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Author Topic: Black Hills SD Area  (Read 6020 times)

Brad Hiltbrand

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Black Hills SD Area
« on: August 06, 2003, 01:58:26 pm »

I was in the Black Hills last June during a cross-country move. It is a beautiful area and I wish I had more than three days to spend in S.D. The Black Hills reminded me a lot of the lower Sierra's, covered with pines and small alpine lakes. We camped in the Badlands, and at Horse Thief Lake just west of Mt. Rushmore.

The photo opportunities at Mt. Rushmore are somewhat limited by restrictions on where you can hike. Early morning provides the best light on the sculpture. There is a night time colored light display/program if you are interested in that sort of thing. The Crazy Horse monument close by is as impressive as Mt. Rushmore.

Nearby is the north entrance to Custer State Park which contains several gorgeous small lakes (Sylvan Lake is very pretty and has some interesting rock formations) and large expanses of grasslands with Bison. It is a little late in the year to see the lush prairie grasslands, but they will still be photogenic.

Although we did not have time to visit any of the caverns, but your son would probably like Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument in that area. Wind Cave NP is also home to large expanses of prairie and bison. My son (age 12) is still begging to return to the town of Keystone (very near Mt. Rushmore) because there is a ski lift/bobsled type attraction. It was closed when we were there for maintenance but looked like it would be fun diversion from the scenery.

The Badlands are a few hours away, a must see if you have a couple of extra days. Devils Tower NM is a short distance off the main highway between the Badlands and the Black Hills. Spearfish canyon on the North side of the Black Hills was a disapointment that time of year, but your mileage may vary. There were several old gold mines with tours in Lead and Deadwood near Spearfish Canyon that your son might like.

I really want to go back to S.D. in the April-May and spend at least a week tramping around. The landscapes and skies are big and beautiful. Have a great trip!

Black Hill Forest map link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2....est.jpg
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budjames

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Black Hills SD Area
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2003, 09:26:40 pm »

I did a cross country motorcycle trip in 1983 with a friend. I brought my trusty Canon Ftb 35mm with prime 50mm and 17mm Canon FD lenses. I shot Kodachrome and used Kodak mailers to send my film back for developing in Fairlawn, NJ as we motorcycled west.

We visited the Badlands (SD), Devils Tower (WY) and Yellow Stone NP (WY) and a bunch of other national parks out to Oregon and California. Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug are tourist traps but American icons so they're worth the visit if you've never been there before.

Now that I have all of this digital stuff, I've been scanning in my old slides on my Nikon Coolscan 4000 (thank goodness for Applied Science Fictions ICE, GEM and SHO utilities that came with my scanner). The memories are very fond.

I have much more capable equipment these days (Canon 10D, EOS 1VHS and Canon "L" lenses and, of course, Photoshop 7). I want to go back and take pictures at these places again, except take my time this go around.

I was very impressed by the Badlands and our remote campsite (15 miles of gravel/dirt roads to get to) and then waking up in the middle of a Buffalo heard surrounding our tent. The "big sky" of WY on the way to Yellowstone was also very cool, especially when you come up over a rise and see the wall of the Rocky Mountains in the distant horizon rising out of the plains.

Bud James
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Bud James
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Jonathan Wienke

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Black Hills SD Area
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2003, 12:01:33 am »

I'm going out to South Dakota for a week to see my son, and wanted to visit the Black Hill, Mt. Rushmore, and that general area. I'm interested in sites that have good photographic opportunities, but would also be interesting for a 10 year old. Any suggestions?
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Brad Hiltbrand

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Black Hills SD Area
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2003, 02:11:37 pm »

Oops, I guess I forgot which day it was that we went to Devils Tower National Monument. It is West of the Black Hills in Wyoming, not East of the Black Hills towards the Badlands.
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BryanHansel

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« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2003, 01:36:51 am »

Don't forget to photograph climbers.  The areas behind Mt. Rushmore are some of the easiest places to photograph climbers.
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