view of the Little Mo River.
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