Why take the backroads?

What dusty dirt road started it all?

The year is 2007.

The vehicle is a 1999 Toyota Sienna Minivan.

The place is Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

My family stood where the unpaved Sage Creek Rim Road met the main park road. Five miles away lay an extensive prairie dog town. I advocated fiercely for the ten mile detour, but lacking a driver’s license at age 12, I was at the mercy of the others. After weighing the risks (and rewards) of a ten mile detour to see the iconic rodent of the west, a conclusion was reached that we didn’t have such exotic creatures in Missouri and pressed onward.

Turns out that yes, the family minivan did make it and the prairie dogs were cute, but something else was made too… an unforgettable impression on my mind. Out there on the Sage Creek Rim, with the tires crunching on gravel and dust billowing out behind us, the crowds fell away as the pavement stopped. Gone were any RV’s or jam-packed overlooks. Out there in the dirt, the sky seemed a little bigger. The eroded badlands a little more dramatic. The wildlife a little more wild. The horizon pushed back into the haze behind the furthest ridges of the distant pinnacles and hills.

An isolated, dusty ribbon of dirt stretching into the horizon beckons me. What lies around the bend? What vista will be unveiled over that rise? Whether on four wheels or my own two feet, lonely ribbons of trail speak to me inviting me to explore their secrets. What scene of natural beauty or forgotten ruins of the past await discovery? Exploring the lightly traveled backroads of our world whether in remote wilderness areas or crumbling corners of our human world affords a sense of discovery that becomes harder and harder to find in a world that is ever more civilized. Through my photography and writing, I hope to share some sense of the feeling of discovery found in my wanderings.