Monday, May 15, 2023
Badlands National Park is located near Wall, South Dakota. I came to Badlands from Wind Cave.
The landscape and feel of the environment here is amazing. The panoramic views breathtaking. The colors and textures of the layered sedimentary rock imparts a magical sensation to the environment that I feel inside me. I am in a wonderland.
I arrived on Sunday, in the afternoon, with a change in the weather from rain and wind to a combination of blue skies with some beautiful clouds and a gentle breeze. In the evening, I took a walk/hike to some higher elevations and was blown away by the scenery. The land formations are naked, rugged, mystical, with sharply defined peaks rising hundreds of feet from the base elevation.
With the change back to good weather and clear skies, I slept in my tent once again, rather than in the van. I had a view of the dark sky above me, which at times made it hard to want to go to sleep, the star-filled night sky being consciously dreamy.
On Monday, I did a bike ride from the campground to the east entrance (Pinnacles Entrance Station). It was an iconic ride, rivaling anything I have done over the past year of travels. There was a combination of weaving roads over flat terrain through the wall of geologic structures, with several steep climbs up through the wall, then onto the flat to rolling terrain of the Prairie. It was physically challenging in a fantastic way, energizing, thought provoking, and wonder filled. I love the fact I can enjoy these landscapes in such an exhilarating way, experiencing a racing heart rate, muscles burning, mind churning, spirit flying, while at the same time, having a sense of peace imparted from the stillness the environment provides, as if absorbing that state from the quiet of the land itself, as it sits there, exposed, breathing a kind of life into anyone who listens to it.
There were some types of of mountain sheep or goats, too. There were prairie dogs, entire communities, and there were lots of birds singing, especially Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, and Mourning Dove.
It was a 50-mile round trip, with elevation gain overall of about 2600’. It took 3 hours 47 minutes riding time, or about 4 hours 15 minutes total time, as I stopped to take photos along the way.
Find and feel the wonder … outside and within …
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