After arriving at the park, I drove along the main park roadway for a while to scout possible sunset photos today and sunrise for the next morning. Then I began to look for my planned camping area, driving a long way down a dusty, washboarded roadway that went to the camping area, which I had found via an online search for camping in the area of the park. Eventually, I decided that the time it was taking for me to get to my planned camping area was going to be a problem for travel back and forth for sunset and sunrise photography. Even though the distance might not be great, the road conditions required slow travel speed. So I detoured off that rough road and began to look for other possibilities.
I found an online reference to another campsite just off of South Dakota Route 240 between Walls and the park, so I set out to find that site. Before I found the site I was looking for, I again noted campers set up on higher elevation to the east of the roadway. I had seen those on my initial pass though this area, but I had not seen a way to get to the area where those campers were set up.
I began to pay closer attention to that side of Route 240 and I soon found an inconspicuous, grassy, dirt roadway heading into the grasslands. I took that trail, hoping it would take me to a camping area, soon coming to campers set up and/or leaving. I stopped to inquire about this area with one camper that was on the way out. He assured me that there were plenty of free campsite along this roadway, higher up on the hillside.
I continued on, finding many good campsites. I later found a second roadway into this area, just a short distance from the park entrance, with a sign designating this area as Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.
There are some campsites right on the edge of a sharp drop off into badlands that are outside of the main park area. I picked one of these that was level enough that no leveling of my vehicle was required.
After having a late lunch in my vehicle, I walked around to scout the views from the camping area across the broad area below and to the west of the campground.
I found a few places where I thought I might use my 80-400mm lens to shoot down into the adjacent badlands, which were outside the main park area.
One of the problems with driving a camper vehicle, is losing a campsite in these first come first serve areas, if one leaves the campsite even for a short time. I did not want to lose this campsite and I had not scouted enough in the park to locate a good sunset shoot location and there was a storm brewing, so I decide to get by with shooting from the campsite area and get out early the next morning for sunrise photography.
My shots with the big lens are not great and are a bit flat, but here are a few for the record.
These photos may not be very impressive, but the geology shown in these is impressive. One can see the flat grassy areas that are eroding away revealing the layers of rock beneath the flat surfaces.
That’s it for today,
Ken