Chloe and Patrick O’Doherty are spending six months crossing the USA in an campervan called Dora. Here’s what they’ve encountered in the Badlands and the road to the oldest National Park in the world – Yellowstone.
The Badlands are transformed in Spring. Photo by Patrick John O’Doherty.
The Badlands in South Dakota, USA, is a landscape that drops off sharply yet is extremely soft. It seems like it could all be eroded and washed away in a heavy storm, or even by corrosive gases in our atmosphere. There are huge amounts of prehistoric fossils exposed in the sedimentary layers of rock, and the park encourages amateur prospecting and asks that you report and geotag your find. Whilst driving through South Dakota our radio was interrupted by a tornado warning for towns just south of us.
Dora wasn’t bothered though; she kept trundling along at her slightly irritatingly slow yet fuel-draining V8 pace beneath dark skies. The Dakotas are prairie grasslands and prairie dogs are pretty much the cutest creatures ever, like a squirrel mixed with a dassie and meerkat in one. They’re playful and make an adorable screeching sound when they feel threatened and run to their burrows. They only occupy a third of the land they did, due to loss of habitat, as grasslands are ideal for farming.
Driving on the right, yet wrong for us, side of the road requires immense concentration. Photo by John O’Doherty.
Abandoned cars are common place in America as new ones a fairly cheap to buy. Photo by Patrick John O’Doherty.
No American road trip is complete without a stop at Walmart. Photo by Chloe O’Doherty.
We made our way into the oldest national park in the world, Yellowstone, through the national forest in Wyoming that surrounds it. We were there for the first Saturday in June, which is declared by the State of Wyoming as a free fishing day. Patrick caught a hybrid Montana cutthroat trout and rainbow trout at the stream’s mouth. We watched families coming to fish together and a young man with a Colt 45 visibly strapped to his holster around his waist happily fishing with his family. We’re getting used to seeing guns around.
You are greeted with this view at the National Park entrance. Photo by Patrick John O’Doherty.
We caught the last of the snow before it all melted. Photo by Patrick John O’Doherty.
We saw hundreds of shiny black cattle being shuttled from one farm to another. This young man was at the back herding them in the right direction. Photo by Patrick John O’Doherty.
Follow the journey on our blog, Out the Office, or on Instagram.
