Painted Desert: Reds and yellows are dominant at the Gooseberry Badlands but other colors make their presence known as well. The hillside shows purple and burgundy hues. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Lupines: The blooms on the lupine plants were almost a neon blue color despite growing in the dry and rocky environment at the badlands. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
A famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson is “It’s not the Destination, It’s the journey”. This is how we roll while out roaming the country in our small RV. You may have a general plan or route of travel, but you should expect the unexpected.
While traveling in Wyoming in June 2017, we were traveling the back roads between Buffalo and Cody on our way to Yellowstone National Park.
Traveling west from Buffalo, we drove across the Bighorn Mountains before descending into the valley on the west side.
After passing through the community of Worland, we took off to the west again. Just minutes after passing through the Bighorn Mountains, the valley we were traversing was more like a desert. About 25 miles west of Worland, we entered the Gooseberry Badlands. Instead of green conifers and mountain streams, we were looking over a colorful painted desert that was stunning.
There is a Gooseberry Badlands Scenic Overlook and Trail, so we stopped and for the next couple of hours, we walked among and viewed this beautiful landscape formed by millions of years of erosion and transformation.
Discoveries like this happen often while we travel, sometimes making the journey better than the destination.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country and he shares his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Wide View: A wide view of the badlands shows off the arid desert landscape and the rugged, rocky landscape. Erosion over millions of years has created the unique rock formations. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Summer Blooms: A view of the Gooseberry Badlands from the mesa also shows some of the local wildflowers in their summer blooms. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Bright and Beautiful: The cacti were in full bloom at the Gooseberry Badlands including this cactus displaying a bright yellow bloom. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Monotone: While the landscape shows off many colors, this view is more of a monotone pallet of grays. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
