taking a rest in the badlands

June 29, 2022

Taking a rest in The Badlands is no easy task. It’s over 100 degrees with a steady breeze that pulls the water from your body. My lips are chapped and the muscles in my legs are exhausted. Resting isn’t easy. It’s constantly drinking water and eating fruit. Stretching slowly. Laying down and looking out into the vast plains. You don’t sweat because it evaporates from your skin instantly. It’s about learning how to take care of your body in a space when the mind just wants to complain. Not always easy, but necessary.

Right now I am sitting beneath a cottonwood tree writing, but trying to find words to describe this place is hard. Bad lands — a place were you should not seek unless it calls to you. On the first day it was so hot, vast, and extreme that I couldn’t help but remember the black hills forest where we were sleeping and the creek that we jumped in. I wanted to leave. Not even kidding. But then the sun started to fall across the western sky and the light shifted along the rocks behind revealing a sky full of stars so bright.

It was like a sigh of relief to move in such comfort and ease suddenly. The wind finally cooling instead of drying. The blazing sun now casting golden light on the buffalo grazing on the hillside. Everything begin waking up at twilight. The rabbits coming out from their den. People in the campground laughing. The sun goes down in The Badlands and life becomes a little bit easier.

Dawn came early on the second day when a buffalo ran through camp. We rose easy, inspired by the cool temperatures to start moving before 6 AM. As we drove down the gravel road to explore more of the park, a hundred or so buffalo watched us passing by—munching grass, rolling in dirt, and laying in the distance. The calves were unmistakable with their bright brown colored fur. The older ones had tough hides and pure wisdom in their eyes. The buffalo people — pure light bringers.

To see the buffalo grazing was rejuvenating on this second day. They made me want to explore the land. To walk through the tall grass. To climb down into the canyons. To look beyond the horizon. So we did.

The Badlands are not easy, but strenuous in the summer heat.

Full of great teachings —

like moving past the moments of discomfort to find yourself in ease.