N O T C H   T R A I L

Badlands National Park
Southwestern South Dakota

Tuesday, August, 24, 2004

Notch Trailhead. It's a short hike but the trail's description in the Badland Visitor's Guide promises a steep climb.

As I hike uphill, the water erosion is everywhere. This small trough helps carry water and silt out of the formations.

A nearby spire. Too much weight on this formation would surely cause it to crumble. Rock climbing isn't possible in the Badlands, the formations are just too unstable. That's too bad. If they were hard like granite, the area would certainly be a world-class climbing mecca. But maybe it's a good thing they're impossible to climb. If the formations were scalable, climbers would be crawling all over them, sometimes leaving their climbing anchors behind for all to see, and generally degrading the area's natural beauty.