Notes To My Mother

The Wave is a very special place located in the north west corner of Arizona.  You can not just go there, you have to enter a lottery and hope you name gets pulled.  They do the drawing every month and I met one lady who has been trying for 6 years.  I've heard of others who waited 10 years.  Three of us went and one, Andy, submitted our names to the lottery and we got selected after only 4 months of trying.  Amazing. Thank yoy Andy! The hike in is about two miles and is rated from easy (seasoned hikers) to hard (people like me).  The trail is easily lost as much of the hike is on sandstone with no visible trail.  Then there is the soft sand part. Very difficult and when you are just about there and tired, you find yourself walking up a steep hill in VERY soft sand. When I got to the top I poured myself onto the hard sandstone that makes up The Wave and rested.  And then I started exploring and what a wonderous place it is.  What you see are ...

For years I had heard people talk about the Badlands of South Dakota and how they wanted to go there, but every time I looked up images the landscape looked so blah I couldn't understand their interest.  Last year I was invited to help a friend scout the badlands for future workshops.  A group of us met up in Wall, South Dakota and explored the area for five days.  I was blown away by the beauty.  The image above was taken in Cedar Pass in the morning. Highway 240 runs the length of the park taking visitors to a plethora of scenic views.  This image was taken at sunset and we found it along the drive.  The geology here is very interesting and raises all kinds of questions about the formation and erosion processes.  I understand the area is eroded one inch per year which is an astoundingly fast rate. The variations in the colors really sets this place off from other places I have been. Reds, yellows, white, grey. and brown.  In mid day light the co...