Badlands
...Ended up at Pinnacles Overlook for sunset. Some of the clouds lit up nicely, but that wasn't the real show. Most of the heavens seemed ready to open up and pour down all around me. It started as fine streamers of rain pulled down from the brooding sky. The tempest quickly escalated. Soon the sky was like roiling smoke, in vicious shades of black, gray, and blue, rips and gashes tearing away at the fabric. The wind was suddenly sprung upon me, gusting out of nowhere, howling in rage. As the storm passed to the east, the giant head of the thundercloud was still visible in the fading blue light. Its dark underbelly had been ripped open, the insides spilling onto the prairie. It lashed out in pain with bolts of lightning that, for an instant, broke the black pall hanging over the landscape. I followed the lightning all the way back to Cedar Pass...

March 26
Up at 4:45am. Had a bagel, geared up, and headed out on foot across from the VC to see if I could climb up to the slump area where there's a grove of juniper - and where I saw some bighorn through binoculars on my first day. I was able to climb up there, in the growing light, and eventually reached a saddle looking over the north side of the Wall. I sat and watched the sky brighten, and then watched as the tips of the buttes lit up, the warm yellow light slowly working its way down. After many shots, I considered the way back. It was steep, but doable the way I had come. I was more interested in whether I could find a way down the north side. Glad I headed the way I did. I found a beautiful window in the glowing yellow wall, the deep blue sky penetrating through. I took about a dozen shots, verticals and horizontals, bracketing, just to make sure I got it. I continued down the canyon, breaking out of cool shade into warm sunshine, and was greeted by a symphony of song, bouncing off the buttes in all directions, coming from the western meadowlarks. The songs are sweet and pure, trilling up and down, complex, always changing. I sat down in the grass to listen...
     ...I followed the road back over Cedar Pass, but detoured off road on the way down, through another grove of sweet, incense-smelling juniper, past deep gullies, and back into the grasses below. Here I had the luck of having a meadowlark land not 30 feet away. Beautiful yellow breast and black V-neck. Such an incredible voice for such a small bird. Got to within 15 feet before she took off. Great morning!