Much of eastern South Dakota saw its first taste of winter over the weekend. Snow totals ranged from a trace to nearly 5 inches around Sioux Falls, where Christian Begeman captured the clash of two seasons.
Category: gallery-outdoors
Highway 18 Color
Leaves may look the same wherever you go in autumn — red, gold and yellow — but every country road has its own personality.
Travelers on Highway 18, which dips and ducks above South Dakota’s shared border with Nebraska, probably don’t choose the route for fall colors. But the highway’s rural charm of cowboy culture, small towns and Indian reservations makes it an always-interesting drive that takes on a special aura in late autumn.
The terrain and the flora are especially scenic as you come and go from the spacious Missouri River valley in Bon Homme, Charles Mix and Gregory counties. Going from east to west, the farms grow into ranches. Trees, towns and people all become fewer, though no less colorful.
The river itself is a good place to stop and stretch. A beautifully manicured pioneer cemetery with 158 graves lies just west of the Fort Randall Dam, near the old yellow chalkstone chapel. A marker by the front gate lists not only the usual names and dates of the deceased, but also the causes of their deaths: pneumonia, lightning, scurvy, horse accident, drowned and — in the case of Herman A. Greening in March of 1886 –“found dead on prairie.”
What a beautiful place to spend eternity, or better yet to just explore on an autumn afternoon.
Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the November/December 2024 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.
Fall in Spearfish Canyon
Autumn has arrived in Spearfish Canyon. According to Kimberly Talcott’s Spearfish Canyon Reports, the fall colors are nearing their peak. Photographer John Mitchell spent a few days immersed in the beautiful valley south of Spearfish.
When Autumn Meets Winter
Fall and winter met yesterday with the first snowfall of the season in the Black Hills. John Mitchell took these photos of winter’s white blending with autumn’s gold in Spearfish Canyon.
Black Hills Blooms
Wildflowers are blooming throughout the Black Hills. Photographer Brittany Kahl spent a few days roaming the countryside and found these colorful and delicate plants.
A Photographer’s Playground
I’ve never outgrown my fascination for toys. A few years back a friend asked me to lead a workshop photographing toys. My first reaction was,”Who’s going to sign up for that?” He suggested I do a Google search and it opened a whole new creative doorway and reason for collecting toys. I discovered there are thousands of people around the world creating very fun photographs with toys.
Toys now accompany my camera on just about every trip. These images are some of my favorites from around South Dakota.
Chad Coppess is the photo editor for South Dakota Magazine
The Badlands in Winter
Thousands of visitors pass through Badlands National Park during the summer months, but swing through during winter and you see a different side. Sioux Falls photographer Scott Korsten drove the Badlands Loop Road in early February, a day of constantly changing weather and scenery.”It was a quiet day, and I was nearly alone in the park,” he says.”With its colored layers slightly frosted in snow, every turn in the road provided a new perspective to appreciate. These were just the type of scenes I’d hoped to see and as usual, the park did not disappoint.” Here are a few photos from that day.
Bursts of Color
Fall color is at its peak in Spearfish Canyon and other locales around the Black Hills. John Mitchell has been exploring the mountains and valleys and shared these photos with us.
It’s Autumn in the Canyon
Spearfish Canyon is one of South Dakota’s prime destinations to view fall foliage. John Mitchell drove through the canyon as September turned to October and was greeted with eye-popping yellows, oranges and reds.
A Bouquet of Easter Flowers
Sioux Falls photographer and avid pasqueflower hunter Christian Begeman was shooting photos in the Cave Hills last spring when he noticed a mass of pasques gone to seed. This week, he paid a return visit to northern Harding County in the hopes of capturing the delicate purple blooms.”I thought I got skunked, but then I saw a lone purple spot of color on a ridge just beyond the Forest Service Picnic campgrounds and discovered fifty-plus flowers just starting to poke through.” He decided to share those blossoms with us in honor of the holiday. Happy Easter!
