Badlands Ural: Big Foot

 

I entered the park for the second time that day on Canata Basin Road.  There was a picnic area just before the junction with the main Badlands Loop, but otherwise not much of note.

Turning generally east towards the majority of the visitor services, I soon encountered a group of about half a dozen bighorn sheep!  For some reason, they all turned their backsides to me.  Probably didn't want to squint into the low-hanging sun.

No, I didn't risk getting off the bike there (wildlife is so unpredictable), but found another more scenic spot for a photo shoot.

The lighting wasn't nearly as good this way, but why not?

Less than ten miles from Canata Basin, you come to Big Foot Pass.  But just before that is Big Foot Road.  Now Sasquatch is also known as Bigfoot (one word).  So I assume that Big Foot (two words) is referring to something else entirely - but I have no idea what (or who).

By this time it was late in the afternoon.  There were quite a few clouds, but the good weather was holding.  There is still a large portion of the park to the east, but this was another road that I'd passed several times in the car and had wanted to check out.

It should be another unpaved route out of The Badlands, this time to the north.

And as expected, I crossed the boundary after less than a mile of well-maintained gravel.

There are at least a couple more unpaved roads into the park, but they'd have to wait for my next visit.  I have an annual pass (and it's only an hour away) - so there's really no reason not to take multiple trips.  Each season here has its own unique qualities to experience.

It was still five miles farther to Interstate 90, but soon I spotted an overpass at the top of a gentle rise.  

Motoring up the on-ramp, I prepared myself for an adventure of a vastly different sort - riding the Ural on the freeway!