Friday, October 24, 2008

The Badlands

Today was going to be the best day weather-wise - so we decided to spend the entire day hiking...

Our first views of the Badlands - this is the Painted Canyon - from the overlook...

For some reason - I love to take pictures of our shadows...

Another view...

Then we started around the Theordore Roosevelt National Park trail - and of course we had to stop to see the Prairie Dogs - I won't bore you with the 40 or so pictures we took of their antics - they were all very plump and out sunning themselves...

We saw a lot of bison this trip - these were pretty far away on top of a ridge - it's amazing how they can get up there - it's very steep...


Ahh - my penchant for paths...

The Man-Cub got to see some of the erosion at work...

These pot holes were several feet from the edge of a cliff - and there were several of them - so you can seen how over time this would weaken the edge and eventually it would just fall off in a huge chunk...

We hiked up to Halliday's Well - it's listed on the map as a flowing well - I think that means it's a spring - it's been capped and basined - so horses (and others) can drink - no spigot for humans 'though...

Some more of Nature's handiwork...

A buck and a doe - they were closer - but they ran away - and by the time I snapped a picture they were almost out of sight...

The Man-Cub got to do a lot of climbing...

He's the one who spotted the wild turkeys - so we stalked them for a little while...

One of us would hold onto the Man-Cub when we were out on some of these bluffs - a wrong step could land you several hundred feet below...



This bison was munching away right at the edge of the trail...

...and he didn't even raise his head as we drove by...

I was surprised to see so much of this - the park brochure says that drilling is managed so that the smell/sight/sound doesn't impact visitors...

More climbing...

Then time for lunch...

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