Day Seven- Devils Tower and Eagle Butte Coal Mine

DEVILS TOWER DAYYYYYY

For this trip, each of the explorers in the Granola Group had to write a research paper on an assigned topic. For example, future roomie Pheobe Ferguson Furman Former Freshman From Florida wrote her paper on the stratigraphy of the Badlands. I wrote my mine on Devils Tower.

Bittersweetly, going to Devils Tower means that we had to break camp and leave the land of gold for the land of cowboys- Wyoming. We woke up at our usual 6 am and packed our gear. The sadness of leaving the promise land and all of its nice modern day amenities was slightly softened by the storm we had slept in the night before and in now in the early morning. With small rain drops hitting the windows of the Geologic Van of Discovery, we departed from Custer State Park, and the Black Hills region. 

On the way to Devils Tower National Park, most of our group slept. Despite the early morning wakeup, I was wide awake and eager to see the United States first monument that I had researched ever so thoroughly.  

I do not know how to relay this in a proper manner so I'm just going to say it- Devils Tower is freakin awesome. I haven't gotten this excited for a geologic feature this whole trip, which is evidenced by how much I spent in the gift shop. Because this way my topic, I had to present to the group. The Tower has a contested origin amoungst geologists, but it is no surprise there that geologists are disagreeing! The 867 ft tall tower is composed of the igneous rock phonolite and various sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, shale, gypsum, and limestone. The defining unique feature of the rock are its columnar joints, or vertical fractures. These columns encase the entire tower. Oh and back to the origin! The most popular theory states that the tower is the neck of an ancient volcano. It represents the erosional remains that emerged to the surface through several hundred feet of sediments and rock debris. Despite such scientific evidence, I prefer the Native American's  orgin of the tower. After all, they were the ones who had lived around the tower fort thousands of years before General Custer invaded the Blackhills. According to legend, a group of children were playing away from the village when they stumbled upon a large bear that chased the children. When all hope seemed to be lost, the children stopped on a large flat rock and began praying to the gods. Then, the rock lifted towards the sky our of reach of the bear. The bear kept trying to climb the tower and reach the children, but it would always fall back down. The claw marks are what made the unique vertical fractures. 

When I was hiking around the Tower, I felt like it did have a strong sprititual presence. I'm not trying to sound like some weirdo taping into the spirits here, it was just very beautiful. Despite being called "Devils" Tower (which was a misinterpretation) to me the formation was pleasant and teeming with life. In the gift shop, Pheebs and bought matching hats which guarantees our coolness. 

We traveled further into Wyoming to visit the Eagle Butte Coal Mine. There, geologist Dave Olsen gave us a tour and history. It was a great experience because Dave took us around the site in a Suburban, which allowed us to get a miners perspective of an active coal mine. Of course, I called shotgun. Since it was just Dave and I sitting up in the front and I have had 2 semesters of sustainability to give me confidence, I had to ask him about the environmental impacts of our nation being so dependent on coal. Dave told me that he believes Global Warming is a farce. That the outlook for coal was grim mainly because of a switch to more reliance on natural gas. I told him that I was not sure of the full extent of the impacts of fracking. He said that fracking is not new however horizontal fracking is not as reliant as the coal system. I did not feel like arguing because he was just stating his opinion and that calls for respect. Besides, he was a super cool guy and did a great job at answering all of our weird questions. 

We have now arrived in the city of buffalo where the professors have decided to treat us and cook dinner tonight. (We always do it because we have cooking groups). TOMORROW WE SLEEP IN A HOTEL. I am holding out. Everyone send me good vibes. 

Devils Tower!! 

Look at the small white van at the bottom!!

The tires on a coal truck dwarf the van. 

That is me emulating Dave 

 

Day 6- The Mile High City with a Heart of Gold

Today we woke up near our usual time of 630 and headed over to Lead (pronounced as in you lead the way) South Dakota to visit the Homestake Gold Mine. This mine was the largest producer of gold in the state. It was started in 1875 and ran all the way until it's closing in 2002. The gold business was a difficult one in one early 2000s, and the Homestake Mine sold itself to the global Mining monopoly Barak. Gold is now a profitable business again, and there is still plenty to be found at Homestake. However, Barak donated Homestake to South Dakota with a stipulation that it would never open as a mine again. Now, interested tourists can get a surface tour of the mine- but only surface. Mysterious right?? Deep deep underground of the abandoned mine were even Rod would probably not roam, is a giant laboratory uncovering the secrets of the universe. There, scientists now study neutrinos and dark matter. The depths of the mine are perfect for this laboratory becuase neutrinos are easier to study away from surface cosmic radiation. After our tour, Geologist Todd Duex (pronounced Dicks) gave us a closer look at the geology and history of the mine. 

Our tour guide this time was named Donnie. He was a really young guy, maybe just out of college? Anyways, I think that we all freaked him out becuase he was pretty cute and we had not have not had very much contact with anyone outside of our group for a while. It is a dangerous thing when you pin up a bunch of girls like that- we start getting creepy. 

On the drive home we took the scenic route and entered what is called the Needles Eye of the Balck Hills. The formations here were very tall and needle like in shape. We explored around and tried our best at rock climbing. Unlike my future roomie Pheebs, I am not a mountain goat and I continually sturggle with any form of balance on rocks. Most of my time was spent taking pictures of Kelly attempting and humorously failing at parkour. 

Strugglin

Day Five- Wind Cave and the Mammoth Site- The Day of Rod

Before going to sleep last night, my fill in mother for the trip and fellow sister Kelly said she heard a large animal sniffing around her tent the night before. Since my tent is located near the dumpster bin, I knew that I would probably be the next target. Despite my fear in how well I could defend myself carrying only a retainer, I slept very well. 

Today we decided to ascend into the Earth as we went to Wind Cave National Park. I would like to take this time to describe our guide into all things cave. His name is Rod. Rod is a physical scientist for the National Park Service. He LOVES CAVES and has worked for Wind Cave for about 15 years. If you have seen frozen, Rod is very similar to the giant man that says "youhoo big summer blowout." The first part of our tour consisted of us staying in the light of day (or just above ground) to learn the history of Wind Cave. This cave is the 5th longest in the world. The 2nd longest in Jewel Cave, located about 17 miles away. Prepare yourself because I am about to relay almost everything I know about Wind Cave:

Although the cave was "officially" first discovered by Jesse Bingham around 1881, the Native Americans living near the cave had known about this mysterious place since the beginning of their culture. The natural entrance to the cave is really just a small hole in the ground a few feet wide. The Native Americans believed that their ancestors first emerged from this hole. The cave was very spiritual for them, and they told a story of a woman who would come out of the cave and provide plentiful buffalo. Because of its high spiritual presence, I do not think that any if the Native Americans had entered the cave at that time. 

In 1881, Jesse Bingham (not sure how it is spelled) and his brother were out hunting. Jesse followed an injured deer into the brush and noticed that despite the calm day with no wind, the tall grasses next to him were being blown. He found the hole (entrance to the cave), and when he looked in, his hat flew off. He did this trick for other people, however, one day instead of flying off, his hat was sucked in. Wind Cave derives it's name becuase of the air that either blows out or in at the natural entrance. The cave resonds to barometric pressures. With low pressure, it breaths out, and with high pressure, it breaths in. In this way, it is a good way to indicate weather change. In the early 2000s, scientist were able to use the wind flow to estimate the length Wind Cave. Today, the estimation is that as little as 10% of the cave has actually been explored, with 146 miles having already been explored! Along with this, the cave has five distinct layers, and each cavern has like 8 different routes that can be taken to other parts of the cave. 

There is a belief that Wind Cave is connected to Jewel Cave; however, there are no known entrances that can fit humans. Kelly believes that maybe all caves are connected and there is really a secret underground world beneath us. I would have to second her theory and also add that I think Frodo is down there somewhere as well.

Rod finally took us into the cave!! We spent about 3 hours underground with him leading us to different passages not on the tour route, and relaying to us all of his crazy stories. He has actually discovered many miles of the cave- rock on Rod. 

In the 1890s, the McDonald family bought the cave as they saw its great potential despite its lack of any jewels. Their 16 year old son, Alvin, was immediately enamored with the cave. He explored the majority of it using only a candle, and left his initials on the walls. While we were walking, Rod would point out Alvin's initials scratched next to one of the highest passages. Unfortunately, only four years later at age 20, Alvin died of Thyphoid Fever after trying to promote the cave at the Worlds Fair in Chicago. 

Rod led us back into the light and departed in the most iconic way with his catch phrase "it's always a pleasure when you are working for the best cave in the world!" At this time, we all heard faint theme music playing.

I know this post is dragging out so I will try to be brief. Our next adventure for the day was visiting the Mammoth Site. This site is one of the largest insitu sites (the paleontologist leave the bones on site) in the world. Millions of years ago, a sink hole, believed to be 180 feet wide and 87 feet in height, formed and trap any animals that tried to drink from it. So far, scientists have found 58 Columbian and 3 Wholly Mammoths. Our amazing guide on this journey was a rockin lady named Siri. We had some cool tour guides today. 

Or ride home was an even further adventure as we had to stop in the middle of the road to let a herd of buffalo by, and the pulled over to take pictures of an amazing sunset. 

Mammoth Site

ELLY AND ROD

Day Four- Alvis the Amazing and Mt. Rushmore

I felt completely recharged from the harsh Badlands after my good nights sleep! Today we loaded up to go and visit the South Dakota School of Mines. I have to admit, I greatly underestimated the College. I was excepting maybe just one building with only a few students learning how to mine. Instead, what I found was a fairly large campus nestled in the Black Hills with modern buildings. It is mainly an undergraduate college much similar to Furman with about 2600 students. We came to the school to meet Alvis the Amazing, a very well known geologist, and professors and the school. Do not confuse him with Albus as in Dumbledore, although he does contain many of the same qualities. He awaited our arrival in the parking lot most majestically- styling his big western belt buckle, a very tasteful red flannel, and of course an Indiana Jones type exploration hat. He gave us a history of the Black Hills along with their stratigraphy. Once when the continents were more closely conjoined, the Blacks Hills South Dakota region was warm tropical ocean located very close to the equator. The layers of the Hills were originally flat, but through changes plates, they became an uplift. A giant circular valley called the Racetrack completely encircles the Hills. The rocks that compose this valley are reddish in color. According to Sioux Lakota legend, there was once a great race between the two legeds and the four legeds. The two legeds were racing on these rocks to hard, that their shoes tore and their feet began to bleed. This is why the entire valley contains a reddish tint. 

Geology is very interesting in that I feel like most of geologic history is a very well educated guess. When we look at formations, we not only think about their outside appearance, but more importantly how they became and what is happening beneath the surface of the earth. Alvis, looking iconic in his getup with rock hammer in hand, led us on a hike to visually see geography of the Black Hills after he had taught it to us in the classroom. 

I am in awe at how my professors can tell me so much about what is happening underground. It is like they have soil horizon x-ray vision. Learning about Geology reminds me that the Earth contains so much more than what we can see with our naked eye. It's secrets underground are what have formed the terrain that we are able to live on today. If we are not able to live on it, than we are inspired by its beauty. 

Eventually, we stopped on a large smooth rock by the river. We learned that this rock is actually a Gneiss Rock that is the oldest rock in the Black Hills, dating to 2.5 billion years old. That is amazing that I am touching something half as old as the Earth. Alvis, using his rock hammer like the Elders Wand, was able to break off a sample for closer look. The rock appears to be just a regular grey. However,when Iooked through the handlens at 10x magnification, the colors burst out the form of vibrant little crystals. 

After the hike, we journeyed back into civilization to gather supplies. The grocery store we stopped at gleamed in my eyes when I saw it had a STARBUCKS. Animal instinct took over and then next thing I knew, I was white girlin it up with a Gradne White Chocolate Mocha Frapaccino. Sometimes we just have to indulge, and when I am only able to take a shower every three days, I have no guilt. 

To conclude the day, we visited a monument that had me so excited- partly because it is an amazing piece of history, and partly I want to scout out a good location for my face in the future. That's right, I am talking about Mt. Rushmore. In person, the true grandness of Mt.Rushmore really comes out. I cannot fathom how man was able to make this monstrosity so accurate while dangling off a mountain. The only part I did not like about it, was the ampetheathetre they had built at the base of the monument, I thought it slightly took away from the regalness. Nevertheless, it still reached all of my expectations.

Today was a great day in not only soaking up some sun, but also some great history.  

The professors looking iconic

Don't judge we had to

#candid

Trying to look prestigious 

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. 

The crumbly clay that makes up the formations 

Sun hat and Columbia shirt

Prarie dog!!

Yellow Mounds

Custer State Park

Day Two- Badlands

Yesterday began with an early wake up. The Granola Group was packed and ready to proceed with our quest by 830. But what would a quest be without a challenge? Our first challenge loomed in the distance waiting for us to arrive. It's evil beckoned us to come and we had no choice as it was vital to our survival. That's right people- I'm talking about Walmart. We arrived in the Walmart parking lot to purchase food for the next few days. By parking lot I really mean tornado. Rapid City is like an alien planet. The land is extremely flat and contains basically no trees. In this way, all buildings contain a bit of harshness to them as they are exposed to the elements. There is nothing to buffer the powerful wind. The walk from our van to the inside of Walmart was treacherous. I thought the smallest amongst us would be blown away. I don't see how the citizens of Rapid City manage to do their hair- or take prom pictures. We gathered enough food to last us a few days, and enough of various other substances to get into that Mountain Moonshine culture. ;) 

Thus began our official trip into the Badlands. The temperature changed drastically. The combination of low temperature, high wind, and cloudy skies were a cruel awakening for me as I stepped out of the van at the entrance of the Badlands National Park. After we all put another layer on, we ventured through the Upper Prarie of the Badlands. The view is almost indescribable, but I'll do my best. The rock formations that comprise the Badlands almost look like that of a mini Grand Caynon. The formations are grey with parallel red stripes that run along every formation horizontally. This red coloration represents an oxidized soil horizon. 

After much exploring, we loaded up and found our campsite. My two tent mates and I set up our new home in the grassland. At this point, the Badlands seemed very eerie to me, and to be honest, I was not sure if I liked them.  Although they were certainly magnificent in formation, I did not find them very beautiful. However, after we set up our campsite, the sun came out, the cloudy skies and cold temperatures dissapeared, and the rocks began to glow. It was here that I found the Badlands to be amazing in their own unique way. They are harshly beautiful- if that makes sense. With the sun out, the temptation to further explore was easy. We loaded up again and proceeded to see formations that were so beautiful they emulated pride rock from the Lion King. Despite their large size and vastness, the Badlands are anything but solid. In fact, they are slowly disappearing. The formations are made up of highly eroded sediment. They are so eroded that an inch a year disappears from the formations. Come take it all in while you can! There was one moment when I was sitting by myself looking out over the mixture of grassland and formation, and it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen- and so quiet. It is impossible to find anywhere that quite back home. There is always the distant murmur of cars or lawn mowers. The rest of our exploration included finding hidden caves, and the occasional Lord of the Rings reenactment (basically just done by me and myself). That night we dined on spaghetti, salad, and bread. The environment is very harsh in the Badlands. When the sun is out it is extremely hot, but as soon as it goes behind a cloud, it gets chilly. Last night was cold cold cold. My sleeping bag is supposed to survive 20 degree temperatures but I was cold all night! I did not sleep very well. That is still one area of camping I have not mastered. Besides that, I'd say our adventures so far have been amazing.

COLD but warm with pheebs ;) 

Kelly!!

Tentmates!!

The rooms doin her thing

Day One- Rockin it in the Rockys

The day before we (the Granola Group) left represented a small emersion into the nature state of mind. My mom and I traveled through the great state of Alabama (roll tide), the gauntlet of Atlanta, and alas into the Land Of Fountains that is good ole FU. That afternoon mainly consisted of us getting our gear together. I am very happy with the gear that I purchased- imagine Mountain High meets Pocohantas meets Katniss Everdeen and you'll basically have an idea of how National Geographic I feel. That night, most of our cohort went back to their dorms/apartments to relish in one of the last nights they will actually have a bed (ie comfort). Myself and three others decided to test out our new snazzy gear and camp out in Furman's science building basement. I DID NOT SLEEP IT WAS AWFUL I WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE. However, I keep telling myself that it is just because I was in a building somehow a tent will be better... somehow. But I am not discouraged! Instead I am just going to view myself as Frodo on a quest to Mordor (South Dakota) or maybe Harry Potter because Harry Potter trumps everything.

Anyways, this morning we were up and leaving FU by about 645. We traveled from Greenville to Detroit to Minnieapolis-St. Paul, and finally we set foot in Rapid City South Dakota. THREE PLANES PEOPLE. This is an accomplishment for me. I stayed reasonably calm considering the fact that I am not good at being responsible for myself. However, in Greenville I thought TSA might give me a strip search for having a germx bottle. Overall the flights were great and South Dakota is beautiful. It's funny because I know this is a Rocky Mountain trip but so far the landscape is very flat. I can see mountains off in the distance just teasing us. Our van driver told us that the land gets so flat at one point "you can see your dog run away for 10 days." The Fairfield Inn of Rapid City is now our temporary palace. We only have fleeting hours left to enjoy its royal amenities (this includes a giant indoor waterpark that attracts many locals) before we are thrust into the Badlands. Our trip now includes a surprise guest appearance from our latest Grannola Group inductee Anna Ranson (current Rhodes College graduate but honorary Furman member). I am so fortunate to be on this trip with an amazing group of people and professors. Below I have attached some pictures. Warning: I am still trying to figure out the GoPro. 

Quote of the day: "packing that duffel in the trunk is like reverse birthing!"