Crop Circle?

For the part of my work that is involved in performing building and property inspections, I will review aerial or satellite photos - mainly through Google Maps and sometimes using Microsoft Terraserver for those areas without Google Maps coverage. A couple of weeks ago I was working south of Mandan and was taking a look at the aerial views. I noticed this strange item in a field in the area.

I don't know how well you can see it, but it is in the light field area west of the Heart River. You may need to click on to enlarge for a better view. Across the river is the Prairie West Golf Course. This location is on Hwy 1806 just north of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. At first I was confused as to what it could be. Was it a crop circle? Why hadn't I heard about this?

I zoomed in for a closer look. What the heck? Finally it dawned on me - this is the corn maze south of Mandan. It is likely that this satellite view is from late 2004 or early 2005 and taken after the corn was harvested. The local family that runs the maze calls it the A.G.A. Maize. This one was called Lost In Space.

From checking out the site, it looks like the MAiZE is a company that designs and makes corn mazes for people or companies. They will either come out and cut the maze for you or else train you how to do it. Obviously a GPS is involved. The owner of the company is only 36 years old - aMAiZEing. Ha.

I love mazes. On our honeymoon to the Black Hills/Rapid City in 1996 I took Nancy to a maze in the area. I had a great time. Nancy doesn't particularly care for mazes, as I found out in the middle of working our way through the maze. Lesson learned. It was hot and muggy, though, and the walking surface was several inches of pea gravel - making the journey even more laborious for the bride.