When you look up "most beautiful" or "best" state park in the United States, Custer State Park in South Dakota usually ranks up at the top of any list, and it had been on my shoot list for awhile. The nearby Badlands National Park looked pretty amazing as well, an unworldly setting not unlike our local Painted Hills, just on a much grander scale. I began to ponder combining the two parks in a trip. As I started researching things, I noticed that Mt. Rushmore wasn't very far away from Custer State Park. While not necessarily on my bucket list, it would definitely be cool to see if I was in the area. Then I saw the historic town of Deadwood was right around the corner. I loved the TV show, so that would be worth checking out as well. And finally, there was Devil's Tower just to the north. A photo road trip was taking shape.

The planning came together quickly - fly into Rapid City, drive to Devil's Tower and spend the night. Then two nights in Custer and another two nights in the hamlet of Wall, just outside of The Badlands, and back to Bend. I loved the idea of going off-season (more on that later, but boy did I make the right choice) and a quick weather check showed a balmy February forecast.

I arrived at Devil's Tower just before 10PM on a clear night with a full moon. I was delighted to find the country road I had scouted on Google Maps had a small hill next to it that made for the perfect platform for shooting a scene I had visualized. Devil's Tower is quirky since it just seems to rise out of nowhere in the flat landscape. I wanted to capture that with a wide panorama shot. Processing a moonlit scene ended up being the trickiest part. It's pretty easy to make a full moon scene long exposure look like daylight, but that's not what I wanted. And frankly, that's not what it looked like. So it's a delicate balance of making the image look like night, but also being lit.

The next morning I returned to the same hill for sunrise, but unfortunately clouds had rolled in and the light was pretty dull for the rest of my time at the tower. Still, it was great to be there and I had the place to myself.

It was then time to check out Deadwood. I arrived in a snowstorm, not a huge one, more a storm squall. The flakes added a nice dimension to the otherwise haggard town. While it was neat seeing signs of characters and places from the show, which were based on reality (Seth Bullock, Wild Bill Hickok, Mr. Wu, the Gem Saloon) it just felt like a tourist trap full of slot machines. I had lunch and went on my way.

Next up was Mt Rushmore. After weaving through the Black Hills and another snow squall, I found myself under four presidents carved into a mountain side. Pretty cool and not as big in person as I had thought, but quite the sculpturing feat.

I skipped the visitors center and went looking for a composition I had scouted online. The only problem with the comp idea was that is along the Iron Mountain Road which is usually closed in the winter, and checking SDDOT, it very well appeared to be.

I decided to drive to the gate and ponder walking the 1.5 miles up the closed road to the location. However, when I arrived the gate was open and a couple of forestry trucks were on their way out. I slipped in and made my way up to the Doane Robinson Tunnel which had a straight-on view of the presidents.

I brought out the long lens and used the tunnel to frame the shot. I was pretty stoked to get something different from the generic tourist shot taken from below in the visitors center. While far from unique, the composition is a little unusual. As a bonus, since there was zero traffic, I didn't have the stress of spending time in the narrow tunnel dodging minivans of annoyed tourists.

Still unsure of the road status and not wanting to get locked in, I made my way along and on to Custer.

The next morning, in the pre-dawn, I found myself on the groaning ice of the beautiful Sylvan Lake. I had first come across Sylvan Lake in a video by Fototripper Gavin Hardcastle. It looked amazing - an alpine lake with granite spires sprouting from the shore. How cool is that?

Back on the lake, I was looking for interesting ice shapes to use as foreground. My research has turned up no fine art photography with the icy lake and the spires (I'm not saying there isn't any, but I didn't come across any) and I thought this would be a chance to get something unique, or at least, rare.

With the sun up and breakfast at the lake (again, not a soul around, the off-season was providing), I decided to look for critters and drove down to the very aptly named Wildlife Loop Road. Within a couple of miles I had checked off most species in the park - mule deer, white tailed deer, pronghorn, big horn sheep, bison, coyotes, prairie dogs, and bald eagles. What a place!

It reminded me of my African trips to the Masai Mara and Kruger National Park where each mile along the road brought a new wildlife scene.

Having the park to myself let me do annoying tourist things with impunity. If I saw a critter, I could slam on the brakes and jump out of the idling car while leaving it in the middle of the road to snap off a few frames. This was also when I set what would become my photography schedule over the next couple of days. I would shoot landscapes in the morning and evening, and wildlife in the midday.

Later on, I made my way back to Sylvan Lake and went on a two mile hike up to Little Devil's Tower for sunset. At the summit, I ran into the only other person in the park. We had an interesting conversation as it was revealed that he had family in Bend and had just climbed Mt Hood. Unfortunately, on his descent he slipped and fell 600ft and had to be rescued. I Googled the story and it checks out. He seemed to have recovered well, though.

I got the shot of the Cathedral Spires I was after and descended in the dark.

With two full days done, it was time to head over to the Badlands. I arrived around 9AM and was feeling it from the past two days - I was really tired. First impressions of the park were good though and I was looking forward to checking out the earthly formations. I soon saw a potential scene with a bison in the distance.

Bison have such a distinctive shape and are easily identifiable. I wanted a shot with a single bison alone in a field with lots of sky. The critter I saw was currently grazing away in front of a fence and some rocks but slowly making his way towards an open field and a small berm. I waited an hour and half for that lazy beast to make its way 100 yards. But hey, I was actually happy for the respite in the car.

I then went on a small hike and also scouted a location for sunset. Again, I was searching for something different. I knew I'd eventually get the classic shots of the pointy formations and the mounds, but to start I wanted the view of the formations from the plains looking up rather than from the road on the rim looking out and over them. I like the shot I got showing the grasslands running up against the hillside. I mean, its mostly grassland out there (that's why the bison are around) and I feel it would be disingenuous to not show the Badlands with the grassland.

I thought I was done after sunset, but I was wrong. It turns out the very best light in the Badlands is the 30 minutes after sunset and the 30 minutes right before sunrise. The cliffs absolutely glow and their true colors and definitions emerge. When the sun is up everything is washed out.

I rushed around a bit but didn't really find a good composition, so I just stuck myself in a shot. With that knowledge, I knew I'd be getting up a bit earlier than planned.

The next morning I was prepared when the cliffs began to glow. I had pre-scouted comps and had 3/4 moon as a bonus. It was beautiful, and shocker, not a soul in the whole place.

I spent the midday driving around looking for wildlife, of which there were plenty. I also went on a 6 mile hike. Just me, the bison and the big horn sheep. The silence was absolute - not a car, nor a plane, nor a train in the distance to be heard. The only sound I heard was the blood pumping through my ears. It was the best and I didn't want to leave, but sunset was approaching and I had to get into position.

The sunset got snuffed out just as it went below the horizon so I didn't get the glow like from the night before. But I did at sunrise. It was beautiful and I shot the classic Badlands images of the wonderful cliffs and their striations with a lovely pink sky. Just before the light got too harsh, I also got the shot of all the layers of rock going off into the distance.

With only a couple of hours to go until I had to leave to catch my flight home, I drove around the park stopping in places that I hadn't yet seen while looking for wildlife. I was tired but locked in. I had seen much of the park and felt I was getting into its rhythm. On the passenger seat I had my camera with the long lens attached at the ready in case I saw a potential image with an animal.

Within 15 minutes of me leaving the park for the airport, I crested a hill on the Sage Creek Rim Road and saw the perfect black and white scene. A bison was just about to cross the road, with the road leading off in the distance. I slammed on the brakes, snatched my camera and jumped into the road. Immediately I shot off a couple of frames and it was over, the bison had crossed the road. I looked at the back of my camera, checked the composition and focus - perfect! My very last shot was my favorite of the trip.