Badlands
March 21
Beautiful warm clear day. Deb arrived last night, and we set out to do the Door, Window, Notch, and Cliff Shelf Trails, then drove out to Sage Creek, stopping at every overlook and spotting bison along the way. Great light on the way back. Saw a coyote cross the road on the way to Norbeck Pass. Once again, the clouds wouldn't light up for sunset.

March 22
Deb and I shuttled our cars to the Fossil and Door parking areas so we could walk the length of the Castle Trail. Overcast and 40's. My first time on the trail with no snow. We took lots of shots of erosional details and stream close-ups. Found some fossils along the way. Overcast when we finished the trail.

March 23
Deb left this morning. Overcast all day today. Worked on a 'How to Photograph the Badlands' pamphlet for the park.

March 24
Couldn't sleep. Up at 4:15am. Headed out to the Air Quality Overlook, but again no sunrise. Read in the car and waited for the sun to break through, which took a while. I stalked some pronghorn antelope across the prairie, getting some shots but losing my lens cap in the process. Spent some time in the yellow mounds area. It's 60 today, and the snow is gone from the mounds.
    ...Met Rachel Benton (the park paleontologist) at 3pm, who took Mark Gorman and me on a little geology field trip. Rachel pointed out the Channel sandstone, the Rockyford Ash, clastic dikes, faults, nodules, and a rhino femur fossil up off the Castle Trail. After the tour I drove out to Norbeck Pass, the sun casting great beams across the landscape as it appeared from under the clouds. The post-sunset light failed, but I did shoot a hoodoo in the blue light before I returned home. .

March 25
The alarm went off at 4:45, but I stayed in bed until 6:30. Judging from the clouds, I didn't miss much. I worked on my pamphlet until lunch, then gave my slide show at the Interior school. After the show we took the kids up to the Doors/Window area, and set them loose with disposable cameras to play with. They scattered immediately, and required a watchful eye. They really seemed to enjoy the field trip. After they left, it started to rain, but passed over quickly. When I walked up to the Window I was greeted with a FULL DOUBLE RAINBOW, END TO END! Just incredible! Needless to say, I blew a lot of film on the rainbow, as well as the brightly lit buttes backed by the dark storm clouds.