Tag: U.S. Public Lands

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.

 

 

Special Edition – Defending our National Parks and Public Lands

Trump and Musk Take Aim at the National Parks and Public Lands

Is indiscriminate firing of park service employees, forest service employees, and others that manage our public lands a first step at destroying our public parks and public lands?

It sure looks that way. Trump and the far right have made no secret of wanting to scale back our public lands and fully open them to commercial development.

There are many U.S. citizens, regardless of their politics, that love our public lands and great National Parks. Many spend much time camping, hiking and exploring the wilderness areas that this nation has protected and conserved. These lands and parks are national treasures set aside for a reason. But Trump and his people only think in terms of how much money they can make by exploiting those lands.

Here are a few examples of the current chaos being created by Musk’s unwarranted, indiscriminate firing of the people that manage our precious public lands:

The only locksmith at Yosemite NP fired. He is the only one available to rescue a visitor that gets locked in a public restroom in the park or let people get back into their rental room in the park, if they lock themselves out. The only one with keys to all of the secure places (federal court, administrative buildings, toilets, closets, gun safes, …) in this very large (about the size of Rhode Island) park and the knowledge to maintain the many locks and the keys in the park facilities.

The wait time at the Grand Canyon NP entrance doubled over a weekend, due to the firing of four employees that worked the entrance gate. The gate where 90% of the 5 million annual visitors enter the park.

Reservations were canceled for stays in historic farmhouses in Gettysburg National Military Park, after the staff there was gutted.

Employees working to replace a pipeline, built in the 1960s and subject to frequent failures, in Grand Canyon NP were fired. This pipeline supplies water for shower and laundry facilities.

A ranger at Effigy Mounds National Park, who helped teach elementary and middle school science students about our public lands and the natural world, was fired.

The Park Service was already understaffed before these Trump/Musk firings. The Park Service workforce had already declined by 15% since 2010, while park visitation has increased by 16% over that same time period. I have noted the effects of the understaffing and undermaintained facilities in some of my visits to a number of National Parks over the past few years. The effects of the current firings of critical staff are already evident and the peak season for visitors is not here yet.

Glacier NP can have 30,000 visitors in one day. That is about half the size of a typical Taylor Swift concert. There is no way to handle that many visitors each day with a greatly reduced staff.

We cannot allow our public parks and lands to be trashed.

Please protest these unwarranted moves toward destruction of our most precious lands with your congressional representative and Senators.

Ken