Day 3: Griefs and Reliefs

Griefs

Do you know that feeling of being on a trip and something goes terribly wrong? Like going through customs in a foreign country only to realize that you have lost your passport, or going on a road trip to an event and on your arrival remember that you left the tickets taped to your front door (a spot where you thought you'd never forget them). I am well aware of this feeling after today. First of all, mummy bags are not meant for fat people unless you get it custom fit. I had this rude awakening last night as I spent my first night in my sleeping bag. I woke up no more than an hour after getting in my bag, struggling and feeling claustrophobic. My bag was so tight around my hips that I couldn't move at all, and I freaked out. In the below freezing prairie conditions I compromised on warmth by unzipping my bag halfway and throwing my thick winter coat and down vest over the empty holes. I was a bit cold through the night, but it was better than being completely immobilized. Knowing that we would be in colder conditions as the trip goes on, I decided that it would be wise to just go ahead and get another sleeping bag on our way to our new campsite. Reviews of said sleeping bag will be addressed in tomorrow's post.
The second thing to go wrong was likely one of the worst things that could happen at the beginning of a three week camping trip. After wearing my hiking boots on several occasions, I have come to the conclusion that the pain in my feet is not from breaking in my shoes but due to my shoes being a half size too small. After hiking Saddle Pass trail (a short 1/4 mile nearly verticle connector trail that involves climbing up the wall which seperates the upper and lower prairie) and a 1 3/4 mile segment of the Castle trail, my feet were dead and I wanted nothing more than to get out of my boots. This problem is not as easily solved as my previous issue. For now, I'm just going to wear my Chacos as much as possible, until I can figure out a way to loosen the toe box of my boots. Maybe I'll just stuff them with rocks overnight or something.

Reliefs

After breaking camp and our morning hike, we had some lunch and made a stop at the Yellow Mounds to look at a very well defined normal fault. I won't go into an extensive explanation of the origin of the mounds and how normal faults work, but the mounds were the shale beds below the Badland formations that were heavily modified by jungle vegetation, thereby giving the soil (which underwent lithification to become rock) a rich yellow hue. The area we looked at also showed an angular unconformity, a gap in the geologic record. This is basically the equivalent of taking a history book and ripping two chaptes from the middle of it. It's kind of tragic, but it looks really cool.

Yellow Mounds

Wildlife tally: Badlands - various birds, mule deer, cows, maybe some pronghorns from a distance, rattlesnakes (heard but did not see).

The best part of the day was the discovery of our new campsite. The group campsite at Stockade Lake campground within Custer State Park is phenomenal. With pit toilets, a large fire pit, placement right by the lake, hot showers a short walk away, and a covered area with some electric outlets, we are living the life of luxury. And the best part is, we will be at this site for the next four days! After setting up we even had sometime to relax and enjoy the scenery before dark. I chose to spend my leisure time reading in my hammock overlooking the lake and a large rock outcrop. I don't know if it can get much better than this.

View of Stockade Lake and Outcrop from my hammock spot

Extra-ordinary Observations
1. Geology is a vastly underappreciated science
2. Good shoes can make or break your experience on a hike
3. The urge to see wildlife can spur people to do really idiotic things, like wanting to use really long sticks to comb through tall prairie grass to find rattlers.
4. A serene environment can fix even the sorest of feet.
5. We have a pet at our new campsite, he/she is a groundhog that we have dubbed Herb.

Prime location of my tent :)