Soldier's Delight East Loop, Owen Mills, MD, 8/24/24

With this hike we completed the two connected trails at the Soldier's Delight Environmental Area.

 For an account of our outing hiking the Serpentile trail, see blog post 12/23/23.

At the very start of this hike, we passed the remnants of an old chromium mine, 

dating from the early 1800s. The first one in the US.   All that remains is a number of dark bottomless shafts.

Moving along the trail we came across this endless expanse of Hay-scented ferns,

leading to a large meadow of Little bluestem grasses.

And, all along the trail, in sun dappled sections, the proud spikes of the native Dense blazing star.

Distance: 2.15 miles with ~ 175 ft elevation.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, 8/6/24

 Day 3 of our trip to South Dakota took us to the "Badlands" a large expanse  (244,000 acres) of prairie interspersed with phantasmagorical rock formations.  Apparently, the Lakota natives already called it 

" "bad lands" and the early French trappers called "les mauvaises terres a traverser,"  due its unusually harsh living environment. 

 

Jim crossing a small mount leading to the higher butte plateau.

Extraordinary beautiful, arid and desolate landscape. We were not prepared for a full hike but I did make it up to the upper plateau and found myself alone in the middle of a moonlike landscape and surrounded by an eerie silence, except for an occasion breeze. 

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, 8/5/24

 First of our micro hikes in the South Dakota Black Hills while visiting with Jim's grandson, Micheal.

Above the Mount Rushmore rock carvings of four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodor Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The presidents were chosen to represent the country's birth, growth, development and preservation. The moment is called the "Shrine of Democracy" although some call it the "Shrine of Hypocrisy" because the land was taken from the Sioux Nation.