August 1999 with Gene Van Buren
The air was dry and crisp with temperatures in the 70's. Perfect conditions for hiking. But then again, it was only 9:30 in the morning. We were planning on doing the Medicine Root Trail - Castle Trail loop, a total of about 8 miles on pretty flat terrain. Shouldn't be bad at all. We set off from the parking lot and promptly lost the trail after about 100 yards. The trail began in grassland but had entered an expanse of featureless sandstone with no apparent trail markings. After about 10 minutes of roaming around, we noticed that in fact there was a trail marker on the other side of the sandstone flat, atop a small hill. Hmm, we were off to a good start... The trail wound through the prairie, at times hugging the banded sandstone ridges which the Badlands are famous for. Off to our right was flat grassland as far as the eye could see. As the sun climbed higher into the sky, it became hotter and hotter. It was not a stifling heat since the air was so dry, but it sure did make us thirsty. Already, we regretted only bringing one quart of Gatorade each. After about an hour and a half of hiking, we reached the junction of the Medicine Root and Castle Trails. Instead of immediately returning on the Castle Trail, we took a short detour and decided to climb to the top of the sandstone ridge. There was a small spur ridge extending down to the prairie which we were able to use to get to the top. The climb was pretty short and not too steep, and we gained the ridge with no problems. From the top, the views were endless. On both sides of the ridge was a sea of grass, extending forever, and the meeting of the blue sky and the pale green grass formed a perfectly straight horizontal line. I had never seen so much open space before, and it gave me a sense of overwhelming freedom. I sat on the edge of the cliff, the ground a hundred feet below me, and looked out towards the horizon. Nearby, a turkey vulture soared, riding the warm air currents rising from the prairie. Time seemed to slow down in the way it does when you reach a state of complete relaxation.
