Rock Formations | a 7 Image Story A simple concept, a simple word like “rocks” easily grows into complex shapes and colors for images. We flat land photogs travel far and wide to capture the essence of rock formations. The seven presented here come from my western travels where the rock formations get a bit more interesting than rocks on the flat plains of the Midwest. This post contains images from Yellowstone, the Badlands, Hyalite Canyon, and a Montana ranch.
Located on the Mammoth Hot Springs upper terraces, Orange Mound Spring is cooler than most springs in Yellowstone, which allow the orange-tinted cyanobacteria to live on the travertine, the rock it’s made of. The spring is very old with a very slow water flow rate. The water flows from several vents on its top and side. The flow starts and stops quite often. Some days it does not flow at all.
A Yellowstone road, carved out of the rocky cliff, provides a smooth contrast between nature and humanity.
Spring in Badlands NP feels like another planet for a Midwesterner. Between the mid May and mid June the normally brown and tan landscape of the Badlands turns green and the wild flowers bloom. My favorite time for Badlands Spring remains the 2nd week of June. Also, it’s a great time see wildlife babies. The Badlands’ rock formations are distinguished by their vibrant red, tan, and white stripes. Each stripe represents a different layer of sediment brought there by rivers and seas, millions of years ago. Over time, the mud and grit hardened into layered sedimentary rock. After sedimentary rock formed, the White, Bad, and Cheyenne rivers carved the flat floodplain resulting in sloping hills, jagged cliff faces, and precarious spires.
The Ranch is a 5,900 acre ranch converted into a residential ranch community. Located in the Horseshoe Hills of southern Montana, it has stunning views and ranch style living. A short walk up to Castle Rock always yields a few good images. Hyalite Canyon lies a few miles south of Bozeman Montana. Frozen Palisade Falls in the winter is a sight to behold. Reaching the falls from the parking lot is a short, rather easy, but slippery hike in winter. Getting to the parking lot may be much harder. Hyalite Canyon road gets impassable with heavy snow in the winter months.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Rock Formations.
Click any image below for a slide show!
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