Back to Teddy....

We drove four hours from the Black Hills of South Dakota up to Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora North Dakota. We wouldn't have much time to explore, as we were leaving at dark.

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as I saw the clouds and sky the drive was worth it.

 

 

The way the clouds move over the open landscape of North and South Dakota is one of the things I love about those places.

 

 

 

The wind was blowing more than 20mph and really waving the grass around.

 

 

After only ten minutes the sun disappeared behind some clouds and the scene vanished,

so we headed to a petrified log nearby.

 

 

 

 

The perspective and view was very different depending which side I was on. I liked them both, but shot many more with the light.

 

 

This bison cow is walking through a prairie dog town near the Little Missouri River.

 

 

The park is home to about 150 wild horses. This mare was part of a band of about twenty grazing near the road.

 

 

 

 

The group included two foals that were racing each other across the grassy slopes.

 

 

 

 

 

They'd sprint one way for a hundred yards, turn the corner and sprint back to the herd.

 

 

Then back to mom's side.

 

 

 

We weren't in the park long, but it was long enough to walk in the badlands and over prairie, and to see and photograph lots of beautiful stuff. 

 

 

Devil's Tower....

My sons and I visited Badlands National Park and the Black Hills in South Dakota for a few days. One afternoon we made the short drive to Devil's Tower in northeast Wyoming.

 

It snowed a few inches the night before, but little remained on the ground by the time we arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

Devil's Tower is popular with rock climbers and the park service requires anyone going above the rock pile in the foreground to register in the office.

 

 

The kids climbed on the rocks and explored while I used quaking aspen trunks and ponderosa pine trees to frame the Tower.

 









There were a few clouds when we first got there, but only sun and blue skies for the rest of the afternoon.

 

Geologists say Devil's Tower is an igneous intrusion made of cooled magma. Essentially the core of a volcano that didn't erupt.

 

 

There's a 1.3 mile paved loop trail around the base of the formation.

 

 

The trail affords both obstructed and unobstructed views of the 867 foot rock formation.

 

 

Devil's Tower is an important cultural and spiritual place to many Native Americans.

 

 

 

According to the national park service website " a sense of place dominates the religion of American Indians, as opposed to the sense of time that dominates many western religions. Instead of a focus of chronological events and the order in which they are presented, American Indian religion focuses on a place and the significant events that are connected with that location. Although western religions have their important places, they do not hold the level of sacredness associated with the important places of American Indian religions."

 

 



After spending time there, it's easy to see why the location holds such importance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a clear sky, I focused on shadows and light.

 

 

 

 

All in all, another good night.