The Badlands

We drove through the Badlands today. Another wonderful day. The wind, again, was strong and steady making it a challenge to open the car door. The clouds were high and wispy.

What I saw was a land of contrast. Abrupt drop offs and slowly rising hills. Razor sharp ridges and smooth mounds. Grasslands and mountains. Earth colors and stark black and whites. Prairie dogs and bison. In some cases the rocky eruptions produced buttes and in yet others they produced mesas. The mesas were always grass covered. It was vast and breathtaking.

I couldn’t help trying to put myself in the place of people on horses and with wagons who saw this land for the first time and without any knowledge of it or without cell phones and gps devices and the like. As they approached the rim of the massive valley, they had to wonder if they should go around or through. Around would be a very long trip. They would have know that because all they could see in the distance was ridges and peaks, not being sure what was beyond.

Traveling through would have presented all kinds of hazards because the Badlands offer many deceptions. Large areas are easily traveled grasslands. But the grasslands are always bounded by mountainous hills. They would have had to wonder what awaited when they reached the hills. Many of the hills rise slowly but have abrupt cliffs on the other side. Many of the hills were so convoluted with deep and narrow crevasses. A person or animal falling into one would be hopelessly wedged. A wagon couldn’t possibly pass.

Some hills offered paths through but these couldn’t be seen from a distance. A day’s travel might be rewarded by a dead end. Deception after deception.

This land gives a person great respect for those who traveled through without the benefit of roads, cars, phones and the like.

As a final note for the day, we’ve discovered how these people have defeated the evils of television. Since they’re two hours behind the east coast, prime time starts at six. By the time work, dinner and chores are done so are the programs.

We’re now in Rapid City, South Dakota.