T H E   B A D L A N D S   -   D A Y   # 3

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Attending a Discovery Tour as well as hiking within the Badlands is on my agenda today. Unfortunately, my photography will be limited again to the 25 shots I have left on my second and last disposable 35mm camera (a temporary replacement for my recently broken digital). I'm sorry to say the write-ups of my hiking exploits will be somewhat abbreviated today. Oh, well.

I arrive on time for the Discovery Tour. And to my surprise, Ranger Lovelace will be conducting it. He's the same ranger who presented the Minuteman Missile slideshow presentation the evening before at the campground's amphitheater. I really enjoyed his presentation and am looking forward to taking this tour with him at the helm.

Ranger Lovelace commences the tour after about 7 people showed up. He tells us how the Badlands were formed, which includes a hands-on lesson (feeling the formation) and being quizzed on how the formations had been formed. Audience participation, that is one of the ranger's teaching techniques.

I learn that the formations are layers upon layers of brule clay and wormhole sandstone (first photo). Rain falls down upon the peaked formations and erode the clay, forming little vertical rivulets that wash clay sediment down the side-walls into small arteries of clay wash that flow downhill on the surface (second photo). As the arteries combine, they erode large troughs (third photo). As these large troughs combine their watery sediment, they erode gigantic troughs (fourth photo).

Here's another geological feature we encounter on the tour. These interesting ribbon-like structures frequently form a single, continuous thread that can be traced for miles and miles along the eroded wallface. Scientists theorize they were created when the Rocky Mountains were forming. Plate-tectonics caused the Badlands to literally crack open in places. Volcanic ash, originating from the cataclysmic eruptions to the west, slowly filled the cracks as it fell like snow from the stormy sky above. Over time the ash deposits solidified and caused the phenomena we see here today.