I just returned home from a two-week scouting trip to Badlands National Park located in South Dakota. I was expecting a vast, dry, canyon area. But it is much, much more than that. Badlands is home to a lot of wildlife. I found that there were some Bison, lots of Bighorn Sheep and Pronghorns. and more Prairie Dogs than you can imagine.
There is a Loop Road that winds around the park and has several different overlooks so that you can view the canyons from above. The loop road takes you past multi-colored rock formations, steep canyons, huge spires, and vast grasslands. The wildlife was very close to the road and scattered throughout the park. Just like in Yellowstone a sighting can have folks pulled over and jumping out of their cars.
There was a soft undertone of sagebrush in the air and it was a delight to our senses each time we got out of the van. On one of our early morning shoots we heard a bunch of hoofs clamoring on the rocks-we turned around to see a small herd of bighorns making their way in and around the steep cliffs. We watched them for hours as they nursed, played and explored the steep cliffs-such fun! While we were there temperatures ranged from 29 degrees (Fahrenheit) to 110 degrees and we actually took a long hike when it was 98 degrees. Since we were in a canyon the shade kept it from feeling hot. There was a slight breeze and I remember saying that I didn’t even know it was in the 90’s.
My friend and I drove 24 hours straight-through in my camper van. It was the second trip with my camper but the first “really big” trip I took. I loved it! The camper has just about everything one needs to make a road trip like this fun.
On our way to the park we passed hundreds of acres of sunflowers and found out that South Dakota is the #1 producer of sunflowers in the US. We were about 2 weeks past prime time for photographing them. But they were amazing to see on both sides of the highway.
During our time in South Dakota we visited Custer State Park as it is home to about 1600 Bison and the park is picturesque. We also stopped at Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument—just because we were so close.
So now for the photography… I found the overlooks to the canyons a real treat, each one different yet somewhat similar. It was like looking at a giant jigsaw puzzle that needed to be put together. That challenged me and I loved the overlooks so much, I could not get enough of them. Also, I liked the perspective that the overlooks offered, it was similar to aerial photography.
The overlooks are only a portion of the photo opportunities. You can also hike throughout the park. We stopped at every turn through the park to get out and explore. We combed through as much of the park that we could during our stay but we left so much on the table. I am anxious to get back and a second trip is in the works.
One night while we were doing some Milky Way photography a ranger came up to us, we thought we were in trouble for being there late or pulling over on the side of the road. He was just checking that we were not boondocking and once we told him that we had a campground booking he was most helpful to us giving us location ideas for star photography, etc...
I brought my Sony gear with me. The lenses I used were the 24-105mm, 16-35mm, 70-200mm and the 200-600mm. I could have left the 70-200mm home as I only used it once and I would have liked a slightly wider lens but it was not absolutely necessary. I brought two camera bodies and a tripod. Good, gripped hiking shoes a must as the loose gravel on the rocks can be an issue.
I left my white balance to “As Shot” for the most of mt images because I wanted the images to reflect what I actually saw. Most of my shots were created at sunrise or sunset or during cloudy weather. As the light changed so did the colors of the rocks. I loved the early morning blue tones and the late light warm tones, and I wanted to embrace those colors.
Overall I think that Badlands NP is a gem and is now on my top 10 places in the US to visit. It was a great recharge for me since I have been home since March. I hope you enjoy my photos and a glimpse of what I saw. There are a pair of Leucistic Prairie Dogs below, photographed just outside the park.
A Badlands workshop will be announced soon.
