The Badlands; Photos and Words (part 2 of 2)
I hear pups yipping for their mother, she is out on the hunt.
Hundreds of them prowl the night if not thousands.
As the light of the moon illuminates the sod pillar,
The faint wisp of foot pads steal away behind me.
Yelping is replaced by the comfort sounds of
Motherly salvation.
Salvation Chimney
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Off in the distance centered in the photo is the Big Pig Dig. I had the joy of spending a summer out in this desolate land working at this fossil quarry. These lands have some of the highest concentrations of early mammal fossils in the world. Here we find the holy grail of evolution, we can look through time as animals adapted to the land as it changed.
The horse found here has three toes and is the size of a cat. Dogs the size of a bear, giant pigs and hornless rhinos. Mammals entered a golden age of diversity 30 million years ago and the White River badlands document it all in its pages of stone.
Conata Basin - Looking at the Big Pig Dig
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30 million years ago this spot was the home of a watering hole similar to what you may find in the African savanna. The animals alive at that time were drawn to this watering hole as were the predators that hunted them. 12 types of fossil animals have been discovered, of those 90 % are made up out of 4 types. The 4 types are mainly a rhino called subhyracodon and a giant pig called archeotherium which feed on the rhino. Also found are messohippus the three toed horse and leptomoryx a small house cat sized dear.
Active Fossil Quarry ~ The Big Pig Dig
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Vampire Butte once had 2 soaring pinnacles on the left and right, however they fell off long ago during a year of abnormally heavy rainfall. Now the vampire may have a bit of a dental problem but the spookiness of this picture insures that it shall always be a fascination of the night.
The night need not be a frightening time for us as we are taught when we are children. While bats buzzed my head, sometimes close enough to feel the beating of their wings, I stood my ground and said thank you every time they made my heart race; for they were not after me, they were after the nasty bugs that were attracted to my bodies warmth. Not a single bug bit me after the bats began feeding, and in about five minutes I closed my shutter and knew that I had made new friends.
Vampire Butte by Night
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Oh how this land can be when you are a seeker.
On the other side of the park winds were calm and the air a cool 30 degrees fahrenheit. Not bad if you dress for it. I traveled on and when I got to this point the sinister side of the park reared up to challenge me. At the Pinnacles the wind began to blow so strong that I had to strap my tripod to a railing and all I could do was try in vain to huddle under my jacket and blanket against the sub-zero wind chill. I lost my ability to keep track of time when exposing this photo. With ice forming on my beard and the winds desire to devour my flesh I had to retreat to the welcome warmth of the car. Nature as always wins out in the end, the quest however goes on.
Pinnacles by Night
Tags: Nature, Night Photos, Photography, Story in Photos
April 8th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Just what I needed to take my mind off after a stressful day. Excellent article that really gets the idea covered. Thanks for taking the time.