The Badlands National Park

This is the first of the series of Central Rockies blogs I will be writing. 

After flying from New York and meeting the group in Minneapolis, and finally arriving in Rapid City, SD we drove to a hotel to stay before we headed out for the full adventure. 

Our first stop was the Badlands where we stayed at Cedar Pass. Once the clouds cleared we took full advantage of the beautiful day, stopping and wandering around every chance we got. We were able to follow dried river beds and explored parts of caves.

As we drove through, and saw all the mountains we all thought of different descriptions that we could relate to. Some of these included large structures that were shrunken, or large piles of  sand mounds ready to be used for icy roads. While we climbed up and down the mountains the most disconcerting observation was the crumbling sediments that fell after every stop we took. Despite this the group did not stop climbing in and out of the canyons created by the erosion of the Wall.

Our second day we climbed the wall separating the Lower Prairie and Upper Prarrie, on the Saddle Pass and Castle Trail. Seeing the two planes from the top of the wall is unlike anything I've seen before. I know that this is one of many sights I will see for the first time.

Although the night sky was beautiful, being able to see for mile and miles was very strange. I couldn't get over the openness, feeling exposed and extremely small.

"Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced"-John Keats.