Across the Pond: Day Three- Badlands/Custer State Park

Day 2 in the Badlands!! It was probably the worst I had ever slept- but no worries. From the generosity of a fellow Granola Grouper Melissa, I have managed to get another sleeping bag. Tonight, I will be doubling up! This was our last day in the Badlands, and we spent it exploring the vastness of the park. It seems almost impossible to explore the entire park- all 240,000 acres. South Dakota is so flat that you can see until the horizon, after that the line between where land meets sky is blurred. I want to reiterate this because if you stand on top of one of the rock formations, you can see Badlands National Park stretch all the way to the horizon. It is impossible to explore it all in just two days! We started the day by packing up our gear. The climate in the Badlands is more bipolar than that of Alabama's this past winter. The nights and mornings are very cold and the afternoons are extremely hot. This means the majority of my morning was spent at becoming a quick change pro in the bathroom. When we first arrived at the campsite, cute foreign boys had taken our reserved spot. Much to my dismay, our professors kicked em out. This, along with no sleep and rapidly changing temperatures, made the morning very distracting for me.

We ended up going on a two mile hike that took close to two hours because our professors let us frolick around while they discuss the geology of the formations. I was trying my best to rock my Nat Geo Explorer getup on this hike so I will definitely upload some pictures. After a nice sandwich lunch alongside about 30 bikers (as in leather jacket motorcyclists) we headed to our last location of the Badlands- the Yellow Mounds. At the Yellow Mounds, the most vibrant colors of the Badlands are exposed in their truest forms. The brownish rock now contains not only layers of red, but also a goldish yellow.

It was so beautiful that it didn't even look real. I really feel like the whole park might just be a large green screen. Sometimes it is difficult to climb up the formations because the rock is actually very crumbly. Nothing is solid. The formations are composed of a highly absorbent clay that easily dries out and cracks in the scorching sun. When there is only 17 inches of rainfall a year, it is no surprise that the mountains seem to be disintegrating rapidly. Standing on top of the Yellow Mounds and looking over the vast prarie reminds me how small I am. Yet, when I pick up the dried and cracked pieces of clay that make these magnificent formations, I can't help but feel so large in comparison to them. The clay is just millions of pieces that are binding together to make something amazing. I think that is a really inspiring metaphor that we could all emulate throughout life.

Our final quest upon leaving the Badlands was to find the elusive prarie dog. While driving in our Geological Van of Discovery (the van we rented), we has some sightings. Eventually the sightings got more frequent until we came to a halting brake at a prarie dog town. We all immediately picked up our various cameras and started clicking away like we were filming Meerkat Manor for Animal Planet. I made my way out of the van and creeped onto the prarie with GoPro in hand. THIS IS WHEN I BECAME THE PRARIE DOG WHISPERER. One brave pdog started crawling towards me. I think it is because of my strong inner animal voice. The rest of the group thinks it is because they are used to being fed. Either way, I fooled the bundle of cuddles into thinking I had food by holding up some grass. I threw some grass in its direction and the prarie dog leaped towards me. You can imagine my moment of pure terror as this vicious foot long furball leaped in my direction. I might have screamed, but the amazing pictures were worth it. After our Badlands quest was complete, we journied towards our new campsite.

We passed back through Rapid City and drove into land completely opposite from the Badlands. We arrived in Custer State Park aka the Promise Land!!! Custer is characterized by tree covered mountains and roaming buffalo. We are camping on our own private site on Stockade Lake. Also, unlike in the freezing Badlands, we are allowed to have a fire. During my first afternoon in the Promise Land, I perched on a rock by the lake overlooking a crystal sunset with my future roomie Pheebs. That night, with my double sleeping bag, I slept like royalty. I'm finally taping into my inner Sacajawea.