Badlands are badass

[NOTE: I had trouble uploading these files, so this was meant to be posted a long time ago when we were in the Badlands.]

Coming in to the Badlands National Park is like driving into the set of Star Trek. You feel like you’re in another world.  Every turn you take is a new vista into something you think you never could have imagined.  The mountains slice the sky with each jagged edge. And when the sun hits it just right, it provides a very interesting contrast of light and dark on either side of the hill.

Apparently 37 million years ago this whole area looked like everything else around it. The Black Hills to the West were volcanoes and erupted ash into the air, causing sediment to fall in this area. And then about 500,000 years ago, erosion started and created what is now known as the Badlands.

The interesting thing about this place is that it always changes. Not just the view out of your windshield with every turn you take, but rather you can find new colors in the same view depending on the time of day. Sometimes the mountains are white, sometimes they’re red. Occasionally you can even see yellow mounds.

Oh yea, and prairie dogs are probably the most adorable rodents we’ve ever seen.  They’re hard to miss as they are almost everywhere.

Enjoy the pictures.

Mr. Smith (and the Mrs.) come to our campground

 

Mr. Smith with his wife in the background.

After making good friends with Senor William yesterday, we struck up a friendship with two new bison, whom we names “The Smiths.” At breakfast, we saw them off in the distance and they slowly approached the campground. Once they walked over the road separating the wilderness from the camp sites, I (James) got a little concerned that they were getting too close. Well, mainly I got concerned that they smelled our yummy breakfast and knew I would run the hell away if they charged; leaving a plate of scrambled egg wonderfulness for their dining pleasure. You see, buffalo can be dangerous. Apparently these several ton beasts can run up to 30 mph. I don’t want to see if the Park Service is right. So, I did what I thought would make sense. I took up a knife and… well… I turned it around banged the metal lid of our pot. This will scare him away, I thought. It didn’t. And so, I did what any other rational person would do: I busted out the camera. The Smiths continued to move deeper into the camp. Then, the giant Mr. Smith decided that it was time to wallow in dirt. And so he turned himself upside down like a happy dog in a grassy field. It was very cool. As we were watching them, a woman approached armed with her point-and-shoot. We got to talking and it turned out her and her husband came from New Zealand. They flew into Los Angeles and rented an RV for 89 days (I assume that’s because it’s one day shorter than tourist visas last). Their goal was to travel the country and hit as many national parks as they can. They stopped in Arkansas to visit some relatives and made their way up to the Badlands. Suddenly, the Smiths were on the move. This time, they were walking right by our site. They were so close you could hear Mr. Smith breathing. He seemed to stare at Marc, Mrs. New Zealand, and me through my camera lens. And then they decide to jog. And they took off into the distance. We said our good-byes to the woman, finished breakfast, and packing up the site. Trying to leave it the way we found it, if not better. The Boy Scouts would be proud (sort of). The entire time we stayed at this site we successfully negotiated a “buffalo patty.” A little present that one of the Smiths or Senor William had left for us out-of-towners. Luckily it was barely noticeable, even though it was only a few feet from our tent. The time must be around 10:00 I thought as we got into the car. We turned the Element on and the time was 7:50. Sometimes the sun and the buffalo make the best alarm clock.