Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 8 – Rain Everywhere

This is a continuation of rainy day, iPhone photography in Badlands NP, South Dakota in June of 2025.

I made many other iPhone images this rainy day, but these are representative of all the scenes.

I knew I could not return to my favorite camping area, which would be too muddy to get into and out of, so I went to the more popular, and usually crowded, Buffalo Gap Grassland BLM camping area on the north side of the park, thinking it might be more easily ingressed and egressed.

My assessment was partially correct. Going up the slight incline to the camping area along the badlands drop-off was easy, as the roadway was mostly rocky with only a few mud holes. However the roadway, where the campsites are set aside was already rutted by many camper passing through and the road has a slight tilt towards the west and my vehicle was fishtailing as I eased along it in 4 wheel drive. The campsites are just off of the roadway and there was a real danger of vehicles sliding into campers parked along the roadway. Indeed, campers watched carefully, as any vehicle passed by. I always swung as far away from the campers as possible before passing. As soon as I found an empty, flat campsite, I pulled in and breathed a sigh of relief. This site was at the base of a hill and I, too, watched with trepidation as any vehicle came down that hillside.

The next morning, I considered going to other scenic places within a few hours drive from the Badlands, but the wet weather pattern covered a large area of the country. So I decided it best to cut this trip short and head for home.

So far my visits to the Badlands National Park have not worked out in the best way for my photography intent, even though the scenery is fantastic.

That’s it for this photo trip.

Thanks for following,

Ken