CondÈ Nast Traveler recently listed Badlands National Park as one of the 10 most spectacular national park road trip destinations, citing its thousands of acres of rust-colored buttes, spires and pinnacles. John Mitchell shared these photos from his recent trip there. See more of Mitchell’s work at sodakmoments.com.
Smoke from an out-of-control prescribed burn at Wind Cave hung in the air when Joel Schwader visited Custer State Park last week. “It was so smoky when I first got there,” Schwader says. “You could barely drive in it. I found it amazing how the animals seemed to adjust so well to it.”
Colleen McCurrin shared photos from Peoria Flats north of Pierre. “My parents have ranched in this area since 1964 and my husband Lee and I are fortunate to live next door to my childhood home,” McCurrin says. “These photos were taken on Good Friday while riding with my brother, Casey, as he put out salt blocks in the calving pasture.”
McCurrin bought her first camera in 1984 while working for Miller’s Photo Studio in Pierre. She’s been interested in photography as a hobby ever since. She works as a truck broker for North Central Logistics.
John Flaig shared these photos taken from a weather balloon last summer. The balloon launched just outside Badlands National Park on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and reached an altitude exceeding 100,000 feet. Its payload floated back down to Earth under a parachute and landed in a corn field just off Routh 73 north of Philip. Flaig is one of a handful of pioneers exploring the use of high altitude weather balloons for aerial photography. He currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Seth Bullock met Theodore Roosevelt during Roosevelt’s years on a North Dakota Ranch. The two remained friends during his presidency and Roosevelt appointed Bullock U.S. Marshall. Shortly after Roosevelt’s death in 1919, Bullock and the Society of the Black Hills Pioneers built Friendship Tower on what’s now known as Mount Roosevelt as a memorial to his friend. You can find the trailhead leading to the 31-foot tower on the north edge of Deadwood. Head out of town on Highway 85, take a left on Mount Roosevelt Road and follow it for about 2 1/2 miles to the trailhead, parking lot and picnic area. Photos by Ryan Clayton, Rapid City. See more of his work at www.facebook.com/imagesbyryan.
Ryan Clayton, Rapid City, shared these recent photos from Custer State Park. The Black Hills received record high temps on February 6 and Clayton says the buffalo were giving free car washes. “It might have been a while since they’d seen traffic,” Clayton says. “They were in a hurry, running to greet me and lick the salt off my car. They all seemed to still have their full winter coats so we might be in for a bit more winter. ”
See more of Clayton’s work at facebook.com/imagesbyryan.
Joel Schwader shared recent photos from Wind Cave National Park. In addition to being one of our country’s longest and most complex cave systems, the park includes over 33,000 acres of mixed-grass prairies, ponderosa pine forests and wildlife such as bison, elk and prairie dogs. See more of this Rapid City photographer’s work on his Facebook page.
Deborah Johnson, Hot Springs, shared recent photos from Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park. Unseasonably warm temperatures made it feel more like late spring than late January. See more of Johnson’s work at www.un-tamed.net.
Scott and Marilyn Korsten shared these photos from rural Sioux Falls. “As my wife and I were getting ready to head to church, we got sidetracked by the flocked appearance of the trees created by foggy weather the night before,” Scott says. They both grabbed cameras, intent on catching the beautiful morning before the sun melted it away. See more of Scott’s work at inspiredbynatureimages.com.
