Our last full day in the Badlands began just as chilly as the night that preceded it. Much to the group’s dismay, the sun didn’t look like it would make its way out all day. Regardless, everyone did their best to keep the mood light, despite the weather. Our first assignment of the day entailed an hour long introduction to topography task, with the Badlands being our first subject. The class split up and went on to map a relatively small area of their choosing.
Strangely, during the laydown of our work, we encountered two Iowa State alums who were more than happy to see ISU students out on the road. Mixed results and muddy boots later, we were on to our second stop of the day: The Wall. It is there that Gary directed us on a relatively brief hike around The Wall, pointing out plant species, both new and familiar. While the group encountered interesting objects such as animal bones, though perhaps most exciting was when the sun finally broke out of the clouds and revealed the beauty of the park, while providing some much welcomed warmth right before breaking for lunch.
After a hearty lunch consisting of soup, peanut butter sandwiches, soup, soup, an apple and more soup with Emily Snavely I was ready to tackle my Place Project, while Kyle and the rest of the class tackled the first colored pencil drawing. Fellow classmate Lucas Buscher and I split off from the rest of the group to capture the necessary pictures for our collage that’s to be completed upon return to Ames, while the rest of the class worked on their colored pencil drawing of the Badlands. While doing a laydown of the drawings, Kyle noted that all of the students had a different interpretation of the Badlands. With our workday being completed, we were surprised to learn that we would be treated to s’mores from Park Ranger Gene Johnson and his fiancé from Columbia, Monica. The generosity was much appreciated and a fitting end to a full day.
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