Blades and Spines and Both

Back to South Dakota for today's post, where I took a little trek out into the prairie that was 30' (9m) from the RV door -- it would have been closer but they kept it mowed back a bit around the edge of the campground. At first glance, standing here you might say this was "just grasses":

Not a bad description, unless you decide to go for a little barefoot romp through those grasses. In that case, you're in for a surprise.

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Quick -- what does this photo show?

Sure, grasses. Did you notice the cactus though?

There were a few different species of Opuntia mixed in with the grasses, which is exciting to me as a plant (and cactus) person, but also distressing as somebody who's trying to get low to the ground to photograph plants.

They were sometimes easy to see:

But more often then not you really had to pay attention...

(Two clumps of Opuntia hiding in this image!)

...especially if you decide to have a glass of wine while waiting for the sun to get a bit lower before taking photos.

I have to admit that I stepped on a couple of hidden pads -- but I was wearing proper footwear so no harm done to me. The plants seemed to take this fine too -- tough little guys!

Once I realized that I had to literally watch every step I took it went fine, and I was able to focus on the diversity and beauty around me.

Enjoy!

And so ended our second day at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Tomorrow morning we'd be leaving, and although we still have two long days of driving ahead of us, our trip is essentially over.

There was lots more to see in the morning though, as you'll soon find out!

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