Wind Cave National Park

The third and final stop on my whirlwind Thanksgiving tour of Wyoming and South Dakota was Wind Cave National Park. I'd been with family several years ago, but didn't spend much time here. And effectively no time at all above ground, opting for a cave tour instead. This time, I was determined to take in the sights both above and below ground.

I nearly missed the sunrise when one of the roads I'd planned to take to get there from Rapid City turned out to be closed for the season.  After doubling back and exceeding the speed limit once or twice, I managed to get into the park and to a scenic overlook just in time for this.

Since I still had a six-hour drive home ahead of me I only budgeted enough time to squeeze in one hike -- the Rankin Ridge Nature Trail.  Overcast skies made the landscape views fairly dull, but the fire tower at the summit was visually interesting itself in a geometric sort of way.

Bison enjoying their morning silflay.

Bison are an interesting paradox to me.  Majestic and strong on the one hand, but when you look in their eyes you can tell they're really just shaggy cattle.

Wary of me for a while, too.  Until their interest in the salt from the dust caked on my car overcame their caution.  Side note: Bison pay no heed to automobile horns.

Mule deer are also fairly abundant in the park.  This gal had an itch she just couldn't scratch.

When you have ears like mule deer, most facial expressions end up appearing a bit comical.

I didn't expect to see velvet on the buck's antlers this time of year.  My knowledge of seasonal changes in mule deer physiology is clearly limited.

I was captivated by this scene of a lone bison grazing below a stately bridge.  Enough so to scramble down a rocky hillside with my tripod and big glass to get what I considered to be just the right angle.  The sun and clouds still didn't want to cooperate and give me interesting light, but you can't have everything.

I was disappointed to learn that I couldn't bring my tripod on the cave tour.  And the shots I took handheld pretty much stink, so they're not making the cut for the blog.  Still, all in all five solid hours to cap off my weekend.  The drive home even passed fairly quickly, thanks to the Broncos-Chiefs game.  Side note: Southeastern Wyoming has five AM radio stations, four of which carry the Broncos on Sundays.

Will this be the last photo trip to a new destination I can do by car?  For now, most likely.  Until I get restless and talk myself into eight hours one way being a reasonable amount of time to drive, anyway.  Then 10 hours isn't much of a jump from eight, and at that point Yellowstone is in range.  And with extra vacation time I can turn three-day weekends into four a little easier ...

So, I guess you can expect more photo trips in 2014 after all!

Badlands National Park: Sunset

Nearly 10 hours in Badlands National Park, and the show was reaching its grand finale. Pinnacles Overlook was the place I'd read delivered the best sunset views, so that's where I set up shop.

Sunset is a special moment, but a fleeting one.  Being on site and prepared early enabled me to catch a beautiful scene of the sun just dipping below some striking cloud formations.

Late light brings shadows and contrast, which really help add definition and interest to a landscape like this one.

Colors begin to fill the sky, and J.J. Abrams starts to appreciate the scene even more.

I have a graduated neutral density filter that enables me to get better balance between the sky and foreground at sunrise and sunset.  But I've gotten pretty lazy about using it and rely on Lightroom to do the job in post-production instead.

I used to like having jet trails across the sky in my shots, feeling like it added a little something extra.  The one here just bugs me.

Tried a trick I learned from John Gerlach here -- changing the white balance to 10000K to bring out more red in the sky.

Like arriving early, staying late can also pay dividends.  The sky continues to deliver interesting colors and textures after the sun dips below the horizon.

The effect of a polarizing filter in action.  On ...

... and off.  Same basic scene, but different elements take on very different appearances.

After I'd packed up, left the park and was headed into Wall I couldn't help but stop at this farm building silhouetted against the twilight sky and shoot just a few more pictures.  After a long day like today I sometimes think of skipping opportunities.  Those are the moments I need to remember to ask myself, "When exactly do you plan on coming back here?"

An amazing day in an overlooked national park had finally come to an end.  I was exhausted, but thoroughly satisfied.  With a little planning, a little stamina and the willingness to get an early start I'd been able to squeeze more out of 10 hours than I'd thought possible.  A truly special day.

Badlands National Park: Bison

You'll see this advice in nearly every travel book, and I'm here to tell you it's absolutely true: You have to talk to locals. Even when the whole point of your trip is to "get away from it all," insight from the residents will result in experiences you'd never have on your own. Thanks to a chat with a ranger in the Ben Reifel Visitor Center I learned that bison herds were most likely to be found along the Sage Creek Rim Road, a part of the park I hadn't planned on visiting. So there I went, and there I indeed saw bison.

These two look like they've just been caught doing something they weren't supposed to.  More likely they were wondering why I was walking across the prairie in their direction.  And then the one on the left pooped.

The whole silent-sentinel-on-the-alert pose really works for me.

This guy (or gal, I'm really not sure) was munching away quite contentedly on whatever this patch of vegetation is.

None of the bison I saw seemed in a particular hurry to get anywhere, except this guy who broke into a brief trot.

The silent sentinel thing again.  I love how this guy seems to be master of all he surveys, and the idea that he's on the fringe of civilization with the gravel road.

After I'd sat near one small herd for a while they got comfortable enough with my presence to get closer, but still kept a watchful eye on me.

One of the few calves I saw.

They called him "Straight Horn" behind his back.  But nobody dared to his face.

I don't believe bison are the smartest of animals.  True or not, expressions like this do little to dispel that notion.

Sitting among these gentle giants was a definite highlight in a day chock full of them.  It was one of those rare moments of near total tranquility, where virtually the only sounds were the great beasts moving, breathing and chewing.  As soothing to my ears as running water, and I felt privileged to spend some time with them.

Badlands National Park: Saddle Pass Trail

The Saddle Pass Trail is a short but steep hike that provided the best workout of my visit to Badlands National Park.

The Wall's rugged beauty never fails to impress.  Even when you know you're about to climb it.

I wondered why the trail were marked with poles rather than cairns.  But the "rocky" landscape is a lot more fragile up close than it appears from a distance.

The trail is considered "strenuous" for good reason.  It's barely a trail, and goes almost straight up with no significant switchbacks.

I can't even imagine what early settlers coming from the north must have felt like reaching this point.  Or how they decided this was the best place to forge a route down.

The Castle Trail extends to the east and west once you finish climbing the Badlands Wall.  But I decided against hiking any of it, mainly because it just didn't seem to go anywhere interesting.

One last look to the east, then I headed back down.  The trail is listed as having just 216 feet of net elevation gain over a little more than a third of a mile, but it seems tougher than that for some reason.  Definitely worth doing, though, to work up a little sweat!

Badlands National Park: Window & Notch Trails, Part II

Click here for Part I.

Again with the helpful signs.  Though there really isn't as much chance of someone trying to continue past this one.

Got the start of some buttermilk clouds, but they never got any more distinct than this.

Even so, they demanded to be shot.

Danelle freaks out when I show her pictures like this from places where I take the kids.  She never seems quite as concerned when it's just me. :(

Navigating this ladder wasn't too bad, except for the whole carrying-a-camera-and-tripod part.

Anyone else have the overwhelming desire to break into the chorus of "Desperado"?  Just me?  Bummer.

I actually wanted to get even lower for this shot and have the two dead plants frame the formation in the distance even more.  Sadly, this is as low as my tripod could go.  And I probably couldn't get sharp focus and resolution handheld with the sun behind the cloud.  Still, not a horrible shot.

It was almost 11:00 now, but I still hadn't even made it to the Visitor Center!  Three trails down, though.  This was the longest of them all, and even so was only a mile and a half roundtrip.  It was also a bit more strenuous with the ladder climb, but that's all relative.  Not exactly a 14er. :)

Badlands National Park: Window & Notch Trails, Part I

It was just past 9:00, and I'd already shot the sunrise and hiked one of the trails I'd planned to do. Next up were the other two trails accessible from the same parking area as the Door Trail -- the Window and Notch Trails.

With what little color existed in the bleak landscape already starting to wash out as the sun climbed in the sky, black and white seems like a better option for presenting most of the scenery.  It really helps shift your focus to things like contrast and texture.

What I initially thought was the Window Trail actually wasn't.  It was just a lightly traveled path to another break in the Badlands Wall.  But one with a view worth seeing.

The soft pinks, purples and yellows of this view through the Wall justified preserving the image in color to me.

Likewise the oranges on this cactus.  In a landscape such as this, a little color really stands out.

I did finally find the actual Window Trail.  It has a boardwalk.  And it leads to this view.

I'll say this for South Dakota.  It has helpful signs.

The Notch Trail goes through some really captivating scenery.  Very much a place where an Old West outlaw could hole up and avoid the long arm of the law for quite a while.

The wispy clouds help add even more texture to a scene that was already bursting with it.

More to come!

Badands National Park: Door Trail

In my trip planning I read about five trails in Badlands National Park that I wanted to hike. I didn't realize until I got there that the trailheads for three of them were all in virtually the same spot  But I am a big fan of convenience, so I had no issue with it.

First up -- the Door Trail, so named because it goes through a "door" in the Badlands Wall.

The trail starts with a boardwalk that ends on an observation deck before heading out into the Badlands itself.  As I was setting up to shoot the low morning sun illuminating the rocks, I realized that through some odd phenomenon I could actually see a shadow of my own profile through the lens.  Well, that I HAD to shoot.

That low morning sun I mentioned?  It did a beautiful job lighting up the severe formations.

If Arches National Park is like Mars with its red sandstone landscape, Badlands is more reminiscent of the moon.  Well, if the moon had an atmosphere that could produce a bright blue sky.

The trail heads pretty much straight southeast, which at the time of day I was out meant straight into the sun.  It made keeping track of the trail a bit tricky, even with the numbered markers set out.

Sun or no sun, it was pretty easy to determine when it was time to turn around.

Some vegetation still manages to eke out a meager existence in this harsh terrain.

The landscape ceased to look real eventually, and instead appeared like the backdrop for some cheesy old sci-fi flick.  I should just Photoshop a crashed rocket ship in the foreground.

The trail's just a mile roundtrip; so it didn't take very long to finish it.  Even so, I didn't see another soul the entire hike which just added to the overall sense of desolation.  Not that surprising for South Dakota in late November, I suppose.  But everyone else's loss was my gain!