Boondocking bliss, feeling sheepish, and an electric light show

We use several websites and apps to help us find good campsites. We read the rave reviews for a boondocking site (free camping on public land) just outside the Pinnacles entrance to the Badlands National Park and decided to give it a try. I have to say it was even BETTER than we expected.

Getting there was “interesting”. Anytime we have to take the short bus 4-wheeling on a dirt road, I get a little nervous. The access was a bit sketchy, in places it wasn’t much more than a bumpy, rutted dirt track, but once we made it to the top of a short hill, oh my! The road turned and ran along the edge of a bluff with unobstructed views of the Badlands. We found a good spot and set up the RV and our “patio”. Our closest neighbor was at least a half mile away. We sat outside for hours enjoying the beautiful views, total solitude and quiet. It really doesn’t get much better than this.

Our "patio" - awesome views and total solitude. 

Home is where you park it. (We're on the right. Lol)

Love how the shadows creep across the landscape.

We woke Wednesday morning to the sound of coyotes singing and a spectacular sunrise. As we were getting breakfast, Rog spied some Big Horn sheep at a watering hole near our site. We looked closer and there was a whole herd of about 30 sheep. They hung out for quite a while and weren’t the least been concerned about us. Way too cool!! We walked along the edge of the bluff and totally loved having the place all to ourselves – well, we weren’t quite alone. We did run across a little Racer snake – I didn’t know Rog knew the Highlander Two-Step, but he did an impressive rendition until it was clear Mr. Slytherin was not sporting any rattles.

Beautiful sun rise - taken from our bedroom window, coffee in hand.  

We have sheepy neighbors!

Mom keeping an eye on me. :)

This cute little guy gave us quite a scare! But no rattles, he's a harmless juvenile Racer. 

We finally tore ourselves away from our site to visit the Badlands National Park. (See next post for pictures!) When we arrived back at our boondock site we were greeted by our resident herd of Big Horn sheep. In fact, they wouldn’t get out of the road! Rog literally had to nudge them with the bumper and even then they slow walked it. Guess they figure we’re just visiting and need to be shown who’s boss. Lol.

That's a lot of sheep butts in the way - and they weren't in a hurry to move either!

Love the baby

We had another lovely sunset on the patio and then debated cutting our stay short to make up for the extra day in Custer. To keep it interesting, rain was forecast for that night with possible thunderstorms on Friday.  Staying meant we might have to wait for the road to dry out.  We didn’t really want to leave early, but wanted even less to get the bus stuck in the mud!  Hmmmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Sunset was just as gorgeous as the sunrise.

We decided to play it by ear and see how the weather developed. The “scattered showers” ended up being several hours of sustained rain during the night so we stayed put.  Apparently other RVers are either braver or more foolhardy; we watched a guy in a big pickup truck pulling a 24-28’ travel trailer pull out in the rain. It took him quite a while to make it down the dirt (now mud) road and when we went out later to check on the road conditions, we saw where he’d gotten stuck and created ruts that were now 12” deep in some places!  What a mess.  No way we were willing or able to get the bus through that. Luckily, we found an alternate route that bypassed nearly all of the muddy ruts. Yeah!

We were not willing to chance getting stuck in this mess!

Thursday evening we checked the weather and again we debated getting off the hill before the “possible”, now changed to “likely” thunderstorms arrived. Naaaah. We didn’t want to leave our lovely spot just to spend the night in a parking lot a few miles down the road.

About 7PM we saw huge dark clouds piling up in the distance. Rog checked the weather app and, oh joy, the forecast had changed to “severe thunderstorms” heading right for us. Should we run for it? Naaaah. Even if it did hit, the storm should be brief – right?? Oh, were we in for a surprise!

Rain in the distance and storm clouds approaching. 

Let me just say that we do not get lightning and thunder like this in the Pacific Northwest. OMG. It started off with flashes in the distance, we walked to the top of a nearby rise to watch. What a treat – I love watching the lightning storms at home. Soon the clouds were that ominous dark purple that brings twilight early and moving fast in our direction. We retreated to the RV and I stood outside enjoying the show – at least until the wind hit.  Keep in mind our little metal box was perched on the edge of cliff. Now imagine the wind roaring, the rain bucketing down and brilliant flashes of lightning all around. There wasn’t even a heartbeat between the flash and the bang. Incredible. Rog and I sat in the captains chairs of the RV watching it all in hi-def through the acre of glass that is our windshield.  It felt like a cross between being at a drive-in movie and being an extra on the set of Twister. Gotta admit, it was a little scary. Lol.

When the worst of the storm had passed us, we headed to bed. Exhilarated, but not sure how we would fare getting off the hill the next day. Four hours later there was still lightning flashing – so much for a “brief storm”. We woke to the last remnants of the rain and soon the sun was out along with a drying wind. We walked the track out and decided it looked firm enough. By 9AM we were on the road, bidding adieu to the Badlands and a most awesome boondocking site. 

Sunshine and blue skies as we depart.