March 25, 2012

Woke up warm and cozy in my tent despite a very chilly night, thanks to the thermal space blanket I wrapped myself in. Got up, ate, then set out for some solo hiking. I wanted to explore closer to the creek, which is quite a bit lower than the campground with some game trails leading down close. That area is gorgeous. Big trees (cottonwood? Ash?) full of character, growing near the creek, similar to some areas in southern Iowa only more intense. Really lovely. The creek cuts a steep channel through the land there, and the banks are made of crumbly, eroding rock. I walked along the creek, looking at some dead, weathering trees that make fascinating shapes. Hiked back to camp and hung out there for a while. Alison, another park ranger, was meeting us later in the morning to take us over to adjacent Forest Service land to hunt for fossils. On Forest Service land, you are allowed to keep invertebrate fossils that you find. Alison wasn't due for another couple hours, so I opted to hike back down by the creek. The sun was higher up, and there was less glare and haze. One of the dead trees I had admired earlier looked quite different in this light, so I went closer. I thought I knew what I was looking at, but had to go closer to tell for sure, and yes! A Bison carcass! The skull and all the bones were there, with a bit of hide left on the head and around one hoof. That explains all the coyote excitement from last night. They were feasting. I hiked back to the group to tell them about it and bring them down. Francesco, the biology teacher from Calhoun School, was thrilled and quizzed his students as he went over the bison's anatomy. Sara (park ranger) was really excited about my find. It was one of the more amazing things I've ever seen. Very picked clean already, will all the bones present. We investigated teeth, where the optic nerve connects back into the brain, the clump of nerves as the base of the spine, and more. We moved on to exploring the creek, Gary (Calhoun teacher) hopped himself over the edge to work his way down to the creek. He and some students found fossils in some rocks in the creek bed. Then it was time to head out with Alison. One truck had a dead battery, and none of the four vehicles present had jumper cables. Luckily some campers arrived and helped us out. After a bumpy ride off-road on some rutted road, we reached FS lands and Alison and Ed (paleontologist who also came along), discussed areas that looked most likely for fossil finding. They decided on one particular draw that had some good hard layers in the loose rock, so we headed there. If I were really good I could tell you the name of the type of rock and what layer we were hunting in, but I have a hard time retaining those. Maybe by the end of this stay at Badlands they'll have sunk in. Anyway, this was some pretty steep sloping land: think big rolling hills where the rains have cut deep channels that run down to a larger ravine far down hill. The area that looked likely was about half way down these steep hill sides. Long story short, we spent around a couple hours out there, spread out over the draw, climbing and hunting. Some pretty treacherous foot work was required on the loose, steep incline, but it paid off and I found a number of small fossils. I'll have to get Ed to tell me again the names of them all, since I can't retain details. We managed to find a path back to our meet up place and back to the trucks to drive back to the housing area. Trying to catch up now on my blog!

Sage Creek

The bison carcass responsible for all the coyote excitement.

March 24, 2012

We had a plan for today, but late last night on of the Calhoun teachers asked if I'd be willing to help chaperone some of their students for a day trip. The students had visited Crazy Horse High School, and the culture teacher their invited them to join his students for a religious ceremony in the black hills today. I said yes, since the chance of an opportunity like this coming along again is slim. Long story short, we followed the school bus of local students out into the black hills. Our understanding was that it was to be a two hour drive out there, a couple miles' hike to the top of a hill with a nice view, the ceremony, and hike back down. Plan was to meet the rest of the NYC students for a biology talk by the bison corrals in the park in early to mid afternoon. Well. The drive time was close, but the hiking time that I had expected was way off. We got there (“there” turned out to be Sylvan Lake, which was still covered in ice) and parked with a vast multitude of other cars and buses. We realized this was a bigger event than we had thought. After we had been doing some steady, brisk uphill hiking for a good long while, we came to an opening in the trees with a great view, and expected to be almost there. Then we overheard some Lakota people talking about the climb, and some kids pointed way off in the distance to some rocky peaks and said, “Yeah, the castle that's up there. That's where we're going.” Oh my. A very long, brisk, vertical hike later and we were standing on Harney Peak, which it turns out is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees. You can see it from inside Badlands, a good 2.5 hour drive away. The view was absolutely spectacular, the whole world spread out at your feet in all directions. There is an old fire camp building up there, which is the “castle” the kids were referring to. We got up there, rested and snacked (it was already 1pm), and listened to some native drumming and singing. Ferdinand, the driver for the Lakota students, talked with some of us a few times. He explained to me the history of this annual climb to Harney Peak. When Black Elk (a Lakota man who lived with a writer for some years to write a book which I've read, Black Elk Speaks) was 9 years old he got very sick and went into a coma. He came to Harney Peak and looked out at the view. It was beautiful there. He got better and the spirits flew him back home, but he left his spirit on Harney. When he was 67 years old he made his way back to Harney Peak to join his spirit. I asked Ferdinand if this was the start of the annual climb, and he said maybe. The reason for the climb is to welcome spring and pray for prosperity. For rains to feed the grasses. The animals eat the grasses, and live. Then we can live, too. The climb back down was taken just as briskly as the climb up. It was close to 3pm and we had a long drive ahead. We drove back to Badlands and down into the Sage Creek Wilderness, the most remote area of the park, which is where the bison herds run wild. On the way we encountered big horn sheep, pronghorns, and prairie dogs as well as many bison, some blocking the road. We camped at Sage Creek near some bison, setting up tents just as the sun set. In the process we heard a coyote calling, and many returning calls. It's beautiful there, big rolling hills tan with grasses, spotted with Junipers and Cedars, Sage Creek cutting it's way through the hills. After dinner I took a night hike with two Calhoun teachers and Sara, a park ranger. The crescent moon set, and the milky way came alive. We hiked to the top of a hill and lay there watching the stars for a while, listening to the coyotes and a nearby owl. As the night went on, the coyotes continued to be boisterous, and they sounded pretty close. It was really cool.