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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
In early June 2025, I traveled to Badlands National Park, South Dakota. I was not completely satisfied with my photos from this awesome national park from a visit a few years ago. I had some ideas of how to get better images during this visit.
I arrived late in the day and went directly to a BLM area south of the park that I had discovered during my last visit. At that time, I was often the only camper, at least as far as I could tell, in the area.
This time there was a camper in my favorite, quick and easy access spot. So I continued along a narrow dirt trail to find another suitable overnight location. This is a large area, so there are no shortages of possible parking/camping sites, but I was no longer alone in the area. There were no other campers nearby, but I could see one or two far away on higher locations. This place has been discovered, but is still sparsely utilized.
The forecast for the next morning was for heavy overcast and I was tired after my long journey, so I decided not to get up early for sunrise photography. Rather I explored a bit in this area and photographed the local scenery with my iPhone, including blooming cacti. As I drove around the area, I began to realize how big it was. I did not even explore to the limits of the area, before leaving and driving into the park to scout potential photography locations.
On the south side of Badlands National Park is the tiny town of Interior, South Dakota. I drove through this town a number of times during my September 2022 visit to the Badlands.
Plaque, Interior, SD
I found little of photographic interest in Interior, but there were a couple of small churches that I stopped by to photograph.
These two churches were within visual range of each other with the larger one being the first that I saw and then spotted the smaller one just down a side road from the larger one.
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, AMGrasslands 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.
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 DakotaGrassy RidgeGrass, Rock, SkyGrass DivisionGrass, Rock, Sky 2Red Grass Valley
There is a gravel road from Interior, SD that goes into the Badlands NP, connecting to SD 240. I took this road, intending to go all the way to SD 240 and shoot sunset images in the same grassland area from which I had shot earlier this morning, when the sky was completely overcast.
Gravel Road into Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
This gravel roadway was very washboarded over long intervals, when I drove it, requiring slow driving. As I got nearer SD 240, I began to realize that it might be better to shoot from a grassy area to the east of the gravel roadway, rather than going back to my morning location.
I had plenty of time prior to sunset, so I pulled over to scout nearby.
Change of Plans, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone PhotoScouting Photo Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone PhotoScouting Photo, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
The big clouds are still hanging around, which bodes well for sunset shooting today.
Scouting Photo, Badlands NP, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
After walking around this grassy area and shooting a few scouting images, I decided that this would definitely be a better area from which to shoot than where I had planned to go.
Stay tuned for the results of todays sunset shoot,
I continued traveling along SD240 checking out views at numerous pullouts and/or viewpoints along the drive through the park. Checking the park area map, I noted other sections of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands on the south side of the park. So I exited the park on the south side, drove SD 377 through the tiny community of Interior, SD, then along SD 44 West along the southern side of Badlands NP.
I topped off my fuel tank at an old convenience store/fuel station in Interior. The diesel pump was separate from the gasoline pumps and an old fashion type that is not commonly seen at more modern stations. The lady running the store/station was friendly. I purchased a copy of a paper back book, “Cactus Needles” that I spotted on display that was only $8. It is a book of hand drawn cartoons, cowboy poems and ranch stories by John F. Solon of Weta, SD, which is a little east of Interior.
About 6 miles west of Interior, I found an entrance into an area of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands that is set aside primarily for off-road vehicle use. The information sign near the entrance noted that rock hounding is permitted. Indeed, the area was strewn with rocks of many kinds and I saw one person walking around picking up rocks.
Camping is permitted here and I decided to make this my home base for at least one night, since it is conveniently located near an area that I planned to shoot at sunset.
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
I drove along a dirt route parallel to a fence line along the east boundary of this area and parked at a secluded location, which I planned to make my campsite tonight.
All Alone, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
I had this area completely to myself today. I had plenty of time prior to going back to the park for a sunset shoot, so I killed some time by reading the book that I had purchased in Interior and walking along a cow trail parallel to the fence line and shooting a few iPhone photos.
One Sided, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
I’m hoping that those big fluffy clouds hang around for my sunset shoot.
Cow Trail, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone PhotoCow Trail, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Apparently, cows like to walk the same path repeatedly, since they have created such distinct and deep trails here.
Two Lanes, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone PhotoBuffalo Gap National Grasslands, September 18, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
Looking back along the fence line towards my campsite. My Sportsmobile is hidden behind the trees. Although, if one enlarges this image, the Sportsmobile is partially visible.
Due to unfavorable weather conditions, I did not get out early for morning photos on the third full day in the Badlands NP area. Instead, I drove through more of the park in the morning hours, scouting more potential shooting locations.
Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 1Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 2Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 3Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 4Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 5Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 6Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, AM, iPhone Photo 7Cloud Tracks, Badlands NP, September 17, 2022, PM, iPhone Photo
I checked out many locations along SD Route 240 this morning, shooting many iPhone photos, most of which were uninspiring. The few posted here are the ones I found most interesting and showing potential for golden hour photography.
As I backtracked out of the park, I spotted a couple of Bighorn sheep high up on a ridge. I stopped, put my big zoom lens on my camera and shot a few images.
Bighorns, Badlands NPBighorn blending into the background, Badlands NP
