Tag: Badlands

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 8 – Rain Everywhere

This is a continuation of rainy day, iPhone photography in Badlands NP, South Dakota in June of 2025.

Badland Layers
Badlands Variations
From Smooth and Rounded to Jagged Peaks
Rainy, Wet Badlands
Misty View

I made many other iPhone images this rainy day, but these are representative of all the scenes.

I knew I could not return to my favorite camping area, which would be too muddy to get into and out of, so I went to the more popular, and usually crowded, Buffalo Gap Grassland BLM camping area on the north side of the park, thinking it might be more easily ingressed and egressed.

My assessment was partially correct. Going up the slight incline to the camping area along the badlands drop-off was easy, as the roadway was mostly rocky with only a few mud holes. However the roadway, where the campsites are set aside was already rutted by many camper passing through and the road has a slight tilt towards the west and my vehicle was fishtailing as I eased along it in 4 wheel drive. The campsites are just off of the roadway and there was a real danger of vehicles sliding into campers parked along the roadway. Indeed, campers watched carefully, as any vehicle passed by. I always swung as far away from the campers as possible before passing. As soon as I found an empty, flat campsite, I pulled in and breathed a sigh of relief. This site was at the base of a hill and I, too, watched with trepidation as any vehicle came down that hillside.

The next morning, I considered going to other scenic places within a few hours drive from the Badlands, but the wet weather pattern covered a large area of the country. So I decided it best to cut this trip short and head for home.

So far my visits to the Badlands National Park have not worked out in the best way for my photography intent, even though the scenery is fantastic.

That’s it for this photo trip.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 7 – Rain Everywhere

The weather forecast for my 2nd morning at Badlands National Park was for early morning heavy overcast with rain beginning in the early morning hours. So I did not bother getting up before sunrise, hoping the overcast and rain would dissipate prior to sunset.

Sure enough, I awoke to the sound of light rain falling. I was camped in an area of mostly all clay soil. I knew the rain would be bad news for navigation out of my campsite, so I quickly got dressed and prepared the Sportsmobile for travel. The terrain was already getting muddy and slippery, so I shifted into 4 wheel drive, as I had a couple of low hills to go up on my way out. Those hills sloped sideways as well as upwards and the Sportsmobile was slipping sideways on the hills. Slidding off would not be good. Fortunately, I made it over those two hills, thinking that once I got onto the flat land on my way out of the camping area there would be no problems. Well, even traveling slowly in 4WD, the Sportsmobile still fishtailed in the slippery, wet clay until I got onto the paved roadway.

I drove on into the park, parked in one of the parking areas to have coffee and breakfast as it continued to rain steadily for most of the time.

After breakfast, I contiuned to drive through the park in the light rain. It was apparent that I would not be able to get off of the paved roadway area due to the soggy soil everywhere else. I stopped periodically, walked around in the rain and shot with my iPhone, since it was easier to keep the rain off of the iPhone camera lens than it would have been to do with my big Nikon lenses.

The rain added some mood to the park scenes and the wettness enhanced the color in the geologic features. There were many wildflowers and grasses along the roadway, which I photographed with raindrops covering them and sometimes with the park features in the background, although the depth of field with the iPhone was severely limited in such scenes.

Wet Grass
Yellow Salsify in the Rain
Misty Badlands
Gathering Raindrops
Rain Muted Badlands
Bare Badlands
Flowers for a Rainy Day
Rainy Day Grass

Stay tuned for more rainy day iPhone photography in Badlands NP, South Dakota.

Ken

 

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 6 – Disappointment

Just before sunset time, I went to my pre-chosen location for sunset photography in Badlands National Park. It was heavily overcast and the prospects for golden hour light on the geological features in the park did not look promising.

Nevertheless, I made a few images prior to sunset time, hoping to maybe duplicate some compositions at golden hour.

Rock Crumbs
Almost Barren
Drainage Patterns

At least the sky was dramatic, but the golden hour light never came.

Until next time,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 4 – Dancing Around the Hoodoo

There is a hoodoo in Badlands National Park that is visible from the paved road through the park. Getting close to the hoodoo requires hiking down the steep slope from the roadway and a short hike.

I made numerous iPhone camera shots as I walked around the hoodoo to show how a hoodoo can look considerably different from different points of view.

Badlands Hoodoo 1
Badlands Hoodoo 2
Badlands Hoodoo 3
Badlands Hoodoo 4
Badlands Hoodoo 5
Badlands Hoodoo 6
Badlands Hoodoo 7

I think these make my point about “Dancing Around an Object” to photograph it.

Thanks for following and stay tuned for more Badlands scouting photos,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 3

At the very end of a visit to Badlands National Park several years ago, I thought I had found a really good place for sunset photography. So during this visit I found that location again and walked around during the day, scouting possible locations to return to at sunset. I used my iPhone camera to test a few compositions and capture a few micro-environmental images.

Big Sky over Badlands
Dry Planet

In ‘Dry Planet’ I wanted to show the similarity between the dry, white clay in the drainage patterns to the white clouds in the sky.

Anticipation

The dry drainage is waiting for more rain from those heavy clouds in the sky.

Dry Stream Bed

‘Dry Stream Bed’ features the same drainage as in ‘Anticipation’, from another view point.

The Missing Piece

The dry mud cracks into segments resembling a picture puzzle.

The Bigger Picture Puzzle

More scouting photos to come later,

Ken

Badlands National Park, June 2025 – Part 2

After photographing wildflower scenes around my campsite, I left the campsite to travel into Badlands National Park to scout locations for golden hour photography. But first, I drove around a little in the large public land area, where I was camped to get a better feel for the area and scout other possible campsites, in case my prefered location was again taken or the site I occupied on my first night here was taken, when I returned in the evening.

There are numerous road trails through this area, which is popular with off-road vehicle riders, who create their own trails with their dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other vehicles. I traveled into the area a bit, but did not take time to fully explore the area, after I was satisfied that it would be no problem to easily find numerous suitable places to overnight here.

I parked along one of the trails on my way out, hiked up to the top of one of the many hills in this area and captured this pano:

Earth – Sky Pano

There is a gravel road that leads from the small town of Interior, SD into Badlands NP, which I take as a short cut into the park, rather than following the highway to a main entrance. There is a sign indicating when one is entering the park on this backroad, but no entry station. The sign does inform that a permit or fee is required to be in the park, so anyone in the park might be asked by a ranger to show proof of fee payment or other permit. I have a Senior Pass, one of the few benefits of old age, so I never worry about having to show proof that I can be in a National Park.

Eruption

I stopped on this gravel backroad to shoot a few images of the Badland features in the distance that appear to “erupt” out of the flat land in the foreground.

It was a mostly heavily overcast day with periodic light rain. I stopped at a number of the overlooks to snap a few scouting photos with my iPhone. The dramatic clouds in the sky made for interesting photos and I probably should have taken more time to capture better quality images with my Nikon Z8 and wide angle Z14-24mm lens. The Z8 is sealed well, but keeping rain drops off of the big lens glass can be a problem and I wanted to be able to scurry about quickly, so I left the big camera and lens in my vehicle, while I scouted various locations for shooting later in the day.

Big Storm over Badlands
Distant Spotlight

With the heavy cloud cover, not much direct light fell upon the badlands features, but occasionally a little light broke through the clouds to highlight some of the rocks.

Rugged Earth and Tempestuous Sky
Symmetrical Contrast

The shape of the mound of dry, cracked, gray earth in the foreground bears a similarity with the shape of the rain clouds in the sky, yet the dryness of that mound of clay contrasts with the wetness of the clouds.

Lushness and Barrenness

Lush green vegetation in the low areas contrasts with the almost barren rock in the background.

Meander

A meandering stream runs through the low area at the base of the badlands features.

More Badlands images later,

Ken

P.S. These images are best viewed on a large screen.

 

 

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.

Badlands NP, Near Visitors Center, September 19, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Walkway, Badlands NP, Near Visitor Center, September 19, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

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.

Badlands NP, September 19, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

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.

Shadows Grow, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM

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.

Deepening Shadows, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM
Ridge Light, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM

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

Golden Hour, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM
Receding Light, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM

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.

Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, PM

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.

Sunset Scene, Badlands NP, September 19, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo

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

 

Badlands National Park, Day 5 – Sunrise Photography Part B

This is a continuation of my sunrise shoot on day 5 of my time in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, September 2022.

Light Arc, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

As I was about to wrap up my morning shoot, I decided to experiment with compositional variations using the wide area of grass in the area where I had been shooting as a foreground with Badlands features in the background.

Grassland and Badlands 1, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

I changed my distance from the Badlands and modified the zoom to include more or less of the background and more or less of the foreground.

Grasslands and Badlands 2, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Grasslands and Badlands, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

I like all of the images that I shot in this manner,

Badlands Emerge, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

however, I think this final image, shot by going down a slope and shooting up at the background feature is the most dramatic.  This gives the impression of a vast sea of grass with the Badlands emerging from the grassland.

Until next time,

Ken

 

Badlands National Park, Day 5 – Sunrise Photography Part A

I arose early on the last day I had to spend in Badlands National Park, once again driving that slow, washboarded gravel road from Interior to SD 240.

I went back to an area from which I had shot a couple of morning already, when the sky were cloudy.  Today the early morning sky was mostly clear and I anticipated a good sunrise golden hour.

 

Badland Morning
Sunrise Curve
Badland Notch
Rabbit Bush Morning
Regression and Progression
Ridgy Morning, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Ridgy Morning 2, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Red Sky Morning, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Living on the Edge, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Break Out, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM
Ridgy Morning 3, Badlands NP, South Dakota, September 19, 2022, AM

To be continued,

Ken

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota – Day 4 Sunset

As the sun sank lower into the western sky, I walked back into the grassland area to the east of the gravel road connecting Interior, SD to SD 240 in Badlands NP.  I had pulled over maybe a half mile before the intersection with SD 240 and scouted this area a little earlier.

Diversity

I always try to begin shooting a little before golden hour, since one can never predict what will happen with the light and today I have a large area from which to shoot, so I want to have time to get a number of compositions and hopefully have sufficient time to move around and vary my compositions as golden hour advances.

What happened to all those big fluffy clouds that had been so prevalent in the sky as I was scouting here?  They’ve all disappeared, leaving a blank, bland sky.

Red Grass Sunset

For the image above, I stood in the shadow of a ridge to avoid having my shadow in image.

 

Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Grassy Ridge
Grass, Rock, Sky
Grass Division
Grass, Rock, Sky 2
Red Grass Valley

Time to head back to my campsite,

Ken