We left Pierre and drove through the prairies of South Dakota towards Mt Rushmore.
Through the bus window it was green rolling plains for as far as you could see.
Suddenly there were sandstone spires, castles and walls rising up out of the prairies.
We were in the Badlands N.P. French trappers, who explored the west in 1800's called the area "bad land to cross". The Dakota Indians called it "mako sica" meaning "land bad"
We went for a short hike through the area it was like a moonscape.
The area was originally under the sea. The land pushed up and drained. Volcanic deposits fell in layers and hardened. The softer parts have been eroded away and the harder bits are still standing but they are being continually eroded today. The walls are actually soft and sandy. A weird eerie landscape.
A weird experience happened to us as we were standing at this lookout/overlook a guy gathered his family around him and then proceeded to scatter the ashes of
grandma a loved one over the edge. Just then a gust of wind came and blew some of the ashes back at us. We brushed
grandma the ash off and continued.......
............looking over the edge and admiring the unusual scenery.
It reminded us a little of the Bungle Bungle ranges in the Kimberly area of north west Australia, which also has the different coloured layers.
