Yesterday I drove a shit ton (SI units). I drove across the Rocky Mountains, across the whole state of Nebraska, and past two Native American reservations in South Dakota on a dirt path in the dead of night until I reached...
...the Badlands.
Badlands National Park is home to the largest prairie of all national parks. It is also known for its incredibly gruesome summers and icy cold nights. The temperature swings from 68 degrees to 106 degrees, and tomorrow it will exceed the warmest temperatures of my rim-to-rim hike in the Grand Canyon. Luckily I brought a lot of water and got ready to hike through the unrelenting summer heat.
A couple trails on the east side of the park take you to an overlook of what the park has to offer. Different layers of silt and clay that have piled up over the course of 125 million years creates interesting red/white/pink stripes on the mountain buttes. I spoke with a park ranger and they told me that the most common injury in the park is slipping while climbing and scraping your arms, legs, and knees....something they call "butte rash." I unfortunately had severe butte rash on one of my favorite hikes in the park- the Saddle Pass trail, where I took a wrong turn and found myself climbing over boulders up a steep ravine. Luckily I did make it to the top unscathed...
The Badlands were once home to the Lakota tribe. In high school we watched a film in which the main character pointed to a picture of the bison and the acted it out, to which the native americans replied "Tatanka." Tatanka, the American bison, roam freely in the park's 220 thousand acres and if you are looking for them, take the old Sage Creek road to the wilderness and you will see them roam.
After eating dinner outside the park, I returned in the evening to catch a glimpse of the sunset. Orange and pink rays of the sun decorated the Badlands wilderness and I was amazed how the unamusing stripes became more vibrant and came alive at the end of the day. On my way back from the fossil trail I noticed this guy poking his head on the side of the road. It was the first bighorn sheep I had seen on my adventure!
After going on several hikes and sweating it out in the Badlands heat, my favorite part of this trip came at the end. At 9 p.m., after the sun had set, the park rangers brought us to an amphitheater near the visitor center. They turned off all the lights, told us to turn off our phones and cameras, and waited...waited...waited until our eyes had adjusted. We looked up and there was the Milky Way. Boy was it beautiful standing behind the spires, buttes, and hoodoos of Badlands National Park. The park ranger took out a green laser pointer and shot it at each constellation.
Vega! Deneb! Altair! The Summer Triangle! Polaris! Arturis! The tale of Cassiopeia! Antares! The ellipsis, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus! The Sagittarius teapot and the steam which becomes the Milky Way!
The park ranger brought the night sky to life! One by one we greeted each constellation as an old friend. Finally the park rangers brought out massive telescopes to meet the stars in person. It was amazing, thank you so much.