Badlands National Park, September 2022 – Final Afternoon and Sunset

On the final day of my visit to Badlands National Park, South Dakota, I drove to the Visitors’ Center, where I would usually stop early in a visit to such a place; but so far I had ignored the Visitors’ Center, perhaps because it had been so far from my base of activity in the park and it is a large park to explore.

Somewhat past the Visitors’ Center there is a parking lot and walkways that let one get a wide view of some of the Badland features.

Continuing past the Visitors’ Center there are other areas of this park that I had not yet seen on this trip.  Although, I recall being in this area the first time I came here years ago.  There are hiking trails, long and short, in this area.  Now that my time here is ending, I’m wishing that I had come this way earlier and hiked some of these trails.

The image above was taken after hiking a short trail from a parking lot.

I had picked out a place from which to shoot at sunset today.  Yet on the way to that destination, I saw the distant features that I had planned to shoot were visible from a view point.  On a spur of the moment, I decided to change my plans and shoot from this viewing area.  I hiked out onto some features down from the viewing area in an effort to get better vantage points.

I quickly realized that those distant features I had planned to shoot were too far away, but I did not think I had time now to revert to my original plans, so I stuck it out here and tried to make the best of shooting at this location.

The nearby feature quickly began to fall into shadow, even though the sun was still relatively high in the sky.

As I noted how the light changed and how those distant features were getting the best of the golden hour light, I realized how bad my spur of the moment decision to shoot here was.  I would have been much closer to those distant features at my initially chosen location.

As the shadows began to quickly progress across the landscape, I began to retreat towards the parking lot.  In that retreat, I noted that I could navigate around some of the nearby features to the east and get better views than from where I had been shooting.

The image above shows an area into which I could have hiked and gotten much better golden hour images, but it was too late now.  Live and learn.  If I’m here again, I will know how to get here and when to be here.

I shot this final image of the sunset sky with my iPhone as I was making my way back to the parking lot.

This wraps up my 2022 photography in Badlands National park.  I will begin the multiple day journey home tomorrow morning.

Ken