3/5/12 Custer State Park South Dakota

It is spring break! So why not an adventure into the great Custer State Park located at the southern edge of the Black Hills! That is just what we did on an absolutely gorgeous day with highs in the mid-60s, it couldn't of been any better. Here are some captures I got while on our day long journey through the woods.

Somewhere in this picture is a bird, can you find him?


A hawk was spotted circling for a few seconds before disappearing to never be seen again.



On our break for lunch, I decided to get some unique shots of some of natures patterns.



Here is where a wildfire occurred a time ago. You can see the burn marks on the trees. The flames only burned one side of the tree showing what direction the fire was headed. Flame lengths were quite high as the scorching went pretty high on the trees, symbolizing a very intense fire!


A look over the foothills and the surrounding plains.


Another sneaky little bird!


Still some flowers around! They were left over from the fall and were on a vine that grew up some of the shrubs and trees.




A skull left from a poor animal that probably fell into a small canyon. There were no other body parts so it could've been dragged from another place by a critter.


A sneaky woodpecker! He was pecking away at the tree.


These little rascals, there were three of them running around in the trees playing and squealing at us. They were cute little guys!




A glimpse of the moon rising in the east!



Found a little chipmunk!


Here is a herd of pronghorns relaxing before the evening when they are most active.



The buffalo are pretty prevalent in the park and we saw many grazing away without a care in the world. Would be a great dinner...




This donkey, they call them burros, are not native but were released into the park many years ago and have become a friendly member of the park. We only saw one and he belined right for my car to get attention. I have heard stories of these guys swarming cars and slobbering all over it and wasn't having any part in that. I drove away quickly and here was his reaction in my mirror. He was so sad we left him! There was only one, so I don't know where his friends were. Poor fellow...


An occasionally prairie dog can be found as well!


He did a dance for us!


Finishing up the trip, we found this small heard of big horn sheep grazing away on our trip back.


And no trip is complete without a deer! Especially in these parts where they are so common.


Well that is it! It was a fun day and I hope to maybe wonder south more into Wind Cave National Park to hopefully find some elk on Friday. Tonight we are heading out to try to catch some auroras after yesterdays massive X5 solar flare! The biggest since 2000! It could be a big show. We are headed into the Badlands to play with the full moon as well, should be fun! Stay tuned for shots from tonight!

Thanks for reading!

Chip

2/11-2/25/12 Fires, rescues, and outhouses!

The title says it all! It was a exciting month with many things to shoot! Throughout the month I have collected a few images of various things that I got to witness around Rapid City and South Dakota.

First up was a wildfire on the 11th. It was only a few acres and started from a few kids playing with matches. It is really dry in South Dakota, as it usually is, and when there is gusty winds (every other day) any fire that starts with available fuels will take off pretty quick. I didn't get there in time to see the flames but arrived on the scene shortly after they got the flames knocked down. They were still putting out hotspots. Here are a few images:


The next week, on the 18th the fire department was practicing water rescues on the ice of Canyon Lake on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I wandered down to the lake and got a few shots from a distance.


There was also the usual critters on the lake (they don't go anywhere no matter how cold it is!):


That same night, the Atmos Department got together for a bonfire. Here are are couple from that night:


A week later, on the 25th Dan D'Amico and I went up to Deadwood for the annual Nemo Outhouse Races. It was another gorgous day in South Dakota!


Well that is about it for now! If you liked this be sure to share it with your friends!

Storm chase season is nearly upon us and we are watching the models closely anxious for our first chase of the year! With spring break next week for SDSMT, we have high hopes for a system mid to late week so we shall see!

Stop by again!

Chip

1/30/12 Rapid City Sunset

Nothing terribly amazing but it was pretty none-the-less. On an attempt to update my blog more often and to keep it updated with pictures I have most recently taken, I will post this account. Went up on Skyline Dr. again to watch the sunset. It was very warm today so it was an excuse to breathe some fresh air. There were some high clouds around as well that I thought would give the sunset a nice touch.


Here is the white balance warmer...


The high clouds began to thin out...


Clouds further south brought out some pink...


Mid-level clouds were advecting in from the northwest. At the outer edges some weak kelvin-helmholtz waves developed with the wind speed (shear) differences from the base of the cloud to the top...


The waves dissipated not long after...


The moon was nearly first quarter tonight as well and was quite bright. I tried to get the sneaky "lunar x" along the night/day line on the southern part of the moon formed from the shadows in the valleys but couldn't get it out. Its darn hard to accurately zoom into the moon and have it be in focus with a 100-300mm lense!



Well, that is all for now! Am hoping to get up to Spearfish area in the next week or so and take some pictures of ice off the waterfalls up there. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks for visiting!
Chip