Badlands and Black Hills

Transcription

1 Updated - September Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America Published since 1989 South Dakota Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota Badlands and Black Hills With some last-minute schedule changes to avoid the worst of a summer heat wave, I traveled east to photograph the heartland of America. I explored roads new to me and some fascinating places I want to tell you about the Badlands and the Black Hills of South Dakota. I found wonderful panoramic landscapes and deeply eroded canyons. I photographed wildlife and caves, wildflowers, forested mountains, old towns, arid, cactus-covered plains, and prairies covered with native grasses. If you want to get away from the crowds and travel remote back roads to photograph scenes of a more natural, unchanged America, read on. You ll want to pack up your camera gear and head out to South Dakota.

2 issue 59 - page 2 the Badlands Long ago a shallow inland sea spread across what is now the Great Plains of North America. Millions of years of deposited sediments, shale, mud, and volcanic ash are slowly eroding away. A long wall of ragged vertical peaks and deeply eroded ridges stretches for a hundred miles across southwestern South Dakota. paved Loop Road, off the Interstate, through the North Unit, and back to the Interstate. Few visitors take the time to explore the remote southern regions of the Badlands. It takes almost one day to drive around the Badlands National Park. If you are planning a photo exploration of the Badlands, stay at least five days in the area. Here are some tips that will give you a head start the next time you pass through South Dakota. Many travelers drive cross-country on Interstate 90, the northern route, during the summer. You can enter the Badlands at Exit 110 in Wall, South Dakota, and drive eight miles south to reach the Pinnacles entrance to Badlands National Park. You can also leave the Interstate at Exit 131 and drive five miles south to enter the park at the Northeast Entrance. The road between these two points is called the Loop Road. Most visitors enter the park through the Northeast Entrance. Badlands National Park is in the Mountain Time Zone. Looking south into the Badlands from the Loop Road This Wall parallels the White River and was formed when the river cut through the deep Badlands sediments. As erosion continues, the wall has retreated north, away from the river. The town of Wall, South Dakota, takes its name from a long line of peaks that dominate the horizon. To protect and preserve this unique natural environment, Badlands National Monument was created in In 1978, the boundaries were expanded to include the southern Stronghold Unit and the Palmer Unit, both on Sioux Indian Reservation land. At that time, the whole area was given national park status. Badlands National Park lies 60 miles east of Rapid City, South Dakota. This National Park covers a quarter-million acres and stretches fifty miles from east to west. The Badlands Wall runs east and west from the small town of Scenic, South Dakota, to Kadoka, South Dakota. Three units or sections of land were combined over the years since 1939 to create the park the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Palmer Creek Unit. Most visitors drive the Alternate routes into the Badlands After leaving the Interstate at Exit 131, heading south on State Route 240, take the first right turn two hundred yards before reaching the large Amoco Gas Station, turn right and follow the unpaved Old Northeast Road (marked CH11) into the park. Leave Interstate 90 at Exit 121 and follow the unpaved road south across the Conada Road entrance into the Badlands National Park prairie and into the center of the park. If you are entering the park from the town of Wall, South Dakota, at Exit 110, head south a mile-and-a-half, then turn right on Sage Creek Road to enter the park.

3 issue 59 - page 3 If you will be arriving from the south and entering the park through the town of Interior, South Dakota, leave Highway 44 and turn north at the unmarked road across from the A&M Cafe. Enter the park via these local s routes and avoid waiting in a long line of RVs at the toll booths. You can pay the park entry fee at the Visitor Center. Four miles beyond the toll booths at the Northeast Entrance over the Cedar Pass, you ll see a large parking area. Several trailheads start in this spot. Start your explorations of the park by walking the Window Trail at the south end of the parking area. The Window Trail is a quarter-mile long, it s a flat and easy trail leading to the edge of the overlook. Morning light is best for this panorama. The sun should be high enough in the sky to have climbed over the low cliffs in the east. Depending on the lighting conditions, this spot is as good as any view of the pinnacles, spires, and deeply eroded canyons that you ll find in this national park. You ll find a similar landscape with much more foreground when you follow the Door Trail all the way to the end. Along the trail are a series of numbered yellow pipes that lead hikers three-quarters of a mile from the parking lot and into a maze of small canyons. The first part of the trail is flat and easy. Toward view from the Window Overlook the end, there s a bit of scrambling required to find the best spot for your tripod.

4 issue 59 - page 4 sunflowers To avoid the prairie rattlesnakes, stay on marked trails and avoid hiking through the deep native grasses. There are large patches of poison ivy along several of the trails through this park. Listen for the rattlesnakes and watch for the three green leaves. This is a good location for sunrises and sunsets since it s almost completely circled by pinnacles and sharp spires. If you re ready for a longer hike, leave your car in the same parking lot and cross the road to find the trailhead for the Castle Trail. This is the longest trail in the park at five miles one way. Three miles down the trail, at the junction with the Saddle Pass Trail, double back on the Medicine Root Loop Trail and return to your car. If you continue heading west on the Castle Trail for two more miles, you ll reach the parking area at the Fossil Exhibit Trail. If you arrange a car shuttle to the end of the trail, you can avoid hiking all the way back to Cedar Pass. If you have a choice, plan to hike east toward the sunrise or hike west toward the sunset. The longer, six-mile, round-trip trek on the Medicine Root Loop Trail took me four hours. Most of the trail is fairly level as it passes around and between tall formations and towers. The Medicine Loop Trail section crosses open grasslands that were still covered with prairie wildflowers in early July. To properly expose for both the wildflowers along the Medicine Root Trail and the long line of geological formations in the distance, I used a split neutral density filter. I returned several days later to make this same hike in the late afternoon hoping for better light as I walked toward the west. A solid cloud cover moved in and filled the sky. I concentrated on close-ups of wildflowers and the patterns of native prairie grass along the Medicine Root Trail. As the sun dropped beneath low clouds in the west, a dark and dramatic landscape was illuminated by a distant thunderstorm. As the storm moved my way, it was time to head back to the car. I didn t want to be out there in the open with a Gitzo lightning rod. Midday light can be flat, colorless, and uninteresting in the Badlands, although a warming polarizer will help somewhat to saturate colors, darken blue skies, and bring out cloud patterns. The middle of the day is not the best time to search for wildlife either. You can often find canyon walls that are lit indirectly, by light reflecting across from a nearby canyon wall in direct sunlight. These large reflectors are perfect for illuminating close-up studies of wild sunflowers and coneflowers, prairie grasses, and geological patterns like dried and cracked mud. I often use the midday hours to drive the back roads around the area I m visiting, looking for places to return to later. I make a list of the best potential tripod holes and classify them as morning shots or evening shots. I make notes on the driving time to each location to calculate the departure time from my campsite or motel. the Badlands along the Loop Road After entering Badlands National Park, stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center to watch their orientation video. Walk through their exhibits on the geology and the paleontology, as well as the plant life and creatures that live here. At the Visitor Center you can identify the wildflowers and the birds you ll photograph in the park.

5 issue 59 - page 5 Just west of the Visitor Center and Lodge is the intersection and the turn onto the Badlands Loop Road. The Loop Road starts and ends at Interstate 90. There are other roads through the Badlands but most are unpaved. This means less traffic but also more dust. You ll need to bring your lens cleaning equipment on this trip. The paved Loop Road follows the top of the Badlands Wall for thirty-five miles. Most of the great views of the pinnacles and spires Balancing Rock in the Badlands are on the south side of the road. Since the road twists and turns as it winds along the rim of the cliffs, the direction of the best light will depend on the time of day you arrive. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon are the best times to drive this road. Clouds cast great shadows across this landscape. Approaching storm clouds create dramatic panoramas leaving sunlit peaks standing in sharp relief against dark, distant skies. Looking down the deep canyons toward the south, you ll see large areas of the prairie covered with patches of yellow sweet clover. Some of the best compositions in the park can be found in locations where no scenic turnoffs or parking areas exist. Although there are plenty of scenic overlooks along the road from the top of The Wall, good viewpoints from the bottom are harder to find. Looking upward toward the Badland formations beneath a cloud-filled sky can often create a more impressive composition. Head west from the Cedar Lodge along the Loop Road. For several miles, the road follows the bottom of the cliffs. Check out the view from the parking area at the bottom of the Saddle Pass Trail. There are also some low-angle scenic viewpoints around the Conata Picnic Area. A couple of miles west of the Cedar Lodge, where the Loop Road starts to climb to the top of the cliffs, watch the north side of the road for a large balancing rock on a white sandstone pedestal. It s in the bottom of a gully, below the road. There are no signs and this spot is not marked on the maps. There is a wide spot along the road at the bottom of the hill where you can park and a fairly easy and obvious route up the wash to the base of this unusual formation. By moving in close with a wide-angle lens you can shoot upward, placing the top against the sky. While looking for the balancing rock location, watch for the large parking area at the Fossil Exhibit Trail. If you drive that far, turn around and head back down the hill, eastward. Once in the morning and again in the afternoon of the same day, I parked in the Fossil Exhibit Trail lot and walked down the road to the bottom of the hill. It took thirty minutes to walk down and an hour to walk back up. Directly across this road from the balancing rock mentioned above is a great tripod spot for a composition of ragged peaks receding toward the west. Three miles east of the Pinnacles entrance to the Badlands Park, along the scenic Loop Road, is a side road heading south that is marked Conata. The Big Pig Dig is located about a mile down the Conata Road near a picnic area. I always keep a plastic cooler in the back seat of my car, or a rental car, filled with bottles of water and some food, including small cans of tuna, granola bars, and a bag of apples and oranges. When I m out on a remote mountain top photographing a sunset, I don t want to have to drive back into town to find all the restaurants closed.

6 issue 59 - page 6 Park your car in the picnic area and follow the wooden boardwalk to the excavation site where several paleontologists, park rangers, and volunteers have been slowly unearthing the fossilized remains of many different prehistoric creatures from early Oligocene times about 34 million years ago. I watched as dental picks and soft brushes were being used to expose the jaw bones of a long-extinct rhinoceros, a tiny horse-like creature, and a wild boar, hence the name The Big Pig Dig. Continuing west along the Loop Road, a mile south of the Pinnacles Entrance into the park is an unpaved side road. The Sage Creek Rim Road along the western side of the park is unpaved. The graded gravel surface can get slick after a rain. There are no rough spots or high-clearance problems. Located on the Sage Creek Rim Road, five miles west of the paved Loop Road, the Robert s Prairie Dog Town is not a commercial operation but simply a parking area next to a large prairie dog community. This is a Badland prairie dog natural prairie dog environment, not a petting zoo, so don t feed the wildlife. It s easy to approach the prairie dogs if you move very slowly. With a 400mm lens, you can fill your viewfinder with a prairie dog standing tall above its burrow, watching for danger. Their cries are said to sound like barking dogs warning other prairie dogs of approaching danger. I think they sound more like squeaks or chirping birds and not at all like dogs. Prairie dogs are the main menu of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America. The black-footed ferret s diet consists solely of these rodents and since over 98% of all prairie dogs have been eradicated from the Great Plains, the ferret was once considered to be almost extinct. A few black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced to Badlands National Park. It s a nocturnal creature, so you ll need some luck to get a photograph of a black-footed ferret out there in the park. The Southern Units Starting in Rapid City, South Dakota, I drove fourteen miles south on Highway 79 to the marked left turn through the small town of Hermosa and headed southeast on State Route 40. After crossing the Cheyenne River, I entered the Pine Ridge/Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation. The road follows the western boundary of the Stronghold Unit, the southern section of Badlands National Park. Most of the southern sections of the park are located inside the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A wonderful viewpoint is located five miles south of the spot marked on maps as Red Shirt. You can t miss this viewpoint. Pull off the road, go through the open gate with the small yellow sign, and drive a few hundred feet out to the edge of the cliffs. Walk a few hundred feet south and look down at the huge balancing rock below. You will be standing in the middle of a panoramic scene that spreads for 180 to the north and south. You ll be looking due east and hopefully will arrive in the early morning when the first rays of the sun backlight thousands of spires, pinnacles, and deeply fluted gorges. This immense basin stretches for miles toward the east. This scene is poorly illuminated in

7 issue 59 - page 7 Looking east toward the Stronghold Table in the Southern Unit the flat light of late afternoon. Late in the day, dark shadows of the high western cliffs are cast across this landscape. Arrive here in the early morning a half-hour before the sunrise while the sky is still dark blue. If there are any clouds in the eastern sky, they may light up in soft shades of pink and orange. Use a graduated neutral gray filter aligned with the horizon and you ll be able to expose properly for both the delicate colors in the sky and the faintly illuminated ridges along the tops of all the canyons. The high ridge visible on the eastern horizon is the edge of the Stronghold Table, a sacred place for the Sioux Tribe. In 1890, the last ritual Ghost Dance was performed there to drive the White Men from their land. In 1940, the Stronghold Table was used by the military as a bombing range for gunnery practice. Yellow signs around the perimeter warn of unexploded shells in the area. Continue driving south on State Route 40 to the next intersection. Then head east on Route 2, around the southern boundary of the park. Just inside the boundary as you are driving up the hill, there is another great viewpoint on the right side of the road. A long line of deeply-eroded buttresses recedes toward the southeast. The unpaved road climbs to the top of the hill and crosses a flat mesa for ten miles before dropping down into more Badland formations for another five miles. On the southeastern corner of the park is the White River Visitor Center. Stop and ask any questions you may have about the area. The ranger at the Visitor Center told me that the Stronghold Unit is undeveloped for visitors, lacks access points, and has only a few very rough 4x4 roads. Written permission must be obtained to drive or hike across the surrounding private lands. Because of the many remaining unexploded bombs buried in the area, rangers discourage exploration of the Stronghold Unit. To the east, the separate Palmer Creek Unit of Badlands National Park is completely surrounded by private grazing land and visitors are not welcome. After leaving the White River Visitor Center, head north on Highway 27 (a paved road). In the distance, toward the east, are more jagged peaks and some very interesting formations.

8 issue 59 - page 8 There are some fascinating mushroom formations along the side of the road, two miles west of the pavement, on Sheep Mountain Road. These are located inside the inaccessible Palmer Creek Unit of the National Park. The landscapes get much more interesting ten miles north of the White River Visitor Center. Driving north or south on Highway 27, look toward the west. There is a long line of jagged peaks in the distance. If you want a closer view and a look into the interior of the Park s Stronghold Unit, drive to the top of Sheep Mountain. There is one entry road, rough and unpaved, that leads up onto Sheep Mountain Table to a spot marked Gunnery Range Overlook on the maps. After crossing the boundary and leaving the reservation, watch for the sign marking the side road to Sheep Mountain. To find the best light, drive this unpaved side road in the late afternoon. Watch out for the wild I headed north and drove across the rolling hills of the Fort Pierre National Grassland following a network of unpaved roads. I was surprised that cattle were grazing the grasslands. At least there were no combines harvesting crops. I found many dramatic scenes of strong winds blowing tall prairie grasses beneath a dark, stormy sky. After a side trip into Pierre, South Dakota, to visit the state capitol and have lunch, I returned to my cabin at the Cedar Pass Lodge. Campgrounds and lodgings There are two campgrounds in Badlands National Park. The Cedar Pass Campground, at the east end of the park, has cold running water and flushing toilets but no showers. This campground is located close to some of the best Badland formations, the park s facilities, and the services available in the nearby town of Interior, South Dakota. The Sage Creek Campground, at the west end of the park is more remote and very quiet. The road to Sage Creek is unpaved and the campground may be inaccessible during rainy weather. Longhorn Saloon in Scenic, S.D. turkeys that leap out of the tall grass and dart across the road. Avoid driving this road after a rain. The deep mud holes are very slippery. At the end of the road is a wonderful panoramic scene across the Galico Table. Looking southwest, you ll see the distant mesa that was used by the military during World War II for use as a bombing and gunnery range. Although some of their homes and a church were hit by stray bombs, no members of the Sioux Tribe were killed. When you leave the Sheep Mountain Road and return to the paved highway, it s only four miles north to Scenic, South Dakota, a small town that is interesting, but hardly scenic. A large sign over the saloon in the town of Scenic says Indians Allowed. Times are changing Wounded Knee is located a few miles south of here. Pond along the road to Sage Creek Campground The most convenient lodgings are located inside Badlands National Park at the east end near the Visitor Center. The Cedar Pass Lodge is operated by the Oglala Sioux Tribe. The 24 air-conditioned cabins have hot showers and linen is provided.

9 issue 59 - page 9 A good restaurant is located inside the nearby Native Arts and Crafts shop. Their lodging rates are about half the rates of motels outside the park. You can sit under a shade tree in front of your cabin at Cedar Pass and wait for the perfect light. There are a half-dozen motels located in the small town of Wall, South Dakota, eight miles north of the park. You can avoid the long cross-country drive to South Dakota. Trade in some of your accumulated frequent-flyer miles and book a flight to the nearest regional airport. It s located in Rapid City, South Dakota, and has regularly scheduled airline service. Rapid City is located seventy miles west of the Badlands National Park. This small city has a large choice of lodgings. Like most accommodations in the area, lodging rates usually double in price during the short summer season. the Black Hills After eight days of photography in the Badlands, I packed up and headed west into the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills are full of destinations for visiting vacationers. There are great fishing spots, caves to explore, lodges, resorts, dude ranches, hot springs, historical monuments, Indian Tribal ceremonies, and countless museums, petting zoos. With limited time, I narrowed my focus and visited the Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park. WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK Wind Cave was discovered in 1881 when two young brothers, exploring the hills, heard a loud noise from a small hole in the ground. A strong wind blowing from the hole was caused by a difference in atmospheric pressures inside and outside the cave. Extensive underground exploration was followed by a few years of private, commercial tour operators who led small groups through miles of dark caverns by candlelight. The Wind Cave area has been protected since 1903 when it became our seventh national park the first cave to be added to the list. There are 81 miles of passageways in the Wind Cave that have been explored and mapped but it is estimated that only 5% of the total cave has been discovered. Over twenty-seven miles of passageways were found and explored during the 1990s. When driving through Wind Cave Park, several signs direct visitors to the Park Visitor Center. In addition to the usual free maps, displays, photos, and audio/visual preservations, a variety of tours are offered during the summer season. They all start from the Visitor Center. The least strenuous tour lasts about one hour and covers a distance of about a quarter-mile. A second tour, which starts from ground level at the natural entrance, descends about four hundred stairs, following a fairly straight route for about seventy-five minutes. That tour ends at the bottom of a deep elevator shaft. Two elevators bring visitors to the surface. The longest tour descends by elevator, and winds through several deeper levels for ninety minutes before returning to the surface by elevator. On the Fourth of July, it was close to 100 F on the surface but only 53 F when I stepped out of the elevator at the bottom of the cave. The warm jacket I packed for this summer trip proved to be very useful. Wind Cave is a fairly dry cave and has very few stalactites or stalagmites. Covering many of the cave walls and ceilings are large and impressive formations of calcite fins joined together in patterns forming honeycomb boxworks. A great variety of other formations are formed of calcite crystals. Some are pure white in color and others are glass-like crystals. These delicate, jewel-like calcite crystal formations are not easy to photograph with one on-camera flash unit. The caves have been wired with electricity so that strategically-placed lamps dimly illuminate the larger caverns along the winding trails. Tripods are not allowed in the caves. Bring a neck strap for your camera. Using Special tours are offered at Wind Cave: a two-hourlong Candlelight Tour illuminated only by hand-carried candle-powered lanterns and a four-hour Caving Tour strictly for the adventurous. Participants are outfitted with the proper protective clothing, helmets, and equipment. A lot of crawling through narrow, dark passageways is required. Boxwork formations on the ceiling of Wind Cave

10 issue 59 - page 10 When photographing caves with less colorful formations, I filter the flash output by wrapping a light yellow plastic bag over the flash head and securing it with a rubber band. on-camera flash, the results are sometimes unpredictable. Very deep caverns often soak up a lot of light leaving distant details in the dark. Light-colored formations, like nearby stalactites, are sometimes over-exposed when the camera/flash tries to base an average exposure on a reading taken off a distant wall. were curling their lips, digging their horns into the ground, and making deep, bellowing calls. Everyone stayed in their cars. Wind Cave National Park has one campground with 75 sites, open from April through October. There are no other lodgings in the park. Not all of this park is hidden below the ground. Wind Cave National Park has over twenty-eight thousand acres of native grass prairies inhabited by bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and many other native creatures. Open rolling hills and scattered forests of ponderosa pine have been left in their natural state. Only a few roads cross the park. There are over thirty miles of trails for hikers. After leaving the caves, I headed north where I saw a large herd of bison grazing in a valley near the boundary of the park. Many bison were roaming across the dirt road and grazing next to a few cars where people had stopped to photograph them. Some very large mature bulls were noisily moving through the herd. July and August is their rutting season. The bulls become short-tempered and can be more dangerous than usual. Some The hills of Custer State Park Custer State Park Custer State Park covers 73,000 acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota one of the Nation s largest state parks. This state park is adjacent to and just north of Wind Cave National Park. It s located twenty-five miles Bison in Wind Cave National Park east of the Wyoming State Line. Mount Rushmore is located a few miles north. Custer State Park has ten campgrounds with a total of over three-hundred campsites. There are four lodgings inside Custer State Park Sylvan Lake Resort, the State Game Lodge, Legion Lake Resort, and the Blue Bell

11 issue 59 - page 11 Lodge and Resort. I stayed several nights in a rustic log cabin in the pines at the Blue Bell. It s a good choice if you enjoy horseback trail rides and chuckwagon cookouts in the woods. I stayed in the Blue Bell Cabins because they are conveniently close to the park s Wildlife Loop Road. Sylvan Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in the Black Mountains, is located in Custer State Park. Huge granite boulders rise from the northern shore line. During an early morning photo session, I discovered that the rising sun first strikes the granite formations casting reflections across the calm surface of the water. over a hill, walk into the composition, stop and look into the camera, then move on. Here the wildlife is so abundant that you don t have to stalk it. You can find the perfect background for your photograph, set up a tripod, and wait for wildlife to show up. Each day I spent in Custer State Park, I made several circuits of the unpaved eighteen-mile Wildlife Loop Road once in the morning and again in the evening. Large herds of bison graze the rolling hills. Whitetail and mule deer are common. Prairie dogs stand on their roadside burrows watching passing cars. Pronghorns can be spotted from a distance but are easily spooked. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep are a bit harder to spot but can be found in the Harney Peak area. I spotted only one bighorn in the Needles area while photographing a mountain top covered with tall granite spires. The hills of Custer State Park are especially photogenic late in the day on summer afternoons when the low sun breaks through thunderstorm clouds forming over the Black Hills. On several occasions, I pulled off the road to photograph a sudden change in the light, illuminating alternate ranges of overlapping hills receding into the distance. While waiting to make a second exposure, some creature would often emerge from Since I was so close, I had to see Mount Rushmore. I arrived at the National Monument during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, waited in line to get a parking spot, and hiked all over the area, shooting from every viewpoint. Checking a road map, I discovered that Custer State Park is located thirty miles west of my favorite Badlands panoramic scene on the edge of Stronghold Table much closer than driving all the way from the cabin at Cedar Pass on the other side of the Badlands. I packed up early on the morning of my last day in the Black Mountains and once again drove the mostly unpaved roads in the dark to arrive on the edge of the Badlands overlook as the sun was rising over Stronghold Table. Have a great trip! Mt. Rushmore

12 Internet Resources U. S. NATIONAL PARKS / STATE PARKS Badlands National Park: Black Hills National Forest: Buffalo Gap National Grassland: Custer State Park: Mount Rushmore National Memorial: Wind Cave National Park: LODGING Best Western Black Hills Lodge, Spearfish, SD Elk Creek Lodge and Resort, Piedmont, SD Black Hills Miles Hi Motel, Custer, SD CAR RENTALS WEATHER CONDITIONS The Weather Channel: The National Weather Service: SPECIALTY CLOTHING CAMERA EQUIPMENT My life-long career in photography began at San Jose State University in After college, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a photographer and darkroom technician. In Germany, my skills and experience with equipment and lab work were developed and polished. I took the opportunity to photograph the beauty of nature in the Black Forest. Returning to California in 1965, I produced industrial and military training films for Raytheon Electronics and began showing my color nature prints. From 1969 through 1981, my photography was exhibited and sold in West Coast galleries. During the early 1980 s, I taught color darkroom workshops, then expanded to include field trips. Former customers, who had purchased my framed photographs, wanted to learn photography. My Pacific Image Photography Workshops offered adventures to the Pacific Coast, the Southwest deserts, national parks, Hawaii, New England, Canada, England, and the South Pacific. The workshops evolved into writing and sharing my adventures with others. Photograph America Newsletter provides information on where, when, and how to discover the best nature photography in North America. Photograph America Newsletter is published quarterly (four issues/year) by Robert Hitchman assisted by technical associate/wife, Katherine Post Office Box 86, Novato, CA All contents of this newsletter copyright Robert Hitchman Please don t make copies for your friends. This is a violation of Federal copyright laws. This newsletter survives on subscriptions.