Day 42: The Badlands Earn Their Name

So... prior to today's outing, Mike and I had been discussing the naming of the badlands. He had wondered if it was due to climate (116 in the summer to -40 in the winter), I thought maybe the topography. Well, the badlands is a understatement.
The park only has about 8 developed hikes, 4 of which are boardwalks less than a half mile. We completed 5 today, about 12 miles total. The Door Trail, Notch Trail, Fossil Trail, Castle Trail, and Medicine Trail.
The Door & Fossil were quick scenic boardwalks, and the Notch was pretty cool. It walked along some Badlands topography, up a ladder, to a notch in the wall with some cool views. Mike decided to scare me by finding his own way back, but it was a fun hike.

The Castle & Medicine Trails were a 10 mile loop through... nothing. Near badlands topography, but just through flat prairie grassland. It was a long, hot as hell hike with no pay-off. Good exercise, I'm sure, but I was hurting after! According to the car, we were in 105 degree heat, and I sure felt it. Tired, dizzy, swollen even. Yuck.

Gotta say though, I guess the upside to days like today is just realizing how much Mike will totally take care of me. I'm pretty sure I acted like a ridiculous whiny child on the hike (especially when I started complaining about my sausage fingers. They were swollen and so huge!) but he really didn't seem to be phased by it. He somehow got my whiny ass to the end of the hike, to a hotel (yep, no camping again!), and even found sushi :). He's awesome and I'm so in love!