March 27, 2012

After getting up and ready, I hopped in the van with the Calhoun group for one last day of hiking with them. We started at Door/Window, hiking, exploring, fossil hunting. The wind was rather strong today, and Door/Window has some pretty impressive ledges from which to view the landscape below. Had to be a little cautious. Next we drove down towards Saddle Pass, and parked along the shoulder before the pass. We hiked off towards the formations, following Francesco's directions toward a canyon that cuts through the towering rocks. Followed the canyon to its end where we had lunch. Gary discovered a reasonably accessible way to climb up to the top of the rock ledge high above, and many of us followed. The top was a large plateau with an amazing view, and was littered with fossils. Told Ed about it later at night, and plan to hike him up there later this week so he can have a look. I'll see if I can get some videos of him talking about fossil parts and post it here. Around 2:30 we hiked out and headed to the visitor's center where the Calhoun group had a sort of debriefing about their experience here in the Badlands. It was so great to listen to these kids talk about the things they will bring back from their visit. Reminds me so much of my eye opening, month-long trip to Europe with a school group when I was sixteen. We all headed to the Wagon Wheel, a bar in Interior, for dinner, then back to the housing area for some last-night fun. What an amazing day. A lovely ending to a great week. I am really going to miss these guys and their energy.