The Beauty of the Badlands

7/31/09



Joe bought us some walking sticks for a $1 each at a flee market back in Hayward WI., to scare & fight off the bears. We decided they might be good for rattle snakes too. The color is magnificent- not seen in pictures.I love the stripes in the mountains! On one of the walking trails.

The Wall

Colors of red, green, and yellow in the rock layers. Double right click on the picture to see the color better. The billy goat, finally faces his fear of heights. (hint- no cliff around for miles) Trying to feed the prairie dogs with peanuts. (food bought from establishment to feed them) Maybe I can buy his attention. 8/1/09


We decided to go on the Notch Trail today. Joe had told me ahead of time that he had read that this was a trail with a steep ladder and he would not go on it. He also said it was not for people with the fear of heights, because it had many walks along cliffs. ( We both have a fear of heights, but Joe's is much worse than mine) We had been walking for maybe 5 minutes and came upon the ladder. The ladder consisted of logs and wire cable connected together. Joe said, " I'm done, you can go if you want." I said, " Oh come on, it does not look that bad". But he refused. Other people were going up it, so I proceeded to climb the latter. I made it to the top where I could see over the ladder to the top, but by now my arms and legs were shaking from exhaustion or fear, I'm not sure, probably both. At that point, I knew if I took the last 3 steps to the top, I might not have enough strength, energy or guts to come back down. I was told by another lady that the top rung was real shaky. I called it quits, and slowly back myself down the ladder, as others waited for my decent so they could climb up. When I finally got down, my arms and legs were so weak, I could hardly walk. After a long rest, I hobbled back to the car, as I had messed up my right thigh really bad. I guess I need to know my limitations, because we had to call it a day.