CANNONBALL CONCRETIONS

Cannonball Concretions, Theodore Roosevelt NP, North Dakota

There are many stunning geological features in the badland areas of Montana, South and North Dakota. One that nobody should miss while visiting the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is Cannonball Concretions.

Here is my tip: If you visit the National Park, go to the Cannonball Concretions pull-out any time during the day. Explore the area, read and learn about the cannonball concretions on educational displays, take your selfie pictures or try to find a critter, and just have fun being there. However, come back for your serious photography of these fascinating geological features about an hour before sunset, when the slope and concretions reveal their colors and shades become almost horizontal.

You’ll find endless photo opportunities and even after several visits you probably discover shapes and structures you may have missed before. It is quiet, it is peaceful, and if you are able to disconnect for a moment from the rush of the modern world , you may start to understand why places like this had always a special meaning for Native people, long before the land was taken away from them.

OUIMET CANYON

Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ---------

Back to our Lake Superior roundtrip in August / September. Ouimet Canyon is a gorge, cut into the rocks of Lake Superior’s northern shore. Ice, wind, and rain, the architects of time, have chiseled deep into the Canadian shield to form one of the most striking canyons of eastern Canada. (source: Information board at Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park). There were two theories discussed how this canyon was created, and the geologists among us may have their own ideas (Anke?), but for the photographer the story telling about the magnificence of the place has precedence. We got there mid morning, too late for the lifting fog of that day, but still early enough to beat the high contrast of an average summer day. As much as I dislike places where tourists like me gather in large numbers (yes, I throw stones out of the glass house.. ;-) , we had this canyon view surprisingly all for ourselves.

The bottom of the canyon is about 100 meters deeper (more than 300 feet) and the flora and fauna below is about the same as you’d find on the shores of Hudson Bay, 1,000 km to the north. This is mind boggling, but facts like this enhance my appreciation beyond any photographic expectations…

COASTAL HIKE AT NEYS

Lake Superior, Neys Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ------------

I like to take you back to our trip around Lake Superior about a month ago and show you a couple more pictures. One of the most interesting trails we hiked along the rocky coast line was the “Under the Volcano Trail” in Neys Provincial Park. Beside being a good terrain for adventure with great photography it reveals Neys’ unique geologic, glacial, and volcanic history.

These abandoned old boats cannot be ignored for a photograph. Joan and I spent quite some time there and tried to find the best way to make the click that tells the story.

All images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

 

BACK TO THE BADLANDS

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

No, I didn’t go back literally to the Badlands, South Dakota, I just like to continue my little stories about the landscapes and wildlife in the Dakotas last October. 

The rock layers of the Badlands have been built over millions of years. The highest peaks are “only” 28 - 30 million years old and belong to the Sharp Formation, while the oldest rocks down below we can see today as a result of erosion are roughly 70 million years old. One of the most colorful formations are the 67 million years old Yellow Mounds. After the sea drained away, the black ocean mud was exposed to surface weathering. The upper layers of this mud developed into a yellow soil called Yellow Mounds. The gray formation above is the Chadron Formation and these sediments were deposited about 34 - 37 million years ago. Interestingly there is a gap of 30 million years in the geological record in between, the result of non-deposit and erosion. Excuse my excursion but I think this is just mind-boggling… 😆

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The photographer could care less (but he doesn’t) and the Yellow Mounds formation is just perfect to tell a visual story about the geology and age of the Badlands. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a few rain drops that day and it was a blessing for working the landscape with the camera. You can’t get these colors on a day with bald blue sky and sunlight that burns the hell out of everything. Every focal length, wide or close, seemed to work and could lead to an image. It was just a matter to answer the question, what’s my subject, before pressing the shutter button…😉