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Badlands National Park is 381 square miles or 244,000 acres. Wilderness area - 64,250 acres. The highest point in the park is 3,247 feet,located at the Pinnacles Entrance Station. The average annual precipitation is 16 inches. Badlands National Park is located in the White River Badlands and was called mako sica (mako, land and sica, bad) by the Sioux Indians. The term badlands generally refers to an area that is difficult to travel through primarily because of the rugged terrain and lack of water. The fascinating landscape within the park erodes at a rate of about 1 inch per year, providing an ever-changing landscape. Badlands was originally proclaimed a National Monument in 1939 and was later designated a National Park in 1978. |
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The Door Trail is a 0.75 mile round trip, easy trail. A 1/4 mile boardwalk led the two RV Gypsies through a break in the Badlands Wall known as "the Door" and then the two RV Gypsies had a spectacular view of the Badlands. From there, they came to another boardwalk with stairs leading down to start of the Door Trail. |
Below: Karen Duquette on the first boardwalk - 1/4 of a mile. |
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At the end of the boardwalk, there was a cliff area that the two RV Gypsies were able to walk out to and get some very nice photos of the Badlands. |
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Below: Lee Duquette on the
cliff overlook and Karen Duquette back on the boardwalk, taking a photo
of each other. |
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At the end of the first board walk, the two RV Gypsies came to another boardwalk. The Stairs down led to the beginning of the Door Trail. |
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Below: Looking back at the
second boardwalk |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies at the end of the maintained Door Trail. Visitors were advised to travel beyond that point at their own risk because of big drop-offs. The two RV Gypsies stopped at the end of the maintained trail and then returned back to the boardwalks and parking lot and on to the Window Trail. |
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