Road Trip Stop:  Badlands National Park, South Dakota

There is something very surreal when you enter The Badlands National Park. This was the first time I ever visited the park and it was a cloudy day which added more drama to the desolate landscape. It felt a bit eerie that you could gaze for miles in any direction and not see any signs of civilization. We did spot a few pronghorn antelope above a ridge on a grass prairie and some large birds flying in the sky, I think they may have been vultures which even added more eeriness. I did appreciate the uniqueness of the area and how nature and evolution have sculpted the deep gorges, buttes and pinnacles and exposed the colorful mineral strata which are so unusual from normal earth tones I am used to seeing in the Midwest. The overcast day was a great opportunity to capture the colors which were left exposed without the harsh shadows of a sunny day. I was lucky to capture a picture when the sun pierced through a break in the clouds which added a more dramatic effect to the scenery. Photographing my travel companions added scale to reveal the depth and expanse of the deep gorges. From coast to coast the United States certainly has the most diverse landscape of any country in the world and I feel lucky to have experienced this unique area, though I wouldn’t want to live there. I guess who really could, maybe that’s why they call it The Badlands.