July 8, 2006

July 8, 2006

We got up early today and had a cowboy breakfast of coffee and flapjacks at the camp diner for $3.95. We needed some nourishment because the plan is to do some hiking in the Badlands. The weather forecast is for another day of near 100-degree temps.

We start off doing a quick 15-minute nature trail as a warm up. We then move on to the Notch trail, which winds through one of the canyons and up one of the wall faces using a timber/chain ladder. It ends at a ledge that provides a beautiful vista of the river valley below the badlands. Aimee is scared of heights but I push her along to help her overcome it. She thinks I am part mountain goat. The highlight of the hike is finding a colony of birds (Cliff Swallows, I learn) that make what looks like a mud honeycomb structure under an overhang in the cliff wall. It reminds me of the mud dauber wasps that made their nests in our garage when I was a kid growing up in central Illinois. The next hike is an extension of the Door trail that traverses a pockmarked shelf over the badlands. As we finish the hike I see a car driving past the trailhead taking pictures without even getting out of the vehicle. I feel sorry for them.

Because of the heat we decide to hang up our hiking boots and finish the driving tour of the park. One of the planned stops is what they call the Pig Dig. There are comments about it in some of the literature but it is not listed on the park map. I had to get the approximate location from the campground owner this morning. It is located about a half mile down a side gravel road. If it had been any farther, I would have turned around. Thank god I didn’t as it turns out to be a gem. The pig dig is a euphemism for an archeological excavation of an ancient watering hole where they have discovered thousands of bones of mostly mammals from some 35 million years ago including a giant pig ancestor. I expected to see a recreation of the site with fossil replicas lying in the dirt where they found them. Instead I see a real dig in action with volunteer student diggers from the South Dakota School of Mines. In the same small pit, one guy is slowly unearthing a femur bone of a rhino ancestor and another guy is working on a shoulder blade of Archaeotherium, the pig ancestor. Unfortunately these guys are using dental picks to clear away the surrounding mud and they are much more interested in talking then working. I am chomping at the bit to jump in the pit and take over for them. Aimee and I are both overheated from the hiking so we get back on the road, and head out of the park to the famous Wall drug store on the west side of the park. This place is famous for having signs everywhere (even Europe) advertising their free ice water. We need it right now. We finish the day driving to Rapid City and jumping in the pool at the campground to finally cool off.