Badlands National Park, South Dakota On my way to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, I had a few hours to stop and see the sunrise over the Badlands. I had identified this spot as a likely location, arrived half an hour before sunrise, and was not disappointed with the show. I only had time to see a small bit of the 380 square miles of the park, but plan to get back there.
Eastern Sierra From The Owens Valley. Caifornia We were staying in Bishop, California, in anticipation of another day of hiking and picture taking in the eastern Sierra. As we walked to breakfast, the clouds and sunlight on the peaks drew our attention and we quickly jumped in the car, drove less than a mile, and found this meadow full of iris. The scene looks quite peaceful, but what you can’t see are the semis on the highway just behind me. The mountains to the west include Mount Humphreys (the highest in the Bishop area) and Basin Peak.
Merced River, Yosemite Valley At a bend in the Merced River, an early snowstorm helps show off the orange and yellow colors of the fall leaves. I was fortunate to be in the valley for this early November storm, which only lasted a few hours. Almost no one else was around--an unusual experience in Yosemite Valley.