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John Meyer | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Lybrook Badlands - Spring 2024 tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Lybrook Badlands - Spring 2024

Here's the thing about exploring the Lybrook badlands: attempting to follow any particular route to get to a particular set of features can be problematic, or - as in my case on this trip - simply impossible. Vehicle access to your starting point for a hike is accomplished via oil company dirt roads that quickly turn into a complex maze once google maps gets you to the vicinity of interest. Only once (among the three times that I've driven into the place) have I been able to go directly where I intended to go, and that was done using not high-tech mapping tools, but a set of verbal instructions translated from the German as posted by another badlands enthusiast.

But not to worry - no matter where one ends up abandoning the effort to find the intersection of Road X with Dry Wash Z, you can always just get out and hoof it toward the distant scarps and eroded hills to the east and north of your chosen parking place. That's what I did on this occasion, and the results can be seen in this photo gallery. I was not disappointed.
Park here and start walking
Park here and start walking
The hills are alive
The hills are alive
Georgia O'Keefe might recognize these black clay hills
Georgia O'Keefe might recognize these black clay hills
The perfect landscape for honing one's b&w processing chops
The perfect landscape for honing one's b&w processing chops
No trail - just follow the landforms (and memorize the path behind you)
No trail - just follow the landforms (and memorize the path behind you)
Desert in bloom: bulbous springparsley going nuts
Desert in bloom: bulbous springparsley going nuts
Rock garden
Rock garden
Something interesting appears over the ridge at left
Something interesting appears over the ridge at left
Narrow passage
Narrow passage
Colorful terrain
Colorful terrain
Approaching the hoodoos
Approaching the hoodoos
Divot
Divot
Erosion did this
Erosion did this
Another view
Another view
hilltop battlements
hilltop battlements
Land of wonders
Land of wonders
The titans
The titans
Family unit
Family unit
Another angle
Another angle
Sea of gray
Sea of gray
Pinnacle
Pinnacle
Study in b&w
Study in b&w
Complex landforms
Complex landforms
Weathering
Weathering
On its back
On its back
Concretion
Concretion
Lonely cloud
Lonely cloud
Overseer
Overseer
Sepia subject
Sepia subject
More to explore
More to explore
Beyond the scarp
Beyond the scarp
Land of the giants
Land of the giants
Caprock
Caprock
Steep slope
Steep slope
Retracing steps
Retracing steps
Low lonesome
Low lonesome