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BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK TRIP REPORT
August 28 & 29, 2001
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My dad and I stopped in the Badlands for one night on our trip out west. We drove down the Sage Creek Road and saw many prairie dogs and buffalo until we reached the Sage Creek Campground. It was extremely windy, but we eventually were able to set up camp. Later, we hiked around the hills and saw even more prairie dogs living in a community where there were hundreds of holes. We climbed up a hill and saw a herd of buffalo off in the distance, but little did we know that we would have a close encounter with that herd the next day. We took a break and made dinner, which consisted of grilled chicken that we had bought in Wall. We were roughing it because we had no barbecue or honey mustard sauce to baste it in.

That night we hiked up to the top of a butte behind us to watch the sun set and the moon rise. The weather was great, but it began to cool off quickly. We were just happy that the wind died. During the night a herd of buffalo walked through the campground and made some noise, and a few deposits of course.

The next morning, as we packed up our tent a herd of buffalo moved through our campground. There were enough people around the force the buffalo to move into the grassy areas, but they still blocked the roads for several minutes as we tried to drive out. We stopped at several overlooks as we drove out of the park to our next destination.