South Dakota

I had never traveled beyond the east cost before. I've gone to Maine as a child and Florida as a young teenager. Neither seemed as wonderful or as awe-inspiring as South Dakota. We planned the trip to visit my uncle out in Sturgis, South Dakota. I had heard about the state from my mother and uncle but nothing could prepare me for what it was really like. We took off from Newark Airport and into smoggy skies above New Jersey and New York City. It was my first time on a plane and it was amazing. The sky went on forever and, as we traveled west, the heavens became clearer and clearer as we left the pollution of the east behind. We arrived at eleven o'clock at night. I woke up the following morning to a new world. It was hot but dry. The grass crunched underfoot and was a parched yellow. Although considered unhealthy back home in New York the grass was some how incredible. The trees were different too; tall pines and spruces darkened the Black Hills, hence their name. We traveled to visit Mt. Rushmore, as cliche as it sounds. The heads of our founding fathers seemed smaller than I had originally thought. However, they were amazing. We took Iron Mountain Road for a winding ride and viewed the national monument from there. It was a farther view and the busts of the presidents were dwarfed by the trees but it seemed more real to me. My favorite visits in South Dakota were Bear Butte and the Badlands. I love anything to do with rocks, dirt, and geology and hope to earn my degree in that field. Bear Butte, or "Mato Paha" as the Lakota Indians call it, is a formation of an intrusion of igneous rock formed millions of years ago. Riolite stones were everywhere, ringing almost like ceramic as we trekked up Bear Butte. I learned that it actually isn’t a butte at all but a laccolith, formed when magma never reaches the surface in an eruption. It cools and solidifies into a mound that remains when the softer rock on top of it erodes. Many American Indian tribes deem it sacred and hold religious ceremonies there. The Badlands were by far my favorite place. You can see bison, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, and foxes all over the park. Also common are prairie dogs, living in underground communities to come up for food or water at need. The sun beat down on the uneven terrain and a local man told me how all of the crumbling piles of sandy soil and rock were ancient mountain ranges. Many paleontologists frequent the Badlands because of the rich fossil deposits. They have tracked the evolution of mammals like the horse and rhinoceros through the mineralize bones found there. I learned a lot in our family trip to South Dakota. I want very much to return some day and maybe join a fossil dig or even just to plan a trip again.

Alison Koenig

2008-05-30T15:28:48Z

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active February 2009 Punzabo Winner South Dakota

2010-02-09T12:57:41Z

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