Today was a great, long day-- starting at the seldom-visited South unit of Badlands, heading to patriotic memorial Mount Rushmore and then to the scenic Black Hills. A young Park Ranger said that Sheep Mountain Table was his favorite hike at Badlands, so I drove south. He also said the road could be impassable after heavy rains but I was able to travel four miles up to the mesa "table" top before the going got rough. I parked and walked along the dirt road amid vast grassfields and eventually leading to the edge of the mesa and lovely views of the canyons below. These white badland canyons reminded me of Bryce Canyon hoodoos. The road looped around and I walked for several hours without seeing another person-- my own private park. Mount Rushmore was one of those places I had low expectations for given its tourist popularity-- but wow, I loved it! The memorial does a great job presenting the history of the site: 15 years in the making, 90% of the carving done by dynamit...