We left the motel around 6:00 AM and continued west on I-90 towards the Badlands. I took this photo at the Scenic Overlook about halfway there.
An hour from the motel, we reached Badlands National Park and continued down the "Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway", which doubles as Route 240.
Our first stop was the "Big Badlands Overlook".
Violet-green Swallows were flying around the overlook and one was landing near the boardwalk, grabbing insects, and then flying off, allowing me to get some nice photographs of it.
Also along the boardwalk was a Say's Phoebe, which I saw several of throughout the park.
Our next stop was the Door Trail, which was another boardwalk that went back to an area allowing close views of the rock formations.
A little farther along the byway, there was a rock wall with a hole eroded through it at one spot.
There were nice views in all directions from Cedar Pass.
We parked at the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail and walked the near one-mile loop trail through an area of junipers. I took these photos from the high point of the trail.
Along the trail, I found a distant Mountain Bluebird, 3 Brown Thrashers, and this Spotted Towhee.
Just down the road from there, I saw a Rock Wren perched on one of the rock formations.
Farther along the scenic byway was the "White River Valley Overlook".
For some perspective, note the van near the center of this view from the "Bigfoot Pass Overlook".
The next stop was "Panorama Point". Note the people along the rim in the last two photos.
In the section between "Panorama Point" and the "Homestead Overlook", I saw White-throated Swifts zipping around the edge of the bluffs.
We also stopped to check out the first Black-tailed Prairie Dog town along the byway.
These two photos are from the "Homestead Overlook".
We then entered the "Yellow Mounds" area of the park.
These photos were taken from the "Yellow Mounds Overlook".
The next stop was the "Pinnacles Overlook", one of the best viewpoints of the park.
Again for perspective, note the people in the lower right section of the photo.
The next five photos were taken panoramically from left to right, pointing south to west.
We then turned onto the Sagecreek Rim Road, a gravel road running along the rim on the left with a vast prairie on the right.
Five miles down the road, we came to the "Roberts Prairie Dog Town" with Prairie Dogs on both sides of the road.
I was happy to find two Burrowing Owls among the Prairie Dogs.
Horned Larks were also present in good numbers.
I also took this long-distance photo with Prarie Dogs in the bottom right and Buffalo behind.
We returned to the byway, left the park, and headed north on Highway 240 back to I-90. We continued west to Rapid City and headed southwest into the Black Hills to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Flags from each state lined the walkway up to the memorial.
We walked the "Presidential Trail" up to the base of the memorial.
This telephoto shot reveals the detail of Abraham Lincoln's portrait, including the pieces of granite that create the highlights in the eyes.
We left there and took Route 16A up over three "pigtail bridges" and through two tunnels to the Norbeck Overlook. The "pigtail bridge" was designed to gain more altitude in a short distance that would otherwise make the road too steep if it went straight. These three photos were taken off the internet to show their advantage.
We parked and walked out to the Norbeck Overlook, which gave views of Mount Rushmore on the next ridge.
On the way back to the main highway, we went back through the Doane Robinson Tunnel, which gave a framed view of Mount Rushmore.
We returned back to I-90 and headed west, passing by the town of Sturgis where the huge, annual national motorcycle rally occurs each August. We spent the night in the nearby town of Spearfish, South Dakota.
