Quick back story: I’m backpacking in the Badlands National Park and I spent the entire afternoon hiking to a spot about 15 miles away from a dirt road that I parked on. As I went to sleep the rain and gentle rolling thunder started up.
I remember having some dream that I was extremely upset about waking up from. So much so that it took me awhile to realize what was happening. The tent would occasionally light up as though some one was turning the lights of a room on, then off again. I don’t know why I didn’t hear the thunder right away, because I’m pretty sure there wasn’t much of a delay from lightening to thunder. All at once everything clicked. I was camping. I was in a tent. That sound is rain hitting my tent. That light was lightening. That sound was thunder. There was a storm. Continue reading “The Badlands – The Storm”
The Badlands are essentially huge rock formations that are eroding. They jump out of the otherwise grassy South Dakota plains in random formations. Sometimes it looks like one rock just popped up in the middle of no where. Other times they looked like mountain ranges, cutting the mix of grasslands and desert in two. This trail was busy, I passed a few families and couples all taking in the awesome view. For lunch, I climbed to the top of one rock formation (about 50 vertical feet), found a shady overhang and took out my per-prepared PBJs. In front of me was the trail, which cut through the tall grass in this particular spot. In other places it was a dried up riverbed that more resembled a desert than the grassy plains. Still, other parts of the trail were through rocky ravines that looked like they zigzagged for no rhyme or reason. 
Bivy Life 