Day 6: A Corn Palace and The Badlands

Day 6 of our road trip started at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota.

I woke up early, which had been my plan. I wanted to get a little hiking in on my own while the kids were still asleep, then maybe do something shorter and more family-friendly with Kelly and the boys once everyone was up.

It was a peaceful morning. Blue Mounds reminded me a little of Boulder Knoll back in Cheshire. Not exactly the same, obviously, but in the sense that it was not overly dramatic. It was just quiet, open, and beautiful in a simple way. I saw a few deer while I was out there, but I did not see the bison on that hike. I knew they were in the park, but I also knew they were in a different area, so I was not really expecting to come across them there.

I also passed the quartzite outcrops and old quarry areas, where you can still see marks in the stone. Seeing that kind of thing always makes me think about how long people have been connected to these places before they became parks or road trip stops. It is a sad reminder, too, that this is land that was taken from people who had been here long before us. There is often so little evidence left of that history, at least to an untrained eye, and it is something I try to appreciate and talk to the kids about as we travel.

When I got back, Brian and Connor were already outside with Blue, the stray kitten from the night before, falling even more deeply in love with her.

We had to decide how much more time to spend at Blue Mounds. It was a beautiful place, and we could have done a longer family hike there. But the plan for the day was to drive west into South Dakota and get to the Badlands, and we knew we wanted as much time there as possible. So we decided to skip the family hike and just bring the kids up to the bison overlook before leaving.

I think that was the right call. The kids saw their first bison of the trip, which felt like a pretty big moment. It made it feel like we were reaching the west. 

From there, we got back on the road and started toward the Badlands.

Road Trip Stops and the Corn Palace

For our main stop along the way, we landed on the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was free to go in, and it was exactly the kind of strange roadside stop you hope to find on a roadtrip like this. They gave some history of the building, why it was there, and how it is still used. It is not just a tourist attraction. It is also a working event space, with concerts and basketball and other events inside.

There was some kind of craft fair or vendor setup happening on the floor when we were there, which was kind of fun. We got popcorn and corn dogs, looked around for a bit, and then kept going.

On the drive, we watched another World Cup game in the truck. I had bought something before the trip that lets the kids watch live TV through the infotainment system, which has turned out to be pretty cool for long drives.

Eventually we made it to the KOA near the Badlands. The kids were hoping it would have one of the bounce pads that a lot of KOAs have, but it did not. Then we figured at least there was a pool, but when I went inside, there was a big sign saying the pool was closed. It was hot, probably around 90 degrees, so that would have been nice. But we were not really there for the campground anyway.

We got settled, got the kids some food, and then headed into Badlands National Park.

Hiking the Badlands at Sunset

Our first hike was the Notch Trail. I had read about it before coming and had seen it on one of the travel shows we watched, so I thought I had a decent idea of what we were getting into.

I did not.

The kids did fantastic. Owen wanted to pretend we were on Mars, and honestly, it did feel a little like that. He was so excited, running all over the place, while Brian and Connor did a great job trying to keep him from getting into trouble.

There are a lot of ways to get hurt in Badlands. Ledges, sharp rocks, rattlesnakes, loose footing, steep drop-offs. And then you add a kid who likes to run full speed without always thinking about what is around him. So it was definitely a stressful hike, but also a very memorable one.

We made our way through the canyon until we reached the ladder.

The ladder looked cool, and the kids were excited. We made a plan: Kelly would go first, then Brian, Connor, and Owen, and I would come up behind everyone. My thinking was that if anyone slipped or fell backward, I would be there to catch them.

They did great going up. I am sure they were a little scared, because it gets steep and you feel very high at certain points. But they handled it really well, and getting to the top felt like a real accomplishment for the boys. For us too, honestly.

At the top, the trail continues along a narrow ledge. We started down it and thought maybe we could do it safely, but the farther we went, the more I realized it was not worth the risk. One wrong step could have been a serious fall.

A few months earlier, I had almost fallen off a cliff while hiking in France. I am an experienced hiker, and I am pretty cautious with this kind of thing, and that still scared me. So if it could happen to me, it could happen to one of the kids. Even though everyone felt like they could keep going, I made the call that it was not right for us as a family, and we turned around.

It was still rewarding.

Coming back down the ladder was a lot harder than going up. We took our time. On the way down, we could see cliff swallows flying around above us, moving between their nests tucked into the rock. You could see little beaks sticking out from some of them. It was another thing we had seen on nature shows as a family, and it was pretty cool to see it in real life. The boys connected it back to episodes of Wild Kratts they had watched, which made it even better.

After Notch, we went over to the Window and Door trails for a little more exploring.

The Door Trail was probably my favorite. It was incredibly scenic, especially at that time of day. You really do feel like you are walking around on another planet. There are huge eroded formations and ravines all around you, and you have to pay attention to where you step. But if you slow down and look around, the views are incredible.

We were there near sunset, so everything had this golden color across the landscape. Our shadows stretched far out in front of us, and the whole place looked completely different from anything else we had seen so far on the trip.

By then, the kids were tired and we were tired, so we called it a day and headed back to the campground.

It had been a full day: waking up on the prairie in Minnesota, saying goodbye to Blue, seeing our first bison of the trip, stopping at the Corn Palace, and then ending the night hiking through the Badlands at sunset.

A long day, but a good one.