Travels of the Agnew Family in the "Dog House" 2006-2007

First stop today was the visitor’s center where we learned about the geology and history of the area. With our new knowledge in hand we started the 29-mile drive through the park. Along the drive we saw some great scenery, beautiful wildflowers including flowering cactus (I was surprised to see cactus as the winters can be pretty harsh here), mule deer, lots of rabbits, a couple of prairie dog towns complete with prairie dogs and Mountain Bluebirds.

The end of the drive is near the town of Wall, so having seen a million or so billboards (Ok probably only 50) for Wall Drug we decided to go and check it out. Wall Drug has been around since the early 30’s. The owner of the store was disappointed that a lot of the traffic passing by town didn’t stop, so they decided to advertise “free ice water”. Well, that changed things --- people started stopping and the store grew. The store is the size of a city block and continues to expand. They sell the normal drug store items and much more …. toys, gift items, souvenirs, art work, jewelry, western wear. It also has a restaurant where you can get your free ice water and a 5 cent coffee and they make their own cake donuts, delicious.

Returning to the park, we decided to do four short hikes. Two of the hikes took us to vantage points overlooking the badlands where the view reminded us of Bryce Canyon but on a much small scale. The third hike gave us a great view of the low lands. The last hike was longest and the most interesting. You walked among the hills then climbed a ladder to get to a higher level. Here you were able to see the different layers of rocks and veins of different types of rock. The trail ended with a view of the third trail and the low lands.

A field of flowers looking towards the badlands


White tailed deer grazing.


A unique hill --- note the strata lines.


A view of the badlands


Another view of the badlands with a couple of good lookers in the foreground.


One of the many prairie dogs in the prairie dog town.


This cute little guy sat near the truck for the 10 minutes we watched the prairie dogs.


The picture says it all.


One of the many rooms inside Wall Drug


Zaph wasn't available for posing so I stepped in.


Now that's a mighty big prairie dog!


Prickly Pear in bloom.


Another view of the badlands


Made it up the ladder --- going down is going to be harder!


An unusual camper --- we're pretty sure that it's from Germany.