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A view of the badlands from the top of the rim that surrounds their
northern end. |
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This is typical badlands terrain, as seen from the lower prairie. |
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More of the rough, and steeply soaring formations. There is a bit
of a flat spot in their midst, and collection of run off, which has sprouted
some grass, after the recent rain. |
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Uh oh, we aren't lost, are we? The joys of a ranger led walk out
into the Badlands. |
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Our fearless leader. At all of nineteen years old, he knows the
park better than the rest of us put together. |
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Out among the Badlands. There are no roads here, only trails. |
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More Badlands scenes, as we tramp around in the lower prairie. |
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A walk in the park. |
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Frolicking through the fields. Well, sort of; we are following our
ranger guide into the badlands, during the heat of the day. |
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The formations here, have an almost terraced look. |
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A "pass" going between some of the eroded peaks, |
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This is is crypto, in case you do not recognize it. The crypto is
not the little scrubby growths of plant you can see, rather, it is the
clumps of black powdery soil. We were warned not to step on it, because
it is a very delicate, and balanced ecology unto itself, and can take years
to recover from a carelessly placed foot. Crypto is a combination of simple
living things which combine to produce soil from rock, and sand. It is only
found in dry desolate places, where it survives because of the lack of competition. |