Cheyenne River and Beyond

I’ve been in the herd of buffalo at the Wild Idea Buffalo Ranch countless times before and it is never anything less than a mind blowing experience. But this weekend I got to experience the herd one on one – just me and them (and a 4 wheeler). I quickly jotted down notes as Jill told me, over the phone, which gates to go through and what direction to go to get to the buffalo. I didn’t really need to, I was so hungry for the experience, it seemed that her words just seared themselves in my brain. I took the long way to the ranch from HWY 79 onto the Lower Spring Creek Road. I stopped to snap a shot or two along … Read More

Happy Birthday Mom!

  I really didn’t wake up this morning thinking I would be out taking pictures of bluebirds… but to be honest, even if wasn’t a snow day, I would have likely found a way to wriggle out of work and go shooting. It was simply breath taking outside. They called a winter weather warning last night, which I instantly shrugged off. I was certain that because I was so sick of snow, it was just going to… not snow. But apparently my desire for the contrary wasn’t enough and the snow gods decided to give us one more dose of the white stuff. It dumped nearly 9 inches while we slept and when we woke up we were gifted yet another snow day. Now, could … Read More

Fly By

Its snowing again… Its April 21st… I’m over it. Yesterday though, was a gift. It was supposed to rain but it held off long enough for the sun to come out and melt off a majority of what we were given earlier in the week. Signs of spring are everywhere, but no where more than with in the mysterious dances of our feathered friends. I took a drive with my mom through the back roads to the north east of us and then a second trip into the woods with my cousin to find the blue birds. I’m not sure why its all about birds right now, but it seems to be regardless of intent. I’m enjoying my time with them though. … Read More

Chasing Meadowlarks

Once again, the question arose; “Do I want to go hills or plains?” this time though, the sky made the decision for me. Usually when I’m facing this decision I am trying to figure out which way to head out of town, but yesterday I was trying to decide which way to drive home from Spearfish. I looked towards the Black Hills and they were covered with grey flat clouds, to the east the sky was broken, brightly contrasted between the deep thick dark blue storm clouds and the bright white where the sun was trying to break through. You could just tell that was where the cool stuff was. I used the GPS on my phone to suggest a … Read More

Magic Ice

Last year, somewhere around the end of March, a group of us ventured out in search of some water to throw our kayaks in. For some reason, we thought Deerfield Lake (the coldest, highest lake in the Black Hills) was the best place to go. First we stopped off at Flag Mountain to stretch our legs and enjoy a good view. There we noticed we could see all the way to the lake and were heartbroken by its very obvious still-frozen-ness. We decided that there was no harm in venturing down there anyway and took the road through Reynolds Prairie and down to the Northwest side of the lake. To our delight, we were greeted with a roughly 6-10 foot ribbon of water … Read More

Ooops…

I dont know about you but I am ready for spring. Its not to say I’m not thoroughly enjoying my adventures out into the elements, but today we had a pretty close brush with vulnerability I could have done with out. When Amy got in the van I simply said, “Hills or Prairie?” To which she replied “prairie.” We decided the best route would be south on HWY 79 and then east on Lower Spring Creek Road. The occasional snow drift across the road didn’t get to bad until we were pretty much all the way out into Nowhere. You see, out there there is not much to block the wind or anything that might get caught up in it. Last week it was dust, this … Read More