Landscapes
Hiking Cathedral Spires Trail
On our recent trip to Custer State Park, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, we did a lot of hiking. This was one of the trails we enjoyed – Cathedral Spires Trail. The “needles” rock formations were fun to explore.
The Cathedral Spires Trail is located inside an area of Custer State Park known as the Needles. As you might expect, it can be found on Needles Highway. The trail is approximately 1.5 miles one way.
This photo was taken with my fisheye lens. It provides a very wide view but also gives it that curving inward look. My hiking partner and beautiful wife is pictured on the trail ahead of me.
You can get a larger more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
A Herd Mentality
Note: Don’t try to comprehend this photo by the view on this page. Click the photo and see it span your entire screen.
The original image is a very large, panoramic photo (more than 18,000 pixels wide). I features the Bison herd at Custer State Park in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. There hundreds of American Buffalo in this image – on the plain and on the hills in the background.
If you could really zoom in, you would also see about eight prairie dogs and four magpies in the photo, as well. But they are really small and you have to zoom in a lot. (I’m not sure you can really see them on this compressed version of the original.)
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
A Beautiful Capture
This is a panoramic view of Lakota Lake. This is a small lake in Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
We stumbled upon this calm, out-of-the-way lake while driving though the park. This was one of my wife’s favorite spots at Custer State Park. She is the one on the shore taking photos of the beauty that she sent to her parents. This is a very wide image – a compilation of five individual photos taken.
According to the US Forest Service, “Lakota Lake is located southeast of Keystone, SD, on US Highway 16A (Iron Mountain Road), within the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. It is a small, non-motorized lake and a popular destination for fishing and kayaking. A hitchrail is provided for horses, along with access to Iron Creek Trail #15. Several picnic tables offer a scenic view of the lake. Lakota Lake Road was upgraded in fall 2021.”
You can get a little better, larger view by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Should Be A Postcard
The lighthouse at Algoma, Wisconsin stands in bold silhouette before a summer Lake Michigan sunrise. A glorious morning to photograph one of my favorite subjects.
This photo was taken in September of 2015 and has managed to go unnoticed on my hard drive…until today.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo. When you do, the boat on the right side of the horizon will be easier to see.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Badlands Spectrum of Colors
This is one of my favorite views of Badlands National Park. This is a panorama of the Yellow Mounds section of the park.
I love the variety of the landscape – from the stripped, rugged rock formations in the background to the yellowish hued mounds accented with red shoulders, to the green valley with a creek bed coursing through it.
If you look closely, on the hill to the far left, you can see cars of park visitor on the road. To see that and other details in this image, click on the photo for a much larger view.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Devils Tower National Monument
This tower of rock is a beaut of a butte! This is Devils Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming. It was a little out of our way when we visited South Dakota but, as you can see, well worth the drive. I suspect you will see future posts from this visit.
According to Wikipedia, “Devils Tower is a butte, possibly laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet from summit to base.”
You can see a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Morning Lake Mist
This is an early morning view of Stockade Lake in West Custer Township of South Dakota. Stockade Lake is the largest of Custer State Park’s five lakes. This image was captured just before the sun rose over the trees.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Crazy Horse Memorial
This is the closest we got to the Crazy Horse Memorial on our recent trip to South Dakota. It was impressive in size, but clearly they have a lot of work to do. They’ve been at it for 75 years.
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. You can learn more at Wikipedia.
You can view a larger version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Horsetail Falls
Horsetail Falls is a waterfall located on Horsetail Creek along the Columbia River Gorge in Multnomah County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The falls drop over a cut over the columnar basalt cliff within the Oneonta Gorge. It is one of the waterfalls along the Columbia River Highway’s waterfall corridor. (From Wikipedia.)
In October of 2023 I attended a church leadership conference in Portland. When time afforded, we took in some of the local sites and landscape. This was the first Oregon waterfall of many I photographed on that trip. I will, no doubt, post more when time and inclination align.
You can click on the photo to view a slightly larger view.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Yellow Mounds of the Badlands
This is a panoramic view of South Dakota’s Badlands National Park. This was taken in the Yellow Mounds area of the park. This is another one of those “otherworldly” places.
This is a very large image and the normal size screen can’t begin to do it justice. Still, you can get a much larger, full-screen view by clicking on the image. When you do a much larger version will open in a new browser tab. Enjoy!
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me ([email protected]) for digital purchase and licensing options.