South Dakota - September 2009
Not gonna lie, a lot of South Dakota was just miles and miles of this…
Given how much I loved driving around South Dakota, hiking and photographing the landscape, you’d think that would be the Ah hah! moment where I realized I wanted to focus on landscape photography… but that’s not how it went down. In hindsight, the joy I felt shooting in South Dakota in 2009 is when the love affair started.
Bear Butte did not look welcoming as I drove up.
I sat in my car for a while after I arrived, wondering if the weather was going to clear enough to make the hike worth it. The rain let up enough that I decided to give it a try, but the wind was brutal. The plains are fairly flat and go on for miles in every direction, which means the wind has nothing to slow it down until it slams into the butte. The trail is narrow and there is nothing to keep you from pitching the whole way down if you step wrong. The view from the top though? So. Worth. It.
At least the intense winds were pushing you into the mountain rather than off it
Of course I had to swing by Devils Tower (and then crave mashed potatoes)
Early morning light
Dawn in Badlands National Park
I cannot emphasize enough how deep these crags are, and the immense scale of the Badlands.
My kingdom for a few clouds in the sky…
We all know a good deal when we see one!