At some point on our rainy venture to Wall on Sunday, we visited the National Grassland Visitor Center where a ranger excitedly gave us a bunch of goodies and knowledge. He seemed particularly resentful of the nearby zoo that is Wall Drug and I can't say I blame him. It was amusing to revisit what I thought was really cool as an 11 year old though. The ranger pointed us to an area that my friend Shawn suggested in the Badlands called the Sage Creek Wilderness Area. We hustled there and were overwhelmed with the mud...BUT, it was an amazingly scenic spot that afforded a lot of great hiking. We did a short evening hike and it was kind of funny to see the mud cake onto our shoes. Strangely, it really didn't hinder our sense of safety hiking. It had a sticky quality and it also made our feet bigger which gave us more control.
It was really interesting to have the buffalo wander into our campsite as people just hung out eating 15 feet away. I couldn't help but reflect on the harmony I saw and how that might contrast from the incredibly precarious situation they faced due to hunting in the late 19th century. Waking up in the middle of the night to the coyotes crying in the distance was pretty amazing as well. Unfortunately, while I got some interesting recordings I'll put up later tonight, I didn't capture their baying. The most memorable moment was on our second evening after getting in the tent to wind down a buffalo decided to creep up quite close. I'd estimate no more than 15 feet away. There was a school group setting up tents, but I decided to capture the sounds of the buffalo anyway as I slipped my recording device outside the tent. It proceeded to circle quite close to our tent and even decided to poop no more than 10 feet away. The laughter on the recording sort of captures the humor of the moment but total silence would've been cool. It was just impossible in a campground that was filling up.
There's not much to say beyond how alive I feel out here and how beautiful it has been so consistently. We're set up in Rapid City, SD and it just so happens to be storming after 2 days of beautiful weather while we were outdoors non-stop. We've been lucky. Our Mazda 2, which we've dubbed the SS Tiny Adventure, has also held up quite well. The worst luck we've seen so far is the lack of good bad action movies in our hotel room. Korchnak just found the very end of Kindergarten Cop and now he's a bit ragey. I never would have known to check CMT for a decent bit of programming.
There's not much to say beyond how alive I feel out here and how beautiful it has been so consistently. We're set up in Rapid City, SD and it just so happens to be storming after 2 days of beautiful weather while we were outdoors non-stop. We've been lucky. Our Mazda 2, which we've dubbed the SS Tiny Adventure, has also held up quite well. The worst luck we've seen so far is the lack of good bad action movies in our hotel room. Korchnak just found the very end of Kindergarten Cop and now he's a bit ragey. I never would have known to check CMT for a decent bit of programming.
Anyway, after an exceptional two nights in the Sage Creek Wilderness area we ventured into the more forbidding parts of the Badlands by taking the scenic loop and stopping at a few overlooks and a prairie dog town. I had an interesting experience there that reflects the unique challenges of trying to record the sounds of nature. I had set up my mics (which are quite sensitive to pick up quiet sounds of nature) and a dude pulls up jamming techno. He proceeds to get out and wander around taking pictures with his loud clicky camera. Greg reminded me I could say something, and I guess I need to, but it would be the equivalent of me walking through his field of vision with his camera as he's taking pictures. It is VERY difficult to get a quiet environment to record the sounds of nature.
After a quick visit to the Badlands visitor center, we headed out on what ended up being a three hour and a half hour walk. It seemed really hot, but it was a blast seeing a different landscape. When we got to the car, we hustled to a museum stop that I was excited for: the Minuteman Missile Historic Site. This is a Cold War museum documenting the intercontinental ballistic missile silos that dot the northern Plains. Unfortunately, the remaining tours were booked. I picked up a cool book and we headed to a silo that was open for viewing but we could only go to the command center on the guided tour. All we could do was adapt, so we headed to Rapid City, SD and found a hotel, did our laundry (I've been wearing the same mix of clothing for about six days straight, so that was nice), and grabbed a decent meal before setting in to upload pics. Below are the pictures from the toasty morning hike in the Badlands.
After a quick visit to the Badlands visitor center, we headed out on what ended up being a three hour and a half hour walk. It seemed really hot, but it was a blast seeing a different landscape. When we got to the car, we hustled to a museum stop that I was excited for: the Minuteman Missile Historic Site. This is a Cold War museum documenting the intercontinental ballistic missile silos that dot the northern Plains. Unfortunately, the remaining tours were booked. I picked up a cool book and we headed to a silo that was open for viewing but we could only go to the command center on the guided tour. All we could do was adapt, so we headed to Rapid City, SD and found a hotel, did our laundry (I've been wearing the same mix of clothing for about six days straight, so that was nice), and grabbed a decent meal before setting in to upload pics. Below are the pictures from the toasty morning hike in the Badlands.
A few miscellaneous notes:
- I am going to upload some panoramas and audio separately. I think my posts are too 'big' for Weebly to handle. So panoramas will be up shortly.
- In the spirit of continuing to document cultural messages from the west, there were two worth mentioning over the last couple days. First, a bumper sticker in South Dakota we drove by that said "EAT BEEF: The West wasn't won on salad." and a billboard that said something along the lines of: "Help manage wildlife: Wear fur."
- As we drove by endless Lewis and Clark Trail signs earlier where one is pointing, we've taken to doing lots of pictures of each other pointing. Be ready for more!