The Badlands are so remote, un-inviting, and brutal. The homesteaders had to build their houses with sod bricks cut from the prairie, collecting cow chips for fuel, surviving harsh winters, horribly hot summers, and the farming was so difficult in this terrain that it was impossible to survive here.
The Lakotas survived nicely by their nomadic lifestyle by hunting bison until the combats with the settlers forced them into the reservations.
The Wall Drug Store may seem like the ultimate 'tourist trap' but it is aa heart warming of challenges and endurance. They bought the drug store in 1931 and Wall South Dakota had a population of 300+ people - all poor, all suffering from the Great Depression. Despite warnings of friends and relatives, they wanted to try to stick it out (for at least 5 years.) . The 5 year mark was approaching and things were not going well ---
Since it was hot, dry, dusty, and there were tourists at Mount Rushmore, traveling east on the highway and there were no restaurants and 'mini marts', she decided that they would all like a drink of ice water. She made signs and rhymes (like the Burma Shave) and put them out on the highway approaching Wall. SD. It turned out to save the store and it has become one of the big success stories of "You can do anything if you help give people what they need and want, and are nice, kind, and hardworking"
The place is filled with fun images of times past.
The bad lands have so many pinnacles, ugly rocks that look like sandstone, on top of the plains, it reminds me of the Cathedral Gorge - lots of erosion!
We were lucky enough to see several big horn sheep (pretty far away - but good to see them)
The area has a huge number of fossils and we were lucky enough to be able to watch them
"Prepping fossils" and watch the people separate the rock and sand from the fossils.
