May 10th. Giant steps are fun today, Walking on the moon.

Badlands National Park. Castle Trail and Medicine Loop.

Castle trail is one of the very few marked trails through this section of the Badlands. Self navigating in this area would be foolhardy as it is a maze of canyons. It would be a coin flip between getting hopelessly lost, or plunging down a crevasse.

It was also the one that fit the bill for the distance we wanted to stretch our legs on.

(There is another trail that involves climbing a 20ft ladder up a rock face……not me..!!Nope..!!)

Having spent a stormy day doing blog work in the trailer whilst watching everyone else’s tents be flattened or blown away by the wind (who needs tv..!! ?) The next day was a nice sun/cloud day in the low 20’s (Celsius) so the Castle Trail it was….

We were very glad for our timing again. This early in the season, with the temperatures only around 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit ) meant that we were not going to be baked alive on this one.

We met this little guy who was digging a little hole right in the middle of the path. I have not been able to find out any more about him than he is a Carabus Serratus, a ground beetle. He was pretty cool to watch for a bit though.

…and then on with the walk……

Its such an incredibly different landscape that its like walking on the moon…(or how I imagine walking on the moon might be….but with breathable air……and normal gravity obviously..!!)

I have read many mixed reviews about this place…many from people who were quite underwhelmed…..I must be easily entertained because I found it endlessly fascinating…!!!

It was one of the most level hikes we have done……but between the heat from the sun and the wind…..it was more challenging than you might expect….

Because of all the rain the surface was smooth clay, which meant not only was is much greener than usual but also there were several areas where the runoff had left grooves that looked like lovely little Zen gardens in the middle of nowhere…….

You can see all the layers……each layer being eroded away gradually by water, creating another shelf level……and then the process begins again….like I said….its fascinating…..

This little blue (bright shiny blue..!!) bird tried valiantly to lead me away from his family….I was just trying to creep close enough to see him ….He was such a beautiful vivid colour…..

I’m not sure which one of the rock formations was supposed to be the ‘Castle”…or if its because so many of them look like castles…….

There were a couple of spots on the Medicine loop where the water was still pooling from the rain. There were planks laid across to walk across some of the boggier patches….but they sank right in when you stepped on them……funnily enough wet feet is not the same kind of problem when its warm that it is in the snow…!!!

Across some of the more open patches, the mud crust had many shiny clean rocks just sitting on the surface as if someone had placed them there….it added to the whole ‘lunar landscape’ feel.

It was not the longest hike we had ever done. Its surprising to find that a hike like the high prairies hike we did, which was 25km, was not nearly as taxing as this 12 km hike under the sun. I don’t know if I could do this one in July or August…!!!

It was such a beautiful, different landscape and another one that I am so very grateful to have done.

On the road in, through Badlands National Park to the Cedar Pass campground, you pass through the main town in the area…Interior. Looks like it probably has not changed since the early 1800’s…and not because its got any kind of Victorian grandeur…….we stopped at the grocery store…..

Really nice lady in the store. We bought a pack of ‘Indian Fry Bread mix……it’s a feature of the area. We had been reading about it and were curious.

Indian Fry bread is a local thing. The story goes that “when the buffalo were all gone from the prairies, and the plains tribes were confined to the reservations, the starving Indians were issued ‘commodities’ to survive. That’s history. But here’s an interesting twist, out of the wheat flour that was so alien to their cook fires, these ingenious people created a wonderful new concept for bread. No yeast, no shortening, and no salt; its delicious, versatile and easy to make. Every Indian mother has her own special recipe for ‘Indian Fry Bread’

(ref. the above is the story from the back of the packet…..)

We HAD to go out for breakfast to the cafe at Cedar Pass Lodge one morning. ( They have an Indian Fry Bread taco on the menu.) It was interesting and quite tasty. Definitely one to try……now I just need to see if I can manage to make some…!!!

(All the pictures are clickable if you desire a more detailed view. Underlined text appears where I have added a clickable link for more information )

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