Mount Rushmore and the Devil's Tower have been sitting on my 'to do' list for a very long time. In all my years of going to the Tetons though, the 8 hour drive to Devil's tower has always been too much time from the limited time that I have in order to go out there. I imagine that is the life of most folks - that we have to carefully choose how to spend our very limited free time - and I realize that I have it really really good with a generous PTO package from my employer. For folks who only know me through my photography, my professional work as a photographer is a second business. My day to day work is a social worker at a large hospital in New York City. The Badlands are only about 1 1/2 hours to Mount Rushmore and Mount Rushmore is less than 2 1/2 hours to Devil's Tower...so the excuses no longer existed. This was going to be the year that I get to visit these two iconic locations.

We left the Badlands and drove to Mount Rushmore by way of Custer State Park. We got a place in the town of Custer that called itself Pet Friendly and had lovely photos of dog bones on beds and things. It bothers me that again you are hit with another pet fee ($50 bucks this time) for the privlege of staying in a hotel room that we all know is not actually deep cleaned between visits. My experience is that they just as often stick the dogs in a smoking room as they are anything else...not that I am bitter. In retrospect, we probably should have stayed at the KOA for the night which was five minutes from Rushmore, but I did not feel like breaking out the tent for 24 hours or a cabin without sheets or air conditioning and at this point an actual hotel room sounded pretty good..

Custer State Park is a really cool park that I encourage everyone to drive through if they are out that way. The admission price is 25 bucks for a week, but at a time when Parks are in the cross hairs, I don't mind supporting them. Custer has a variety of different routes - one of which is dedicated to Wildlife viewing. There is also a route with some pretty wild rock formations that I did not get a chance to see while I was there. Next time.

From Custer, we drove to

The Road to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, from Cedar Pass

In October, a dear friend passed away in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Her children invited us to a memorial this June. It was an event we couldn’t miss, so we decided to turn it into a road trip with the boys. Years ago, we’d considered moving to Jackson Hole when homes were still affordable, and we adopted our first dog, Mahkayla, as part of that plan. We never made it there with Mahkayla, and that always bothered me. Visiting Grand Teton with Wyatt and Logan felt like honoring that dream.

Inspired by my sister, who once road-tripped with her daughter back and forth from Washington State, I decided to mostly wing the reservations en route. The only bookings I made were for Gros Ventre Campground in Jackson Hole. The plan was to front-load the driving so we could spend maximum time in the Parks, adjusting each day based on how we felt. As it turns out, traveling cross-country with dogs adds complexity, but also joy.

Since my wife has far less vacation time, we bought a Starlink Mini Dish to place in the sunroof so Chanthee could work while I drove. I won’t discuss Elon Musk’s politics here, but the Starlink Mini itself is remarkable for travel. For $50, we got 50GB of data on the mobile plan. It allowed my wife to make video calls and me to use navigation and Wi-Fi calling in dead zones. Overall, it worked flawlessly except in a few frustrating situations: it fails if parked near trees or large objects, under overpasses (requiring a brief reboot), or anywhere without a clear sky view. For example, it didn’t work from our Manhattan apartment despite being on the 7th floor with mostly clear views. Those caveats aside, it’s a game changer for road trips. We took the cheapest “Roam” plan, and over two weeks used 80% of our allowance – a win, considering video calls chew data fast.


The White River Overlook, shortly after Sunrise

All road trips for me start in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is an almost perfect location to spend a night and to leave early the next morning without any regrets. Well...there was that regret last night. Come on. You know it happened. That was just a joke. A series of jokes, actually. Harrisburg seems like a fine city.

It is also a real trucking hub with countless reasonably priced hotels. Normally, we Hotwire a hotel around 4 PM for the best rate, but this time we searched too late and kept seeing bookings for the next day. After striking out at three usual hotels, we landed at a Residence Inn with availability. The desk clerk was wonderful, but we were floored by the $100 pet fee – outrageous, but beggars can’t be choosers. We paid it, slept well, and were on the road six hours later, bellies full of hotel breakfast and wallets $300 lighter. Not a good start to the Badlands National Park road trip, as it ate into our savings heavily.

Determined to avoid repeating that, we did two things: downloaded the BringFido app and began looking for lodging by 8 PM each evening. BringFido is fantastic, showing real-time hotel rates and pet fees – unlike Kayak or Hotwire, which bury pet fees (like a filthy, filthy dog, lol) in fine print even though they tell you that the price is the total price. Pet fees are the great evil of traveling with dogs. I understand our four-legged friends come with baggage, but they also bring clients. Having said that, I guarantee my two fluffy boys strike fear in any hotelier’s heart. Honestly, I think it’s a money grab, but that’s for another day. These two adjustments made a huge difference, especially when we rolled into Chicago after our first full day of driving. Rooms were $400+ even on Hotwire, and if I’m paying that, I want time to explore. I really want to see Chicago’s Magnificent Mile someday, but that requires a dedicated visit. Instead, we stayed in Joliet, which was much more affordable – and, of course, the home of Elwood Blues.

Day 2 was another long haul, driving from Joliet to Sioux City. Originally, we planned to stop in Nebraska, but realized Sioux City would save two hours that day, even if it added time heading into the Badlands. I worried we wouldn’t arrive in time to scout and shoot sunset. On the way, we passed through Iowa’s Loess Hills – an amazing landscape of wind-blown silt, unique to Iowa and China’s Yellow River region. I couldn’t capture photos that did it justice, but next time, I’ll plan an extra day for both Chicago and the Loess Hills. Discovering unexpected natural beauty is the best part of any cross-country road trip.


The Pinnacles Overlook, Morning Photo

On Day 3 (and a half), we finally reached our first planned destination – the Badlands of South Dakota. I’m not going to lie – it was definitely a struggle staying on track and keeping up. The days were really long, and traveling with the dogs slows everything down. Our 9-hour drives routinely took 12-13 hours to allow them breaks from their crate. Comfortable as their seats were, it’s not an ideal cross-country setup. As we drove into Interior, SD, we had to skip stops like the Corn Palace to stay on schedule. That hurt my roadside attraction-loving heart, but our Badlands time was short, and we wanted to maximize it.

The Badlands are remarkably accessible by car, and at every bend, another magical scene emerges. 66,000,000 years of stratigraphic layers create a surreal topography and photographic paradise. It is hard to look at the areas left by the Western Interior Seaway and not be blown away by its implications. The world is a marvelous place if you are willing to look, and even more amazing if you allow yourself the opportunity to ask questions about what our place on the marble actually is.

Food options are limited. As vegetarians, the Park concession offered a $17 veggie burger, and Interior had even fewer vegetarian choices (though they did mention they served cows). We stayed at the KOA in Interior, a town of about 50 people, half of them under 18. Location-wise, it was ideal: five minutes from the Park, perfect for sunrise and sunset shoots. For breakfast, Wall on the far side of the Park was best – and the famous Wall Drug store is worth a visit for its quirky charm.

Driving from New York to the Badlands, our gas mileage was awful – under 30 mpg – partly because we kept the engine running to keep the dogs cool. It was hot, and their comfort came first.


Bison in the Yellow Mounds Overlook area


The Yellow Mounds, Taken from the Conata Basin Overlook

Unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed beyond the overlooks in the Badlands, not even on boardwalks. Signs warn of rattlesnakes everywhere, and I understand restrictions are for safety and environmental respect. Still, it was disappointing. Exploring beyond the parking lots meant going alone. I’ve been spoiled by Acadia, where dogs are generally welcomed. But Acadia has fewer large mammals – aside from occasional deer or coyotes, bears and moose are rarely seen there. We did manage some photos of Wyatt and Logan at viewpoints, and I hope to add these to WildCoyoteStudio.com to inspire others to photograph their dogs in amazing places. Pardon the plug for my business...but income considerations and tax deductions are important.


Wyatt at Cedar Pass


Logan at Cedar Pass

Our time in the Badlands was too short. I hope to return for a deeper exploration. Still, I left with images I’m proud of, and I’m grateful Wyatt and Logan could join. There are only two people I’d trust to watch them, and they live 3.5 hours away. Our Trans K-9 system keeps them safe, though ideally, it would be bigger. If I had the cash, I’d upgrade to a larger vehicle like an Outback or Santa Fe for future trips. Stopping every 2-3 hours for their breaks was a hassle, but good for them – and me. I also learned the value of Love’s Truck Stops and Flying J: clean bathrooms, decent coffee (right color and the right temperature), and often fenced dog areas, though the heat usually kept us from using them.

I am so tickled with the following image and there is a kind of fun story attached to it. It was taken at sunrise on a morning where the light was muted and we watched the sunrise come and go, so to speak. I used a Split Tone filter to enhance the highlights.


Panorama Point, taken at Sunrise - Split Tone Filter


Night Before the Full Moon, taken at the Big Badlands Overlook

One surprise of the trip happened as we left the Park one evening. Sunset wasn’t promising, so we headed back to camp early. The sky cleared up and suddenly, the moon rose – huge, red, and stunning. We scrambled to find a foreground before the moon climbed too high and lost its surface detail. We spotted a mud structure and stopped. This image was shot with an 800mm lens at ISO 3200 – not my usual landscape setup – but I needed a fast shutter to avoid moon blur. Also, I had to work while the moon was low as the higher in the sky it goes, the brighter it gets, destroying detail. There was still a bit of difference between the foreground and the moon which I had to brighten in post. Despite some grittiness from noise reduction, particularly in the rim of the moon, I’m elated with this image. I am fairly sure I will be able to clean that up in time. For folks who want to know more about getting the moon in their landscape, the ideal day for photographing the moon is actually the day before as the moon rises earlier and the foreground is still illuminating the landscape. I am including a link from the Natural History Museum of London which talks about this.


The Strawberry Moon Rising in Interior, South Dakota (Outside the Park). V

Thank you for taking this time to explore the Badlands National Park with us. I hope you found our mini review of the Starlink Mini helpful.

End of Part I.

Coming up in Part II: Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore.

Coming in Part III: Join our road trip from NYC to Jackson Hole with dogs.