Day 2: Beautiful Exposure

Barren and lonely. That was my first impression of the the land in South Dakota. On the drive from Rapid City to the Badlands the land on either side of the highway was empty aside from a handful of dead scrubby trees scattered here and there, and long grasses. Lots and lots of grasses. I recalled overhearing a Midwesterner at Furman commenting on how they felt claustrophobic in Greenville, even when they were outside. This seemed really bizzare. But now having experienced the prairie, I can understand. The land just lays out before you and on a good day you can see for miles. The sky seems impossibly large and deep, more like an inverted ocean of blue and white that you would fall into forever of your feet were to slip from the Earth. To me, this beautiful spectacle was rather terrifying. Growing up in South Carolina, there have always been a wide variety of trees and shrubs around me wherever I go. Even cities are rife with trees and bushes and flowers, so the sudden open and seemingly emptyness made me feel very exposed and uneasy. But after a bit, I don't know exactly how long, I was able to bask in the beauty of this peaceful and serene land.

Upper Praire with a rare tree sighting

As we continued our drive, mysterious jagged peaks began to appear in the distance. These were the Badlands, the geologic evidence of a time when much of the western interior of the United States was covered with shallow seas and oceans. The rising of the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills caused increased sedimentation in the shallow seas and eventually the seas drained leaving behind lush wetlands similar to the Everglades in Florida. Through the remainder of geologic time, the area alternated between times of dry and wet climate, which resulted in the beautiful banding present in the Badlands today. Amazingly the erosion that forms the magnificent buttes of the Badlands has only been occuring for the past 550,000 years or so, while the rocks within the formations date to between 30-75 million years old. The rapid erosioin rate (around the 1inch per year) will likely result in the consumption of the upper pairie within another 550,000-600,000 years. Geologically speaking, this is very quick.
I now apologize of the geology lecture, I just find it all very fascinating and I believe that knowing the history of the land makes the structures even more incredible.

Selfie with the Badlands

Drivng through the Badlands, you get the feeling that you are a giant wandering around mountains that are huge in size. The formations seem too grand and larger than life to exsist on structures that are no more than 500ft tall. But no matter their size, the unearthly landscape of the Badlands are definitely a spectacle to behold. It would be an awe-inspiring place to live, as long as you can stand up to the harsh winters, boiling summers, and incessant winds (which threatened to blow away a few of the smaller members of your group). For me, it's a magnificnt place to visit and spend some quality time, but I would rather not call it home.

Extra-ordinary observations
1. Badlands is the only National Park I have been to where you are not discouraged from climbing around on the formations. It's like a playground for geoscientist!
2. You never miss the solid granites of the Southeast, until you are clmbing on land that literally crumbles away beneath your feet.
3. That moment at dinner when you want sweet tea so badly that you consider ordering a tea and 5-10 sugar packets just so you can make your own.
4. Isolation and openness can be beautiful once you open yourself up to it.

View from campsite in Badlands National Park