An Outdoor Laboratory: Day Two in Badlands NP

“Let Nature be your teacher.”
William Wordsworth

Badlands National Park is the kid’s classroom for the day. The teacher in me frets about them missing a day of school online because I don’t want them to fall behind. I have to remind myself that the hands-on learning in the parks is priceless. They’ll catch up on their classroom activities tonight when they log in to their Google Classrooms back at camp.

I am so glad we took the day to explore. We started with a walk along the fossil exhibit trail, and the kids loved to see models of some of the fossils found here. They learned that some animals could not adapt or move to new locations and so became extinct. Other animals adapted to the changing environment and so we see animals that resemble them today.

Ron took us off trail and we ventured into another gully. So many amazing landscapes to see. I’m thankful for his adventurous spirit because he takes us on these excursions that show us more than we would have seen otherwise. The kids just love to explore and they seem to have no fear. I don’t know how many times I did that “mom lunge” forward as if I needed to catch them. We all made it out unscathed and richer for the experience. Again Ron left without finding fossils but I know his adventurous soul was fulfilled.

Along the drive we stopped at all the viewpoints that I missed the day before. I now realize that I am becoming like my dad when I take pictures. I take pictures of the signs and viewpoint informative signs so that I know what I have taken pictures of. Lol I ask Ron to stop a lot so that I can take pictures. And he does, because this is what memories are made of.

Ron’s fun new pastime: taking pictures of me taking pictures

We stopped for lunch at our favourite spot and the kids enjoyed playing on the butte again. I will miss this scenic picnic site for sure.

On our last loop out of the park we stopped to watch the town of prairie dogs. I honestly could have sat here all afternoon. I remember going to the zoo with my Grandma when I was little and she loved the prairie dogs. Watching them today made me smile because it reminded me of watching them with her and her cute giggle as she watched them run and bark at each other.

Ron really wanted to see the Minuteman Missile site, so that was our next stop. It was very interesting to see and learn about, but I will admit that it was also scary as well. To think that there are weapons out there that can do so much damage. Just under half of all the Minuteman Missile sites have been decommissioned in the USA. Walking through the museum, I remembered the story my mom told me about the missile attack drills they did when she was growing up—and this was in Canada. I did fire drills and earthquake drills with my students, but how scary as a small child to have to think about missiles as well.

On the way back to the campsite, we visited the Prairie Homestead, which is an original 1909 sod dugout home and farmstead near the entrance to the Badlands. Taking that step back in time made us realize that you truly don’t need a lot of “things” to survive. They had everything they needed, yet with a beautiful simplicity.

As an extra treat for me there was a prairie dog town around the old homestead. Most of them were white Prairie Dogs, apparently the expression of a recessive gene. Not the best recessive gene to have since they stick out like a sore thumb against the brown and green landscape, but they seem to be thriving. I took way too many pictures and videos of these funny and adorable rodents. We also finally saw a bison and some more bighorn sheep.

Back at camp we took the pups for a walk along the river and around the campsite. The walk introduced us to “stickers”—awful low-lying weeds that stick in your dogs paws. Ariel also learned the hard way that you keep your shoes on when walking across a field. She and Maggie are OK, but I will have to keep my eye out from now on. I’m sure we’ll meet many more aggravating hazards to the pups and kiddos in the course of this trip.