As I was finishing my late day shoot, a bunny rabbit hopped between me and my final composition. This little guy did not seem exceptionally concerned about my presence, but was nevertheless cautious and uncertain about my possible threat. It sat still as if hoping not to be seen, as it blended in well with the background, while I snapped an iPhone camera image.
These photos reveal how the cloud cover increased as I was shooting. There was a storm front coming in and I felt a few drops of rain, so I wrapped up my shoot and headed back to my campsite.
The wind picked up considerably as the storm came through. I could see lightening to the west and east, but other than gusty winds, the storm never came over the campsite. I was able to get a weak phone signal, sufficient to consult the weather channel and view the radar, which showed the major portion of the storm to the west and east and did not show any significant danger of thunderstorms over the campsite.
I tried sleeping in the penthouse, watching the distant lightening in the west and east. The gusty wind resulted in my putting the penthouse down as a precaution and sleeping down below. The gusty winds kept me awake for a significant portion of the night. I had already decided that another day here was not justified, so I decided to sleep a little longer, to be better rested for my drive to Badlands National Park, rather than go out for sunrise photography.
After leaving the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, my next primary destination was Toadstool Geologic Area in Nebraska. Since the drive between these two destinations was long, I had plans to break up that drive with a couple of overnight stops along the way.
I stopped in Kansas at Lake Scott State Park the first night. The campground is adjacent to a lake with hills surrounding it, which I had hoped would be scenic enough for a few good photographs. I was disappointed. The campground was ok, but nothing special. The park is old, in need of updating, the lake was not scenic and some facilities, such as docks, were in great disrepair. Long grass and weeds along part of the lake had been recently cut, but the clippings were littering the grounds and walkways. It did not appear that the caretakers were concerned with the general appearance of the park.
My second planned overnight was a dispersed and free camping area at Clear Creek State Wildlife Management Area along the North Platte River in Nebraska. When I checked the weather report for that area there were warning of severe thunderstorms and I knew from research into this site that rain might render the dirt roads into the area impassable. I decided it best to bypass that site and make a long drive on to Toadstool Geologic area.
There are only six first come, first serve campsites at Toadstool. I wanted to arrive early enough in the day that there might still be campsites available. This is the main reason that I had not initially planned to drive directly from Lake Scott, Kansas to Toadstool. If I arrived late in the day and the campsites were taken, I would have to backtrack to other possible sites, with no guarantee of finding a place to stay nearby.
The final stretch of roadway into Toadstool is a 16 mile gravel roadway. That roadway was rough and extremely washboarded, when I drove in, requiring slow driving.
Luckily, when I arrived at the campsite, there were at least 4 sites available. I had planned to stay two nights here, but it was hotter than usual here with daytime temperatures in the nineties. Nighttime temperatures drop into the upper fifties, making for comfortable sleeping. There are no water or electric hookups here. I had plenty of water, but electric would have been good to have with such hot daytime temperatures.
I decided that having to hang out during the heat of the day would not be pleasant, so I only registered for one night. If, after exploring the area, I decided another day would be beneficial, I could always extend my stay.
After registering at the campsite kiosk, I finished setting up my van for the overnight stay, raising the penthouse and opening all the vents, opening the side and back doors to allow air to circulate through to help reduce the inside temperature.
In the meantime, others arrived and soon all the sites were taken. It was fortunate that I did not arrive any later this afternoon.
I had plenty of time prior to sunset, so I hiked into the area around the campsite to scout locations for photography. I found a few possible location in the hillsides to the south, but none of those really appealed to me. Eventually, coming back down into the valley below the hillsides to the west of the campground, I found interesting features and decided this was the best place to return for sunset and maybe even sunrise.
King of the Hill
When I returned to the area I had chosen for sunset photography there were a few young people and a photographer, shooting what I think were engagement photos, that I had to work around. Eventually, that group left and I had the place to myself.
Supporter or OppressorSupporting Cast
I shot a number of images of the rock features with variation on the compositions and the clouds moving overhead.
