Badlands
...at 4pm I went to get Scott, who agreed to take me up Sheep Mountain Table. The seven mile road up the table was dry, but very rough, and I'm not sure I'd take my car up there. Deep ruts, and no place to turn around. The edges of the table are very steep - five people, mostly drunks, have fallen off and died up there in the last year. We drove to the end of the table, and it was incredible. The walls of the canyon are shaped like the hoodoos of Bryce, but buff-colored. And more extreme. The drop-off takes your breath away. Scott walked out onto a fin where the canyon arced around you for 180 degrees, a meandering stream running through the bottom far below. The problem was, the fin was extremely narrow. At one point, you have to step down a little dip, and the place where you put your foot was only about two inches wider than your foot! On either side it just dropped away, a couple hundred feet straight down. All this on crumbling rock. Carrying a camera and tripod. My legs were shaking. Two things urged me on - the desire to get the shot, and fear of embarrassment from Scott. So I held my breath and did it. But even farther out, where it was 'wider,' I still couldn't spread out my tripod legs because they would have gone over the side. There was a sliver of red light on the horizon below a bank of dark clouds, as the setting sun worked its way underneath. It did make it out briefly, turning the pinnacles far to the east an incredible glowing red/salmon color, and casting a soft warm glow on everything else. Then the clouds lit up, pink filling half the sky. Finally, some magnificent sunset color!

March 27
Up at 5:30am. Looked out the window and two mule deer were right outside. As soon as I opened my door, they bolted. Greg, Casey, Mark, and I left at 8am for Mt Rushmore. It sprinkled while we were there, so no great shots. I drove us from Rushmore to Wind Cave, along a crazy winding road through beautiful pine forest. Driving through Custer State Park, we encountered a pack of wild burros, who, when we didn't offer food, took to licking the car...
    ...The highlight of the day was seeing about 100 bison, some not 5 ft from the car. Very impressive animals. We also saw lots of pronghorn and mule deer, much less skittish than in the Badlands. Good photo ops.