Ghost Town Hunting - Chapter III

What is left of Sitka, SD in Walworth County

During my travels across the state in late May, I was able to visit two more authentic South Dakota Ghost Towns, both of which are located East River.  Sitka, a few miles east of Mobridge, SD in Walworth county as well as Argonne, SD which is in Miner County.  Neither have any residents left and both have only a few of the buildings remaining.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by.

Abandoned residence in Sitka.

The old outhouse is leaning a bit nowadays!

Argonne appears to have been on an old railroad line.  There are a nice stand of trees among the town's abandoned streets and lots.  Only a few buildings remain as well as an old bank vault.  I got there in the evening as the sun was getting ready to set.  It was eerily beautiful.

Playing with Black and White

An abandoned house just off US Highway 12 around 4 miles south of Java, SD

I've always been a fan of strong contrasted black and white images.  This post is dedicated to a few scenes that I've work on in black and white over the last couple months.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and enjoy!

Rocks and water on the edge of Grass Lake near Hartford, SD

Same house as above with a bit wider lens setting.

A few more views of the house and clouds...

An abandoned farmstead near Bristol, SD.

The unused grain elevator on the edge of Ortley, SD

Sunset Skies

 Sunset colors behind a lone tree on the ridge above Skunk Creek a few miles east of Hartford, SD.

South Dakota is a great place to watch the sun set.  Here is a collection of sunset scenes I was able to capture in the last month.  Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for dropping by.

Same scene as above but a little with a little wider lens.  The images were taken around 10 to 15 minutes apart.

Sunset about the East fork of the Vermilion River near Parker, SD.

Two images of a prairie windmill out on the Grand River National Grasslands in Perkins County, SD. To see more of my time in the grasslands check out my column at southdakotamagazine.com:
http://southdakotamagazine.com/grand-river-grasslands

A single deer silhouetted against the setting sun just north of Howard, SD.

Sunset on Kettle Lake adjacent to Fort Sisseton State Park in Marshall County, SD.

A Cute Little Fox

A fox kit near a den a few miles west of Sioux Falls, SD

Earlier this month,  a co-worker of mine, who lives in the Buffalo Ridge area west of Sioux Falls, told me that her family had noticed an active fox den in one of their hay fields.  She said there were three fox kits playing around the dens in the evenings.  Naturally I asked if I could come out and see if I could get a few photos.  The first evening, I saw nothing.  The next day I went out about 20 minutes before sunset when some clouds in the west starting blocking the sun making it really dark by the time I got to the den.  I was able to get this shot of one of the kits in the low light however:

I returned the following evening and had superb light to work with.  There was only one of the three kits at the den and he was just waking up so I was able to get fairly close in order to get some candid photos.  Cute little guy, isn't he?  Enjoy the photos and click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by!

Wild turkeys, wild flowers and more...

Three Toms and Lady

While in the western part of the state in late April, I happened to come upon various unique scenes and wildlife as I toured the backroads in my free time.  This post is a collection of images from those experiences for you as well as some random shots from East River the last month.  The first three photos of the wild turkeys were taken just west of the Cheyenne River and not too far from the semi-ghost town of Owanka, SD.  I had never seen Tom's in full display mode before, so it was fun to watch them try to woo about a half dozen hens.  Click on a photo for a larger file to view and enjoy!

A month and ten days since I saw my first pasqueflower of the year East River, I found this lovely patch high up in the Northern Black hills.

A yellow-bellied Marmot (or rock-chuck) sighting in the Northern Black Hills, which was also a first for me.  It reminded me a lot of a prairie dog.

Here is a nice stand of Blue Flag flowers (or wild iris, I think) on a roadside of Custer State Park:

Custer State Park deer

Sunset above trees near Keystone, SD

Star trails and painted clouds from the lights of Sioux Falls add a little drama to this abandoned farmstead near Montrose, SD.  I was working on a column about star trail photography in April for www.southdakotamagazine.com.  The column (with more photos) is here if you are interested:

http://southdakotamagazine.com/star-trails

The "super moon" above the trees of Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve in extreme southeast South Dakota.  This was taken on the evening of May 5th, when the moon was closest to the earth for the year 2012.

Gosling at Covell Lake in Sioux Falls over my lunch hour one day in late April.

Ghost Town Hunting - Chapter II

The ghost town of Owanka, SD

The last week of April, I traveled to Rapid City for work mid-week.  On the way out and on the way back,  I was able to take some major detours in order to satisfy a few of my ghost town curiosities.  Another SD photographer (Robin Hao Gonzalez) had been posting shots of a little town called Owanka that intrigued me.  Come to find out, it is not that far off I-90 and just west of the Cheyenne River.  I found it on a hot (84 degrees), Wednesday at about three in the afternoon.  Not the greatest light to shoot, so I only got a couple shots from the ridge above.  Below is a shot with my long lens of the abandoned elevator.  I used the (new to me) photomatix plug-in in Aperture to get the black and white image of the same photo.  I think it looks pretty cool.  As always, click on a photo for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by.

Last December, I tried to find Tinton, SD as it was reported to be a ghost town with many buildings still standing (abandoned sometime in the 1950s). The problem was that it was located high up in the Northern Black Hills, so it was covered in a lot of snow and unless I rented a snowmobile, I was unable to get there.  So I decided to go and find it this time around.  I was successful, sort of.  I found the edge of town, but it is apparently located on private property and there were "no trespassing" signs posted quite clearly everywhere.  I resisted the temptation to explore further and shot the photos below from the road.  I'd love to go in and explore more down the barely visible road because if you look on google maps, the satellite photos show many more buildings beyond these.  I need to find out who to call to get permission to go back there.  If anybody knows, feel free to leave the info in a comment and thanks much!