A trip to the Black Hills

I've talked a lot about various aspects of my photography, but I haven't gotten into landscapes much. Landscapes are some of the simplest and most calming of traditional photography categories for me, and some of the most enjoyable to go out looking for. They usually involve being out at night, or early in the morning, when very few other people are present. And they also usually involve finding places that are off the beaten track.

^{"Tree at Belle Fourche Reservoir"}

This week is the five-year anniversary of a trip I took to the Black Hills for a family reunion. My dad's family is from Sturgis, and we had a large gathering of Coopers and cousins in a hotel south of Rapid City. I went a week early to take photographs, driving out overnight and keeping my schedule focused on being awake and out for that hour before and after sunrise when gorgeous photographs are readily made.

^{"Sunrise, Wall, SD"}

One benefit of driving out overnight is that I always end up somewhere unexpected when the sun comes up, and this time it happened in the little town of Wall, famous for its giant and well-advertised drugstore, which sells just about every bit of tacky tourist merchandise imaginable. It had just poured rain for about half an hour in one of the fast thunderstorms we get in the summer on the plains, and left me with this absolutely gorgeous silhouette.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmPAj8Pnuxq3qMWr31trw6DDmsehTzui4NytpXJrEQYpL6
^{"Black Hills National Forest Overlook"}

Or course, the problem with driving overnight is that you usually have to stay up until three in the afternoon to check into your hotel. In this case it meant I ended up driving around somewhat punchy for several hours, stopping in to the National Forest headquarters to ask them for advice, and eventually finding this photo of fog lifting over the forest in the late morning.

I was focusing heavily on panoramas at the time, and over the next few mornings ended up with the three below.

Stockade Lake.jpg
^{"Stockade Lake"}

Sylvan Lake Panorama.jpg
^{"Sylvan Lake Panorama"}

Deerfield Lake.jpg
^{"Deerfield Lake"}

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmWPUzL49iVbAE66J3Yt2gt87xZdSpTV7mpVXyZF65nRUM
^{"Trees at Sylvan Lake"}

All three lakes were pretty great, but Sylvan was my favorite. It's a man-made lake, built in the hollow of those crags with only a small dam between them. There's a nice path where you can walk all the way around behind and on top of the rocks, as well.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmREXQc5WygregFLkipxmhaYufqnzEHCyn2qKMkr7ccu9Q
^{"Tree at Stockade Lake"}

I also did a vertical panorama of a pretty tree at Stockade Lake with the sunrise behind it. These two lakes are quite close to each other in Custer State Park, just south of Mount Rushmore.

To the east of Mount Rushmore is Iron Mountain Road, a drive famous for its views, its pigtail bridges, and its one-lane tunnels through the mountains. Mount Rushmore is on its west side, while on the east it reaches the end of the Black Hills and overlooks the beginning of the Badlands.

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmWMrnUK4VJT9nPryNY5Wi7WZrrX2q3oxbSjkZwvB3JxHf
^{"Iron Mountain Stars"}

https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmNVuZ7iK2KFBLQPGo8Ap8f5fH3BVjb4EiV7DaZaxDzZGo
^{"Dawn at Iron Mountain"}

I got there early enough to do a little astro-photography, and more silhouettes, on top of the mountain before descending a little bit to get the pre-dawn overlook of the foothills I was aiming for.

Later in the week I went west, taking the photo from Belle Fourche Reservoir that is at the top of this post, as well as one of the ridgeline of Spearfish canyon that I'm going to leave you with.

Spearfish Canyon Ridge.jpg
^{"Spearfish Canyon Ridge"}