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Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area 24 images Created 20 Sep 2016

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  • A Delta Aquarid meteor burns up in the sky above the Pryor Mountains. The glow in the distance is light pollution from Billings.
    Pryor Mountain Meteor
  • At the end of July I had the chance to shoot the most detailed milky way nightscape photo I've ever taken. Ever since making a similar photo in Utah, I've wanted to repeat it, but finding the right location, the right weather, at the right time isn't easy. After a stunning sunset over Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, the clouds cleared out and the conditions began to come together. This image is a combination of 3 separate pictures, totaling nearly 1 hour of exposure time. First I placed my tripod on the edge of the canyon, then aligned my star tracking mount on Polaris (the north star), and then shot two 18-minute exposures of the milky way. Then I turned the tracking mount off, and shot a similar exposure of just the canyon, and later stitched the 3 shots together. Without a tracking mount, I'm normally limited to 30-second exposures before the stars start to blur. In addition to the milky way, the planets Saturn and Mars, and traces of green airglow are also visible. The light pollution along the horizon is from the towns of Lovell and Powell. While I was shooting this, bats kept fluttering around my head, eating all the gnats gathered around the puddles after a recent rain.
    Celestial River
  • I've seen spectacular sunsets and I've seen breathtaking views. But to see them both at the same time was an incredible experience. This thunderstorm moved off of the Beartooth Mountains and settled over Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in southern Montana. Here eagles, raptors, and hawks swoop through one of the deepest canyons in the US. Bighorn sheep scale the cliff walls, and wild horses roam free in the neighboring Pryor Mountains. 'Wow' was a word I said and heard often this evening. I also heard someone exclaim "These colors look fake." I was surprised there weren't more people here on a summer weekend. But without a boat, much of the canyon is difficult to access. The northern end of the park is less than 20 miles from the southern end where this was taken. Yet it takes over 3 hours to drive that distance, going over and around mountain ranges, rivers, and the Crow Indian Reservation.
    Devil Canyon Sunset
  • I've seen spectacular sunsets and I've seen breathtaking views. But to see them both at the same time was an incredible experience. This thunderstorm moved off of the Beartooth Mountains and settled over Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in southern Montana. Here eagles, raptors, and hawks swoop through one of the deepest canyons in the US. Bighorn sheep scale the cliff walls, and wild horses roam free in the neighboring Pryor Mountains. 'Wow' was a word I said and heard often this evening. I also heard someone exclaim "These colors look fake." I was surprised there weren't more people here on a summer weekend. But without a boat, much of the canyon is difficult to access. The northern end of the park is less than 20 miles from the southern end where this was taken. Yet it takes over 3 hours to drive that distance, going over and around mountain ranges, rivers, and the Crow Indian Reservation.
    One of Those Moments
  • Normally I'm not scared of heights, but Sullivan's Knob at Bighorn Canyon was not a place I could stay for very long. It is surrounded on 3 sides by a drop of 500+ feet down to the Bighorn River. It wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't so windy. I didn't want to set up my tripod because it might have blown over. There were several of these tough little trees growing right on the edge of the precipitous cliff, bending in the wind.
    Precipitous Ledge
  • On Thanksgiving I went for a hike up Layout Canyon on the east side of the Pryor Mountains. The trail ends at this interesting spring. Most of the Pryors are arid, but this place is an exception. Water gushes out of the side of the cliffs and flows over this mossy domed rock. The shady spring with a backdrop of sunlit cliffs made this a challenge to capture, it's a 5-shot HDR.
    Layout Springs
  • The Pryor Mountains of south central Montana are filled with many towering pinnacles and spires like this one. Last week was my first time hiking in this rarely visited mountain range, going up a deep canyon to the unique Layout Creek Spring. A herd of 160 wild horses live in these mountains, but I didn't see any this time. To get the sun ray effect I went off trail until I found the perfect position to partially obscure the sun behind the pinnacle. Using a smaller aperture produced an 18-point sunstar.
    Pinnacle of Perfection
  • Layout Canyon in the Pryor Mountains is filled with towering cliffs like this one. I balanced the crescent moon on one of the pillars.
    Fortress of the Moon
  • Bighorn Canyon and the Pryor Mountains glow in the early morning light on Thanksgiving Day.
    Bighorn Canyon Sunrise
  • Colorful clouds fill the sky after sunset near Lovell, Wyoming.
    Sykes Canyon Sunset
  • The sun goes down over a rugged canyon near Lovell, Wyoming.
    The Last Rays
  • I've seen pictures of this arch at Bighorn Canyon before, and haven't been able to locate it. But after visiting a 3rd time, I finally found it. The arch frames an incredible view of what is sometimes called Montana's Grand Canyon. After waiting here until 9PM, I gave up on seeing any color in the sky. But before I could make it back to my car, an orange glow emerged in the west and pink clouds briefly overtook the sky. I hurried back to the arch to take this final picture. It always amazes me just how empty this place is. It's not unusual to see more wild horses than people. I had to drive very carefully back to the campground to avoid hitting the mustangs that were standing on the road in the dark.
    Through a Window
  • I've seen pictures of this arch at Bighorn Canyon before, and haven't been able to locate it. But after visiting a 3rd time, I finally found it. The arch frames an incredible view of what is sometimes called Montana's Grand Canyon. After waiting here until 9PM, I gave up on seeing any color in the sky. But before I could make it back to my car, an orange glow emerged in the west and pink clouds briefly overtook the sky. I hurried back to the arch to take this final picture. It always amazes me just how empty this place is. It's not unusual to see more wild horses than people. I had to drive very carefully back to the campground to avoid hitting the mustangs that were standing on the road in the dark.
    Overarching
  • I've seen pictures taken from this arch above Bighorn Canyon, but I've never been able to locate it until now. And it's not too difficult to reach. Compositions are limited because of the way the arch is set against the cliff and you can't get very far back. Just as I started to leave, the sky unexpectedly took on a pink glow and I ran back to the arch to capture the color before it faded away.
    Bighorn Canyon Arch
  • I was just about to leave the Devil Canyon Overlook because I thought the sunset was over. But then the sky suddenly started glowing to the west, and I shot this panorama.
    Bighorn Canyon Glow
  • I spotted these Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds on a windy morning at Bighorn Canyon. The wave-shaped clouds are caused by atmospheric instability when winds are moving at varying speeds in different levels of the atmosphere. This was my first time capturing these rare clouds.
    Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves
  • Thanksgiving morning at Bighorn Canyon brought the best sunrise I've seen this year. Even an hour before the sun rose, the clouds in the east were already showing a deep pink color, and it only got better. The clouds were sculpted by strong winds and showed lots of texture. This view is from the Hillsboro Ranch trailhead at Barry's Landing.
    Hillsboro Sunrise
  • I waited on this precarious ledge for the sun to come out one more time over Bighorn Canyon before setting. The light only lasted a couple minutes. I'm not sure what caused the 2 different colors mixing together in the river.
    Below the Edge
  • I've been to the Devil Canyon Overlook many times, but this time I wanted to get a different perspective from higher up. This view shows how precarious the overlook is, it's not a good idea to go beyond the railing. It also shows why Bighorn Canyon is one of my favorite places: it's almost always empty.
    Above Devil Canyon
  • I was trying to capture meteors, but my camera caught a lot more satellites instead.
    3:38 Flare
  • I've been to Bighorn Canyon many times, but never the northern part near Fort Smith. So I took advantage of the warm weather and paid it a visit. This area is well known for it's exceptional fishing, but there are no hiking trails. That meant I had to find my own overlook. Starting near the Okabeh Marina, I headed up a ridge, squeezed in between scratchy sagebrush, and descended to the edge of a cliff. Wind whipped across the water far below while the scattered clouds began to glow after sunset. Bighorn Lake stretches 71 miles from Montana into Wyoming and was created in 1968 after the completion of the Yellowtail Dam. As beautiful as it is now, I can't help wondering what the canyon looked like before it was flooded.
    Cliff's Edge View
  • I've been to Bighorn Canyon many times, but never the northern part near Fort Smith. So I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and paid it a visit. This area is well known for it's exceptional fishing, but there are no hiking trails. That meant I had to find my own overlook. Starting near the Okabeh Marina, I headed up a ridge, squeezed in between scratchy sagebrush, and descended to the edge of a cliff. Wind whipped across the water far below while the scattered clouds began to glow after sunset. I needed to shoot a panorama to capture it all. This was one of the most complicated panoramas I've stitched together, since it's HDR and consists of 28 images. Bighorn Lake stretches 71 miles from Montana into Wyoming and was created in 1968 after the completion of the Yellowtail Dam. As beautiful as it is now, I can't help wondering what the canyon looked like before it was flooded.
    Bighorn Canyon Sunset HDR Panorama
  • There are no trails in this part of Bighorn Canyon, so I had to find my own overlook.
    Little Pine and Sagebrush
  • At the end of June I returned to one of my favorite places: Bighorn Canyon. Located on the Wyoming-Montana border, this vast canyon ranges from 1,000 - 2,500 feet deep. The remote location and dry desert air makes it a great place for stargazing. But capturing a canyon on a dark night can be a challenge. In pictures they only appear as a dark void, since very little light makes it's way down between the steep walls. But on this night I had the assistance of the crescent moon just out of frame to the right. The moonlight was bright enough to light up the cliffs, but not bright enough to drown out the Milky Way. This natural arch is set back against a steep hillside, which meant there was really only one spot to place my camera. After a hot day, I heard several rockslides echo from down below. And while walking back to my car, I met a baby rattlesnake who was not too happy I was there.
    Window to the Universe