Resiliency is a term used to describe many different things. In an ecological sense, it is used to describe an ecosystem which when faced with an outside pressure or disturbance will return to its original state. This is a fitting term for the habitats which we experienced in the Badlands of South Dakota. These ecosystems are prone to fires and the organisms that reside here are used to periodic burnings. Over time a fuel load (dead organic matter) will build up on the surface of the ground and when fires sweep through the area. When these areas burn organic matter releases trapped nutrients back into the soil. The soil is also home to a collection of seeds from the plants and when a fire moves through the area these seeds will germinate and regrow, returning the ecosystem to its pre-fire state. This behavior of burning and stored seeds germinating does a good job of keeping invasive species out of the area.
Another use for the term resiliency is with human mental capacity. When faced with adversity, a resilient person will remain even-keeled and not buckle under the stressors.
Since we are on the topic of resiliency, let me tell you about our experience in Badlands National Park. The day started off early. We left Chicago at 6:15 am. We immediately jumped on I-90 heading west and around 8:15 we finally arrived at Wall, SD which is just outside of Badlands. We had intentions of camping at Sage Creek campground, a primitive site located 25 minutes from Wall. Lea decided we should eat in Wall and all we would have to do is set up our tent and fall asleep. After eating a nice meal we proceeded to the campground and were slowed by a herd of close to a hundred bison slowly crossing the road. Off in the distance as we drove into the camp site was a dark cloud active with lightening. A brief look at the radar showed that this storm cell was not going to hit us and we continued on to the campsite. As we arrived at the site we met up with about 30 other tenters and found a spot on the circular field campground. We quickly pitched our tent and had moved all of our sleeping equipment into the tent. As we were brushing our teeth, the wind began to pick up. I noticed our tent had ripped loose of the shallow pegs in the soft soil and was tumbling across the field. I ran over and grabbed on to the tent and had to just hold it down because the winds were now sustained at about 20 miles an hour. Lea met me at the tent and we each grabbed on and struggled to get it back to our initial location. The wind was now beginning to blow harder and with the wind came rain. First light drops, then bigger and bigger drops then hail. Our tent collapsed under the winds and we were just laying out in the middle of a grass field being bombarded by dime to nickel-sized hail with thunder and lightning erupting all around us. As we laid on the collapsed tent, doing whatever we could to prevent it from blowing away we noticed every other set of campers running for their cars and abandoning their collapsed tents. The storm lasted 15-20 minutes and at the end, we were soaked head to toe, our car was soaked thoroughly and we sat, slightly dejected thinking about what to do next. The tent was ripped from the winds and the poles bent. It was decided that we were leaving the campgrounds and going to find a hotel room in Wall. As we were pulling out from the campground we could see we were not the only ones abandoning camping, an estimated 80% of the tents were destroyed and the remaining 20% were probably destroyed too, they just didn’t start to pack their belongings up yet.
That night we were dejected, we were beat up and scraped up, but mentally we were resilient. We formulated a plan for the next day to go to a near-by Cabelas and get a new tent and carry on with our adventure.
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