Kevin Palmer

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  • I could tell there was a colorful sunset on the way so I drove outside of Sheridan to photograph it. There was nobody else around on this empty dirt road between ranches.
    Super Sunset
  • I wasn't expecting to be back at Devil's Tower so soon but this was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I spent the evening chasing a supercell past the tower to the Montana border where it dropped hail larger than golf balls. Then I headed back to the tower just in case any new storms popped up. When I got there, lightning was beginning to flash from a new thunderstorm to the west, just like I had hoped. When rain began to fall I went and stood under the back door of my car to shoot pictures. The lightning wasn't all that frequent and it was challenging to get the exposure right. In between flashes, the light level would go from pitch black to practically burning my retina. When the rain let up a little, I went and stood in the middle of the dirt road. That's when this bolt filled the sky, perfectly placed above the tower. It's certainly the best foreground I've ever had for a lightning picture and I may have cheered after it happened.
    Awestruck
  • I  thought this would be a great place to see a storm based on the name: Thunder Basin National Grassland. This dirt road was as far as I could go before watching the thunderstorm recede into the distance.
    Thunder Basin Thunder
  • A colorful rainbow glows above a dirt road near Hunt Mountain in the Bighorns.
    Hunt Mountain Rainbow
  • Rain was falling from the clouds, but it evaporated into the dry air before reaching the ground. This is known as virga. The views were dramatic from the McCullough Peaks Badlands, especially when the sun came out and contrasted with the dark clouds.In the distance the snow capped Bighorn Mountains can be seen.
    Vanishing Rain
  • I was driving through southeast Montana when I started seeing flashes to the west.I pulled in to Rosebud Battlefield State Park to try to get some lightning shots. Most of the lightning was intracloud but occasionally a bright bolt of lightning would jump out and strike the ground, making it a challenge to get the exposure right. This is a very remote part of the state, about 35 miles from the nearest town. It was at this location in 1876 that one of the largest battles of the Indian Wars took place. The Battle of Rosebud also played a role in the defeat of Colonel Custer one week later at Little Bighorn.
    100 Million Volts
  • The aurora borealis turns the sky purple and green over Frenchtown, Montana. Passing clouds were hiding part of the northern lights.
    Colorful Night
  • Tumbleweeds rolled across the road as I drove through the Nebraska panhandle with this stunning supercell behind me. I was looking for something, a barn, winding road, etc, to shoot in front of the storm. But mostly I wanted to capture a time lapse without power lines getting in the way. Finally I found what I was looking for: a lone tree on the edge of a barren field. I ran out to the tree and had 6 minutes to take pictures before the winds would blow over my tripod.
    Tree Vs Supercell
  • As I drove towards the Frenchman Valley campground, this herd of bison crossed the road in front of me.
    Saskatchewan Traffic Jam
  • It was a very dark night at Devil's Tower, in between lightning bolts. The lightning was difficult to expose for, since it was infrequent, and usually very bright. This was one of the dimmer bolts. I was standing underneath the back door of my car to stay out of the rain when I took this.
    Power at the Tower
  • After driving for over 5 hours I finally reached the edge of this powerful supercell just west of Faith, South Dakota. From a distance I could see wall clouds and funnels, but up close they disappeared. I was having trouble recognizing the storm structure until I noticed this horseshoe-shaped RFD cut. The back of the horseshoe shows where a potential tornado would form. There was a short-lived funnel, visible at the bottom center. At the time there was a mobile dopplar radar parked down the road scanning the skies.
    RFD and Funnel
  • The F570 road which heads up the east side of Snæfellsjökull volcano is quite steep and rough. I couldn't drive it with my rental car so I walked it instead.
    Road to Snæfellsjökull
  • After riding out this severe thunderstorm outside of Faith, South Dakota, the conditions came together for a spectacular sunset. I stopped on this two-track road in the middle of a prairie, trying not to get stuck in the mud. Gorgeous colors filled the sky in every direction, with occasional flashes of lightning.
    Unreal Sunset Colors
  • Everything was very green in mid-May in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains.
    Top of the Two Track
  • On my way back from Canada, I stopped at James Kipp Recreaton Area in northern Montana. The cottonwood trees around the Missouri River were at peak color.
    James Kipp Road
  • Crazy Woman Canyon is is located south of Buffalo in the Bighorn Mountains. A steep, narrow, and bumpy road ascends the canyon all the way up to Highway 16. It's a fun drive, with lots of scenic cliffs and rock formations, and plenty of dispersed campsites available.
    Narrow Passage
  • Bar-C Road in Barnum, Wyoming passes between massive ranches flanked by red cliffs.
    Bar-C Road
  • After riding out this severe thunderstorm outside of Faith, South Dakota, the conditions came together for a spectacular sunset. I stopped on this two-track road in the middle of a prairie, trying not to get stuck in the mud. Gorgeous colors filled the sky in every direction, with occasional flashes of lightning.
    Tumultuous Sky
  • A bolt of lightning jumps out of the gust front of a severe thunderstorm in South Dakota. This was one of my final shots before taking shelter in my car to escape the close lightning and 1.5" hail.
    Out of the Gust Front
  • After driving for over 5 hours I finally reached the edge of this powerful supercell just west of Faith, South Dakota. The shelf cloud looked amazing, backlit by the sunset and spitting out lots of lightning bolts. Once the storm hit it brought 1.5" hail which left some dents in my car.
    Faith Supercell
  • After riding out this severe thunderstorm outside of Faith, South Dakota, the conditions came together for a spectacular sunset. I stopped on this two-track road in the middle of a prairie, trying not to get stuck in the mud. Gorgeous colors filled the sky in every direction, with occasional flashes of lightning.
    Two Track Heaven
  • At 8:25pm, the 1st of 4 tornadoes that I saw that evening emerged from the rain shaft. This was the strongest tornado of the day, with the NWS rating it an EF-3. But it roped out about 3 minutes later.
    Tornado Road
  • Diamond Butte Fire Lookout Tower overlooks the Custer National Forest and grassland in southeast Montana. It's the only fire lookout in the eastern part of the state that's publicly accessible and available for overnight rental.
    Diamond Butte Road Cloudy
  • This was my second time staying the night at the Diamond Butte fire lookout tower. Last month I was locked out and had to sleep on the deck, but I was glad to be able to sleep inside this time since a storm was moving in. There was no running water or electricity, but it had a propane heater, stove, and lights.
    Light in the Dark
  • In late September a high speed solar wind stream reached earth, causing a G1 geomagnetic storm. The aurora borealis became visible in the northern part of the United States. Around here the weather was completely clear and there was no moon making conditions perfect for viewing the northern lights. I went to the grasslands outside of Lodge Grass, Montana, where there was very little light pollution. The aurora was at it's best shortly before midnight. While the pillars danced from right to left, nearby cows mooed and coyotes howled. Quite a few meteors and satellites lit up the sky as well. The geomagnetic storm is ongoing and the aurora may be visible again tonight.
    Lodge Grass Aurora
  • Tumbleweeds rolled across the road as I drove through the Nebraska panhandle with this stunning supercell behind me. I was looking for something, a barn, winding road, etc, to shoot in front of the storm. But mostly I wanted to capture a time lapse without power lines getting in the way. Finally I found what I was looking for: a lone tree on the edge of a barren field. I ran out to the tree and had 6 minutes to take pictures before the winds would blow over my tripod.
    Almost Here
  • Diamond Butte Fire Lookout Tower overlooks the Custer National Forest and grassland in southeast Montana. It's the only fire lookout in the eastern part of the state that's publicly accessible and available for overnight rental.
    Diamond Butte Road Sunny
  • Clouds blocked much of the milky way over Devil's Tower on this chilly April night. This view is from Joyner Ridge Road.
    Joyner Ridge Road
  • A severe thunderstorm quickly approaches over a farm field. The red color underneath is from dust kicked up by the 60+ mph winds. The storm also brought large hail, heavy rain, and lots of lightning.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: May 19, 2013
    Approach of a Monster
  • In the early spring I hiked to Little Goose Canyon, a place I've never been before. The road was very muddy.
    Little Goose Canyon Road
  • I wondered around the bottom of Devil's Kitchen for awhile before the light faded. This fractal pattern in the dirt caught my eye.
    Fractals In the Dirt
  • This picturesque church sits at the edge of Esterbrook, Wyoming. The tiny community with a population of 52 is only reachable by dirt road. Towering in the background is Laramie Peak, scarred by a wildfire from 5 years ago. The 10,276' high peak was a well known landmark on the Oregon Trail. It could be seen from up to 100 miles away, which was about 1 week's travel. From the summit on a clear day you can see all the way into South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. The far-reaching views made it the perfect place to watch the solar eclipse when I returned 2 months later.
    Church of Esterbrook
  • After a rough 35 mile drive on rocky dirt roads, I reached the Dry Fork Overlook at the top of the Pryor Mountains just before sunset. There was a large thunderstorm to the south in Wyoming, which lit up with color.
    Pryor Experience
  • The temperature topped 100°F as I drove down a dirt road called the Calypso Trail. The terrain of eastern Montana may appear boring at first. But the Terry Badlands area is filled with all kinds of geological wonders including toadstools, pillars, caves, and these natural bridges. I couldn't find much information on this place and getting here wasn't easy. Washouts, sand, and sinkholes make the road in very rough. Any rain will turn it to mud and make it impassable. Once at the end it's only a couple mile hike through fields of biting flies. I didn't even know there would be 3 natural bridges until I arrived. It was tricky to get all of them in one picture until I went underneath. Just past the bridges was a strange tunnel carved by water, with the roof collapsed in places. Some of the only shade in the area is found by standing underneath the bridges which are up to 50 feet long. This is a dry, desolate place, but still it has a certain beauty to it.
    All 3 Natural Bridges
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    Chasing the Mare
  • South of Billings, Montana, rising up out of the Bighorn Basin, is the Pryor Mountains. These mountains are home to a herd of mustangs. Some of these wild horses hang out in the lower elevations near Bighorn Canyon, but the majority are found near the mountaintop at 8,000 feet where the grass is greener. Getting here requires traveling a long, rough, and steep dirt road. On my prior Pryor visit, I didn't get all the shots I wanted and was only able to capture the horses in the middle of the day. But this time I made sure to be in the right place at sunset. The views were amazing into the valley below, and the light was magical. The horses numbered at least 60, but I lost count as they moved around. In the last minutes before the sun set, many of them trotted past me. Shooting into the sun created a dreamy look, but I had to be careful not to blind myself.
    Walking Into the Light
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    4 Week Old Foal
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    2017 Mustang
  • Nearly 2 miles high in the Cloud Peak Wilderness is a place called Highland Park. Ever since someone told me about it last fall I've been wanting to visit. But it is not easy to reach. The trailhead starts at the end of a long and rough dirt road. After hiking 7 miles, deep snow drifts covered the last mile of trail. With lots of post-holing, my shoes were soon soaked through. But it was worth the effort to get here. The highest peaks of the Bighorn Mountains towered to to the south providing an incredible panoramic view. From left to right is Penrose Peak, Sawtooth Ridge, Mount Woolsey, and Blacktooth Mountain. With over 50 elk grazing in the meadow below I opted to setup camp a little higher instead. Other than the sound of a distant waterfall and the occasional elk call, it was perfectly silent. This was the view of the alpenglow at sunrise the next morning.
    Highland Park Sunrise
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    Renegade
  • In the rolling hills and badlands in between Cody and Greybull, Wyoming, there is not much around. But there is a herd of about 100 wild mustangs living on BLM land. The first time I looked for them, they were nowhere to be found. But the second time I looked, I spotted the horses grazing on a distant ridge. After crossing a creek and following a two-track dirt road into the hills, I was able to get closer. While observing the herd, these two stallions emerged with determined looks on their faces and manes blowing around in the strong winds. They stopped not far in front of me, reared up on their hind legs, and sparred with each other. They only did this once, enough for me to get 1 picture, before walking away again.
    Fighting Stallions
  • To the local rancher it might just be a random spot on the dirt road they drive everyday. But to me it was a place I had scouted out in advance after studying topo maps, to find the best north-facing view of the Crazy Mountains. Located in Central Montana, the Crazies are always an eye-catching sight. As the highest and most prominent of the state’s many island mountain ranges, it’s jagged peaks rise straight up out of the prairie and pierce the sky. The Crazies are sacred to the local Crow Tribe, and considered ominous and unpredictable. Somewhere up there is an old tripod of mine that mysteriously vanished one night. After a fiery sunset, the clouds cleared and Comet NEOWISE soon appeared. Before it rapidly faded, mid-July was the best time to view the comet. With no interference from moonlight, the enormous dual tails of NEOWISE were visible in all their glory. The blue ion tail consists of gases ionized by UV light and influenced by the magnetic field of the solar wind to point in a straight line. The white dust tail on the other hand, consists of neutral dust particles that are more widely dispersed.
    Crazy Comet
  • South of Billings, Montana, rising up out of the Bighorn Basin, is the Pryor Mountains. These mountains are home to a herd of mustangs. Some of these wild horses hang out in the lower elevations near Bighorn Canyon, but the majority are found near the mountaintop at 8,000 feet where the grass is greener. Getting here requires traveling a long, rough, and steep dirt road. On my prior Pryor visit, I didn't get all the shots I wanted and was only able to capture the horses in the middle of the day. But this time I made sure to be in the right place at sunset. The views were amazing into the valley below, and the light was magical. The horses numbered at least 60, but I lost count as they moved around. In the last minutes before the sun set, many of them trotted past me. Shooting into the sun created a dreamy look, but I had to be careful not to blind myself.
    Golden Day
  • A bright Perseid meteor burns up in the earth's atmosphere while the milky way stands on end in the west. After finding the nearby campground full, I drove a dirt road up to 10,000 feet until I found a spot flat enough to camp. With no trees up here, there was a great view of the sky and the lights below are from the town of Greybull. Over the 2 nights of the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August I captured nearly 1,000 images with about 10% of them containing meteors. This one was the brightest and the longest, spanning over 15 degrees of sky. I nearly missed it because it was the very first frame of my time lapse. Perseid meteors are made up of small pieces of comet debris that cross the Earth's orbit every year. It is the extreme speed at which it enters the atmosphere (over 100,000 mph) that causes the debris to vaporize and glow. The color of the trail reveals the chemical composition. The green is nickel or magnesium, and the red is ionized oxygen or nitrogen in the upper atmosphere.
    The Longest Streak
  • It’s a beautiful time of year around here. Every day the hills get a little greener and the snowline in the mountains climbs a little higher. Last week I hiked to the top of this hill near Dayton to watch the sunset. From here the northern end of the Bighorn Mountains can be seen stretching into Montana. Just as the sky was at it’s most colorful I started hearing the sound of hooves pounding the dirt in the distance. The sound got closer until one cow after another came running down the hillside on the other side of the fence. This continued for several minutes as I soon lost count. At the end was a cowboy on an ATV with his dog chasing the last few members of the herd. It was loud, dusty, and smelly, but fun to watch. I had no idea a cattle drive was going to happen, but don’t think I could have planned it better if I tried. It was probably the Wyomingest sunset I’ve ever seen.
    Cattle Drive Sunset
  • After driving for 12 hours I arrived in eastern Washington. Smoke from a nearby fire was limiting visibility over the surrounding farmland. But I knew it would lead to a very red sunset, I just had to find somewhere to shoot it. I started looking for an old barn, but instead came across this church. I liked the way it was situated between the golden wheat fields. My legs were shredded a bit as I tried to find the right spot to frame the sun. A farmer was harvesting the field as I took this, one day later and there would only be dirt instead of wheat.
    Sun And Steeple
  • Hawksbill Crag is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Arkansas. After driving a rough dirt road up Cave Mountain, the trailhead sits at the edge of the Upper Buffalo Wilderness. The trail passes several creekbeds and waterfalls, but they were all dry this time of year. This rocky overhang which is also known as Whitaker Point, is bigger than it looks. Sunrise is a great time to watch the valley fill with golden sunlight. But I only had minutes to take pictures on this morning since the sun soon went behind a cloud deck and the light went flat.
    Hawksbill Crag