4340. Go to Badlands National Park in Interior

Being the National Park Geek that I am, I tried to fit in as many National Park sites as time allowed. Badlands National Park was perfect for this trip. It was an alternative to take I-90 and you could drive SD 240 through the park and end up at Wall Drug.

Badlands National Park is located in Interior. It has two entrances, the NE Entrance in Interior and the Pinnacles Entrance in the NW near Wall Drug. It is $30/car for 7 days or if you have the National Park pass you get in free. If you are planning on visiting more National Park sites in and around South Dakota, I would get the National Park Pass since it's $80 and is good for a whole year. 

There are plenty of overlooks to stop at and trails to hike. We stopped at many overlooks so I could take pictures. The formations were unbelievable. The yellow rocks was my favorite.

This is probably one of my favorite loops we've driven. There are not crazy switchbacks to get to the loop. The park is almost right off the highway so you are not wasting time trying to get to the park when you're on a time crunch. There is plenty to see right from the car and don't have to get out. It would rank up there with the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest as my favorite National Park drives to date.

It is 104 out. We did not do much hiking. I was afraid my flip flops would melt to the ground. I wanted to hike the Notch Trail which is a trail with a ladder at the end but not in that heat. We did walk part of the Window Trail. It was the only time the hubby got out of the car. That is a nice trail.

We did not see any wildlife. There is mountain goats, buffalo, prairie dogs, and wide variety of birds and other wild life. Like usually we did not see even a squirrel. We saw some birds but no buffalo or goats. I think they smell me coming and go hide. 

I've talked to several people that are not impressed by the Badlands and others that are in awe with it.  We thought they were amazing and can't wait to go back. It is a personal preference but The Badlands are definitely worth checking out at least once even if you are not into hiking. 

4651. Go to Arches National Park in Moab

 I showed pictures of Arches National Monument to the hubby and he said we need to go. While planning, I saw that we could hit Kolob Canyon section of Zion National Park since it is literally right off the interstate and skip Arches this time around. The hubby gave me that look that said "we aren't going to Arches?" So I planned on hitting both even if we got to Arches after the visitor center closed. We never made it to Zion because it was closed to an unexpected snow storm.

To get to Arches National Park, you get off 1-70 and travel 27 miles down a state highway towards the city of Moab. So not quite off the highway. It is a fairly flat stretch of highway with a few curves. If you are into hiking or camping, there are plenty of options along the route.

Once you get to Arches you will either need the National Park pass or pay $30 entrance fee. If you are traveling there between April and October, you will also need a timed entry pass if you are going to be there between 6 am and 5 pm. This is to avoid long waits to get in and avoid over crowding at the park. We had our national park pass and since it's March, no timed entry was needed.

Because we arrived after 4, the visitor center was closed. No stamp for me. I will write and request one.

This is where I nearly killed the hubby for the third time this trip. I failed to do proper research. I checked the roads to make sure no hairpin turns, bridges, etc and everything looked flat and an easy drive. What I didn't realize was into to actually see the Arches, you had to drive to the top of a cliff. It is narrow two lane road full of switchbacks. I told the hubby if he can make it up, I can get us down. He reluctantly agreed. There are pull offs on the way up to let faster traffic go by as well let the hubby calm his nerves. There are no pull offs on the way down. Once you get past the first of the four switchbacks on the way down, it is not so bad. I literally counted switchbacks to get down.

After making it to the top, we then followed the park road to see the park. Due to time, I know we could never see the entire scenic drive and opted to drive to the Windows Area to see the double Arch. 

Our first stop was the Park Avenue Viewpoint. It was the only spot I actually got out. It was cold and windy. I did not have proper footwear (sandals) on. Besides the hubby was cranky due to his vertigo was acting up. 

We then passed Balance Rock which is one of the more famous locations in the park.

We got to Windows and I thought about getting out but we could get a good view from the car so I did not. Besides parking is limited and there were people.

We saw a lot of Arches and rock formations on our way up and back down. I was perfectly happy with the amount of the park we saw. It is amazing to see what nature can do to a landscape.

Even though we only saw a small portion of the park and did not do any hiking, we did get to see a lot of arches and other rock formations. If we did not have the National Park Pass, it would not have been worth the $30 for what little we did but with the National Park pass, it was fine. 

Hopefully one day, I will get back and be able to explore more. It is a great spot to hike and enjoy nature. It does get busy and hot in summer. So this would definitely be a spring/fall trip. I know the hubby would never make it up the switchbacks again so I would need to find another willing companion to join me. 

1207. Go to Saguaro National Park in Tucson

 When I started planning our Arizona trip without baseball, my cousin told me about the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. I decided we should check it out along with Saguaro National Park since we were going to be in Tucson and I wasn't sure when we would be there again. Plans changed and I found college baseball but still kept Saguaro National Park on the agenda.

Part of my wanting to go to Saguaro was that we are planning on going to South Dakota in September and would need a National Park pass to help with park fees. Since I would need one in September, might as well get one now and get our money out of it. The Annual America the Beautiful National Park Pass is $80 and covers most entrance fees into the National Park System and is good for one year. Picking up one this year made sense. We had one a few years ago when we went to the Grand Canyon and really didn't get our money's worth out of it, this year we would definitely get our money out of it. 

Saguaro National Park is split into the East and West sections with the city of Tucson in the middle. My original plan was to visit the east side because it was near the museum but with going to the baseball game, the west side made sense. 

To get to the Visitor Center to buy our park pass and get my stamp, is about 20 miles into the park. We drove up a winding, hilly road through the National Park, then back to public land, and back on National Park land before reaching the visitor center. You can actually view this part of the park without paying but once you get to the visitor center and anything beyond you need to pay. 

We bought our park pass, which I immediately misplaced (and found in the same spot I left it), and got my stamp. Then we explored a few short trails around the visitor center. The hubby was grumpy by the gravel trail. 

My original plan was to drive the scenic route through the park which was a dirt road but do to bad planning and not realizing the visitor center was so far into the park, we really didn't have time before the game. So we took a different road out of the park and still saw plenty of cacti.

I would love to go back and explore more of the park but then again it's just a bunch of big cacti. You see one cacti, you've seen them all. They all look the same. It would be nice to see them when they are flowering though. Maybe one day when we have more than 2 or 3 days in Arizona.