This is the 11th cache from Team Family Affair. This cache is located on the very edge of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and overlooks the often forgotten and seldom visited “Badlands National Park South Unit”. From this vista is a view that is often shown in books or on a post cards but when we asked no one seemed to know exactly where it was taken from. We combed the Badlands of South Dakota in search of this great location and finally found it, so we offer it as a cache site to share with all of you.
History and Information about the area:
The Lakota or Sioux Indians have known about this area for a log time and named it Mako Sika, which means “land that is bad”. The area was visited by French trappers in the early 1800s who named the area Mauvaises terres a traverser or “bad lands to travel across”. The badlands geology began millions of years ago when this entire area was a great ocean and layers of sediments were laid down over a long period of time. After the oceans eventually receded, then came the volcanic activity that formed the Black Hills. This volcanic activity also uplifted the sedimentary layers you will see before you. Then over 10s of thousands of years, rivers and streams formed eroding the soft sediment layers away and exposing different layers of colored limestone, banded clays and sandstone. This erosion continued over thousands of years and created these incredibly spectacular formations. Also found in these layers are fossilized remains of three toed horses, prehistoric rhinos, pigs and saber-toothed cats. For organized trails and a very informational visitor center visit the main part of Badlands National Park (north unit) which is just south of Interstate 90 near Wall South Dakota.
How to get there:
You can get to the area of this cache from several different directions. If you happen to be traveling Highway 79 south of Rapid City, you can turn east at Hermosa and take Highway 40 (east). This is an interesting drive that will take you through the reservation town of Red Shirt and into the area of the cache. Another route from Highway 79, is to go east through the small town of Bufflo Gap (there are lots of old turn of the century buildings to look at there) then follow your GPS and turn north when you get near the badlands. For an even more senic drive- if you happen to be in the area of the Geocache site “Heck Table” located just south of Senic South Dakota – just drive south and follow “Bombing Range Road” (yes this area was a shooting/bombing range back in the days of WWII) and turn west when you get to the South Unit of the Badlands National Park”.
To find the cache, it’s by far the easiest if you follow the clues. The cache is a camouflaged green and white ammo box with WWW.Geocaching.com stenciled on the side. We secured it in place (in open view)to keep it from wondering off in the night.
Items in the cache include:
- 1 Hour AA battery charger with 4 AA rechargeable batteries
- A small brass embossed wooden box
- An Emergency Signal Panel (Orange)
- A package of “Post Its” and multicolored clips
- A "Remove Before Flight" streamer
- Several boxes of Ear Plugs
- A Package of Army insignia and patches
- A hand held Barometric Altimeter
- A Blank Rewriteable CD Rom Disk
- A package of survival food
- A package of fresh batteries for your GPS receiver
We hope you enjoy this cache as much as we did creating it!
-Team Family Affair