Chapter 14: Sheep Mountain Table

The moment I arrived at Sheep Mountain Table I was overcome by a profound sense of awe. Dozens of passengers from both buses staggered with me to the edge of the cliff overlooking the entirety of Badlands National Park. The light-colored sandstone reflected the sunlight, making it a very bright place even at twilight. Off to the east a group of surrealistically shaped sandstone pinnacles and peaks were glowing in the orange-tinted light of the summer evening. With the sun close to the horizon, all the colors were morphing, and the shadows were growing. The sky was a dome of deep blue that did not fade until the edges of the world, making the visibility seem endless.

A creeping miasma of haze floated above the canyon floor where herds of Buffalo mottled fields of green grass. Beyond the fields a vast patchwork of jagged sawtooth sandstone formations stretched out to the north east for over thirty miles. I turned around to get a better sense of our position on top of the grassy plateau. The fields of forever blanketed the earth as far as the eye could see in a landscape barren of trees. Over the edge of the cliff lay our own private canyon, featuring a menagerie of bright gray and sand-colored formations. The vertical walls were etched like otherworldly sculptures while the milder slopes were as smooth as sandcastles.

Deutsche Mark and Guitar Johnny stood by my side taking-in the majestic view in solemn reverence. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Jewels skipping toward us in a flowing sundress that caught the light. She greeted the three of us with a joyous smile.

“A vision of l... l... loveliness,” remarked Guitar Johnny.

Jewels put her arm around him. “This place is so wonderful, Johnny. Don’t you feel it? I feel so connected to the earth, this land and everything around us.”

“W... w... w... well, I’m feeling something, but I don’t know fuck all about that.”

Yülia came running up behind us and startled Guitar Johnny with her hand on his back. “Wunderbar! Wunderbar!” She put her arm around him on the opposite side of Jewels next to Deutsche Mark.

“I’m a bit n... n... nervous about falling off the edge of this b... b... bloody cliff.” We all laughed a little as we looked over the edge into the canyon. It was quite a drop. I gave Guitar Johnny a knowing look.

“I feel so connected here,” Jewels continued. “My spirit feels so free.”

“This one view is worth the whole trip,” Deutsche Mark commented.

“Wunderbar! Wunderbar!” exclaimed Yülia.

Guitar Johnny rolled a cigarette in the pouch of tobacco in his waist-pack. Before he finished Deutsche Mark said, “The Indians smoke tobacco in ceremonies. It seems appropriate here.” He watched the Englishman lick the paper and motioned with his head. Guitar Johnny passed him the cigarette without hesitation and started rolling another.

“I’ll take one too, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“Bloody hell! Anyone else?” he asked snidely. The girls both declined.

“Thanks, man,” I said.

It was too windy to light cigarettes even with a cupped hand, so Guitar Johnny showed us a trick where he put his head inside his shirt to light the first one and we jump started the others.

While we stood there unceremoniously smoking our cigarettes, Jewels told Yülia, “I’m going to smoke weed later if you want to try it.”

“I’d love to try it,” the German girl answered cutely. “I smoked hash once before when I was young,” she revealed, “but I never tried smoking the flowers.” We all laughed.

“Is that what you call it in Germany?” I asked with a smile.

“No,” she said innocently. “We call it grass, but grass is the flowers, right?”