Having been to the Badlands many times in the past, I choose to enjoy the night sky and sunsets for the most part of my trip. I did enjoy looking out at some of the vistas and hikes but I have already discussed on past blogs. As a Ranger talk person, I go to as many as I can, I was able to go to two different talks. The talks were about 30 minutes about the history and then another 30 minutes about the night sky. Both of the first part of the Ranger talks talked about the history and animals that were in the park. Many of the animals in the park you can find their fossils. Crazy thing about the fossils is that one day you can’t see them and then a rain will come and then the fossil will be unearthed. The hills in Badlands are very sandy type dirt and is washed away by the rain. Fun fact is that the largest fossil find in the park was actually found by visitors to the park! Rules are to leave the fossil alone, take photos and even use something to denote size, drop a pin on your phone to be able to find it again, and then report the findings. If you report in person you can get your photo on the fossil wall of fame in the visitor center. Night one of the night sky the ranger pointed to an area and said that is the Milky Way as you can see the clouds in the stars. Well I was there with my camera and have to say no such luck. I was in the area looking where he pointed for a few hours but nothing and then clouds moved into the area and I walked back to my campsite. Night two I decided to look myself and low and behold I was able to see the Milky Way but the foreground of the hills was not to be had so I tried some trees and the ranger’s center for talks at the amphitheater. I think a good one or two of the Milky Way were had on night two. Photos of the sunset was good as the sun went down over some hills just before it went down for the entire area at night. The timing allowed some great colors in the night sky.
