Approaching Badlands

I didn't expect the Badlands to be so amazing. As a matter of fact, I was completely prepared to be underwhelmed by them. I couldn't have been more incorrect. It was stunning.

This was the first thing that surprised me when I got into the area - wind-sculpted formations that give the whole area an alien feel to it. None of the pictures show how truly surreal and huge the place was. I felt dwarfed, small, and like just maybe I'd been 'beamed' up to another planet.

Were these stacked here? It seems unlikely. I was pretty far off the road or any hiking trails. They look like they were "born" here, carved out by a wind that had sculptor ambitions.

I walked up a hill not really expecting to see anything special, but was astounded by the vistas. Looking into the distance you can see these hills go on for miles and miles. They are made out of a brittle crumbly stone, so there really isn't an option to claw your way over the hills. You have to know the routes through them or you are lost in this landscape forever.

See what I mean about those sheer, soft cliffs? I popped on a 300mm zoom lens and this was still as "close" as I could get to the cattle resting in the grasslands below. FYI, if you could increase the zoom of your eyes by six times, you'd have a 300mm view of the world. The point is this is a really tall cliff and those cows are a long way down there.

Badlands, South Dakota USA

November 2017