After my early morning sunrise session, I scouted other areas along SD Route 240 for potential sunset today and/or sunrise locations tomorrow morning. As typical, I used my iPhone for the scouting photos, so that I could move around more easily, unhindered by heavy camera gear.
Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 1
My first scouting stop was a viewing area designated as “Yellow Mounds Overlook”, where I climbed a steep slope to check out the views from a higher elevation, after scanning the area from the parking lot.
Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 2Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 3Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 4
I continued along SD 240, stopping to check out the views from other pullouts.
Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 5Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 6Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 7
At each location, I made a number of images, testing compositional variations. This post contains a few selected images from a few of those stops.
Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 8Badlands NP, September 16, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo 9
I continued driving SD Route 240 through Badlands National Park looking for other photography opportunities.
Yes, my collar is the latest fashion here.
Near one pullout there was a small herd of Bighorn sheep posing for the park visitors that had begun to filter into the park. It might not be appropriate to refer to these Bighorn as “wildlife”, since they do not pay much attention at all to the visitors, do not appear aggressive (at least, these ewe and lambs) and can be approached fairly closely. Yet, I put on my big zoom, just to be able to shoot from a distance without getting so close as to possible startle or cause them to move away.
Basking in Sun and Nature’s GardenUndercover OperatorCan you hear me now?Bighorn LambShutting out the tourist hoardNo, I’m not getting up to pose.
Today’s journey through Badlands National Park will continue,
I had decided to shoot at one of the overlooks in Badlands National Park my first morning here, but when I arrive at that destination, I did not like the view and proceeded down the roadway to another pullout. That pullout was intended as an overview of an area to the north, but I climbed a grassy slope on the opposite side of the roadway, anticipating better sunrise lighting on the features on that side of the roadway. That is, if there was a sunrise this heavily overcast morning, after a storm came through during the night.
Sky NotchOvercast RidgeDark MorningInto the Badlands
Looks like no golden hour this morning, but the clouds are dramatic.
Into the Badlands 2
With the sun just barely peeking through the heavily overcast horizon, I decided to move on down that roadway and look for other photographic opportunities.
Clearing Storm Clouds over BadlandsHitchhikerPastel MorningMorning SpotlightMorning ColorBadland MorningBadlands MeanderMirrored
Staring at this old tree I see what appears to be a fierce guardian of the hills, rising up from the desert sand, spreading its tentacles and roaring from its upper, dark center. (Viewing on a large screen can help viewers see what I see, or else maybe I’m off my tree).
ContortionistTwistedBentonite Hills 15Rest Time
This concludes the Capitol reef portion of this trip. I’ve just got a few other miscellaneous items and experiences from this trip to share.
Bentonite Hills 1, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree
On the final day of our time in Capitol Reef National Park, we photographed around some of the many bentonite hills in the northern portion of the park and/or along the roadway into Cathedral Valley. The area where we photographed may actually be outside the park boundary on BLM or private land. We had driven past these hills numerous times during out trips into and out of Cathedral Valley.
Bentonite Hills 2, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old Tree
There were a number of old, gnarly trees in this area, so I used those and other desert vegetation as foreground for photographs of the colorful hills.
Bentonite Hills 3, Desert, Bentonite Hills and Old TreeBentonite Hills 4, Desert and Bentonite HillsScrubby Desert Vegetation, Rocks and Bentonite HillsHard Rock Desert and Bentonite Hills, Early Golden HourBentonite Hills 5, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 6, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 7, Bentonite Hills Golden HourBentonite Hills 8, Bentonite Hills Golden Hour
My readers have already seen many photos of some of the fantastic, massive geological features in the Cathedral Valley portion of Capitol Reef National Park. The long loop road through this area passes many such features. We did not have time to explore around all of these and certainly not time to visit each area for golden hour sunrise or sunset photography.
But we did stop and walk around at some of the more easily accessible areas near the roadway. Often, I would use my iPhone camera to capture the scenes, rather than lugging around a heavy DSLR and lens.
Magic Seeker, iPhone PhotoDesert Vortex – Sky and Earth, iPhone PhotoRock Power, iPhone PhotoCommander/Tower of Power, iPhone PhotoDesert Sentinels/Commander and Sidekick, iPhone PhotoCathedral Valley Scene, iPhone PhotoSky Partitioner, iPhone PhotoDesert Sun, iPhone PhotoSerpent Sky, iPhone PhotoHalo, iPhone Photo
As I was shooting the triple arch of the previous post, I noted an old tree on the sandy ridge below the arch. Readers will already know that I have a fondness for gnarly old trees.
This one reminded me of a weird looking creature crawling along the ground. After taking the photo above, I noted some interesting features of the tree that reinforced my impression that this looked like an unusual creature.
Tree Creature Eyes
This feature looks like eyes of a mysterious creature.
Tree Creature Eyes – Black and White VersionTree Creature Face
Near the double arch along the 4 wheel drive to the Strike Valley Overlook and Upper Muley Twist Canyon Trailhead is another arch.
Double Arch, One Almost Hidden
A quick glance from the roadway at this feature and one might think this is a single arch. Getting a closer look, after hiking up a sandy bank, reveals a double arch.
Double Arch
These second and third images helps reveal the second arch, but it is still not completely clear.
Double ArchDouble Arch
This view point now clearly reveals two arches.
Triple Arch
But wait! Moving around a bit, clearly shows a third small arch! Not only that, but a close inspection of the large, front arch and some imagination reveals what appear to be two animals engaged in a fight. Focus on the center portion of this arch and one can imagine the face and mouth of a dog or similar creature biting down on the adjacent rock, which resembles some other creature with legs formed by the second arch and a portion of the rock on the far right.
On the return from Upper Muley Twist Canyon trailhead towards the Burr Trail Road, we stopped at arches we had spotted along the 4 wheel drive road to the trailhead. There are no safe ways to get very close to these arches, but one can hike up sandy banks to find a number of vantage points from which to shoot from below the arches.
Double Arch
This is a double arch, which may not be readily apparent at first glance.
Double Arch
Small portions of blue sky are visible below the two back to back arches in the photo above.
Front arch in Double ArchDouble ArchFront arch in Double Arch
Nearby is a triple arch, which will be the subject of the next post.
Hiking back towards the trailhead from our visit to Saddle Arch, we stopped at the first arch. There is no apparent way to get close to this arch. We each picked our separate ways up the sandy bank near the canyon creek bed and over slick rock trying to get good vantage points from which to shoot the arch. My son, with much difficulty and slightly injuring an ankle, found a way to get beneath the arch. He advised me not to try advancing to his vantage point. I expect I could have, but not wanting to chance an injury, I took his advice, settling for shooting from a distance at several vantage points with my 24 to 70mm lens.
First Upper Muley Twist Arch
The zoom lens makes it look like I’m much closer to this arch than I actually am.
First Upper Muley Twist ArchFirst Upper Muley Twist Arch
One of my Flickr contacts tells me this arch is labeled “Muley” arch in some hiking guides, although I do not recall the map showing a name for this one.
First Upper Muley Twist Arch
The best I could do from my vantage points is to try to show the setting of the arch. If these photos make it look like it would be easy to navigate to the area below and/or behind the arch, that is deceptive. The area around this arch is strewn with boulders and covered with much brushy growth.
First Upper Muley Twist ArchFirst Upper Muley Twist Arch
That’s it for this shoot. There are arches at two locations along the road to the trailhead. We will stop on the way back to the Burr Trail Road to shoot those arches.
