USA Storm Chase 2016

Day 7: Sioux Falls, SD to Gering, NE

Although we saw the nice shelf cloud and storm on Day 6, tornadoes/large hail still eluded us, so we decied to head towards the Rocky Mountains. On the way we passed through South Dakota, so we decided to head to Badlands National Park for some sightseeing. First a few shots from on the road. We also passed the town of Vivian, SD, which holds the world record for the largest hailstone, which fell on July 23rd 2010, was 8 inches across and weighed nearly a kilogram!:

Truck

Bridge

Vivian

Road

Dinosaur

We stopped for lunch at the town of Wall, famous for its 'Wall Drug' shop and museum. Here I had my first taste of a Buffalo Burger, which was very tasty indeed. We then headed out into the stunning scenery of the Badlands:

Wall

Wall

Badlands

Badlands

Badlands

Badlands

Badlands

After exiting the national park we went past the site of the massacre of Wounded Knee and into the small town of Pine Ridge, in the Indian reservation of the same name. Some of the buldings were very run-down and Wild West-like:

Pine Ridge

This car had plenty of hail dents!:

Hail damage

Farm