I am almost positive this is facing in the opposite direction as the previous Jim pics, the view from the top of the trail up those curious hills. The landscape is actually a little enigmatic, since it appears to be the result of erosion yet is amazingly flat for such circumstances, and the rock that looks soft and crumbly is likely much, much harder than the ‘bedrock’ layer that serves as the present ‘ground level.’ What I’m trying to say here is that I should look up the geologic history of the Badlands of South Dakota but can’t be bothered to right now – time is still not something that I have an excess of. Jim can do it – he’s got plenty of spare time.
Meanwhile, we’ll take a look at the center of the image, and notice the road cutting across about halfway between the horizon and the bottom of the frame, lending a little bit of scale to the landscape. You can even see the parking area right at the end of that striated ridge in the center. Here’s an enlarged inset to assist:
In fact, I’m pretty certain that’s Jim’s truck down there, since I can see some notes on the roadmap on the dash that looks like his handwriting. What do you mean, you can’t make that out? Just keep hitting the ‘Enhance’ key on your CSI photo editing software…
We were in the little blue Cmax on the end, obscured by the prominence on the right side of the parking area. Yes, other direction, I walked up alone it was 101 outside and no one else wanted to climb. The rock is very soft sedimentary. The trails were covered with rice to pea sized gravel, not bad to walk up, but going down was an adventure. I really want to go back, when it’s more like 65 and rainy.
101? Damn, I was seeing what looked like jackets on the hikers in the previous pics and surmised that it was pretty chilly there that day. Must’ve been tourists from Death Valley.
But, you know, it’s a dry blast furnace…
And yeah, I should look up the geology of the area. I am failing my duties as Relater of Easily Forgotten Trivia.
Much better than the entrance to the badlands, which was next to a cattle farm, 15 seconds out of the car, I snapped one shot and was bitten by 20 flys. The only other more memorable experience was stopping by the wetlands coming back from Albemarle, I can’t even count the number of bites I got from venturing outside for that. Damn deer flies!