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I was 75% talked out of chasing this day as I woke up around 8. I liked it, but wasn't sure I liked it enough to drive to Rapid City. Steve Peterson e-mails me back and is already on the road. I went back and forth with it and thought what the heck, may as well go, and if it sucks there are things to see out there anyway. So off I went. My hope of something firing in the upslope, off the Black Hills, went to hell as some newly formed cu remained very flat. The only area that looked to have storms was well into WY. Visiting and photographing the area interests was eating away at me. I soon opted to head to Devil's Tower, something I've never seen, and shoot it, with some hope of a stormy sky as the central WY storms moved east. The above image was taken before the entrance, using my canon 100-400 L(boy have I needed some uses for that thing since buying it this spring). I was thinking this Devil's Tower thing would be a let down, as some images online had made it seem pretty small. I wasn't let down at all. The lighting at this point was horrible. It would improve as the afternoon went on(clouds block out some of the harsh sunlight).
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Same location, taken at the 400mm end of the lens. The tiny objects on top are that of two people. I never noticed them while taking the shot. Looking at the full sized version, I kept thinking it had to be a monument thingy they put up there, as they just look strange. I've found no such thing online though, so it must be real people. (Yes I know people climb this, though they aren't "supposed to" in June)
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I guess nothing screams "climb me" when I look at that, lol. All I seem to get from it is, "fall from me and die."
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Well, I drive into the park, paying the $10 to do so. I get up there and there must have only been 4 or 5 parking spaces left, in the rather large parking lot. At this same time, a storm west of here was now severe warned, and headed this way. I thought, sweet! I get out of the car, leaving the laptop and power inverter run. I have about an hour to do this, since beyond that the inverter will start to beep at me, from the lack of amperage it's recieving. I needed to be back to the car and on the road by then anyway, with the storm coming. But, the whole time it was bugging the hell out of me. My walk up to the thing, and my photography, was very hurried. I tried to climb the boulders to the edge of the tower, but found it harder than it looked. They were quite large and having sandals on, just wasn't helping.
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That is an upper edge of the thing. I guess that's where all these boulders came from, falling off its side. It's a bit spooky, seeing the size of the ones on the ground and knowing how far they fell, straight down.
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Not sure what they were cirlcing up there, but several of these Turkey Vultures could be seen.
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Here is the first sign I should be walking back down now. The leading edge, of whatever was severe, is now here, or just about anyway. On the way down, I tried to inform some of the people walking up, that there was a tornado watch out and a severe storm headed for the tower. Some were very grateful for this information, while others were like, who are you and why do we care. Some just gave me a strange look, but most were thankful. I guess if I was taking kids up there, I'd probably turn around hearing a severe storm was headed that way, in a tornado watch. One guy was even carrying a baby, but didn't seem to care. This one kid was hilarious. He wasn't all that old. I could hear him the whole way down(as I was hurrying down anyway, paranoid about my car battery). He kept saying, "There's a tornaaaydo coming." Over and over he was going on about the tornado. I was like, ooops, since there were people every direction you looked. Oh yeah, then I miss the stupid turn, to go back down to the parking lot. I kept walking, thinking, I know I've walked far enough now. I had walked about a block too far and was heading back around the other side.
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I stopped at the bottom, as some mammatus tried to spread northeast, above the tower.
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My hope for some sort of stormy sky, with the tower, was actually happening. I was already moderately satisfied. It is pretty nuts how things would work out, from this point on. If there is one thing I've learned chasing, it is the sky behind the storms is often FAR more rewarding than the one ahead of them. It just seems to dissapoint less often, if you are there to watch it as the sun goes down. But anyway, more on this as I continue here.
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Here is what I was thinking, right before this above shot, and before I saw this. I was thinking, may as well hang out at the tower till dark and hope some storm comes through, behind some of this weak eastern stuff. I was hoping for lightning after dark, still at this point. I wanted it with the tower, as that would just be...special. Lightning is cool and all, but often the landscape/scene is half the shot. If I couldn't get that, I'd get some long shutter cloud blur shots, once it was dark. Then I see the above. The dying, previously severe storm, was now firing back up. I had seen nothing that looked anywhere near as hopeful as this did now. But what to do? Do I chase the unsure storm and what it would become, or not become? Do I stay here for later night photograhpy, since the tower isn't going anywhere, and I'm all the way out here. At this point, it was an easy choice. Chase the storm for a while and I could always drive back.
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There was one problem. I had my orientation messed up a bit. I drove out of the park and noticed the base of the storm was already due south of me. I chased it anyway, knowing I'd have to be in the core for a while. As I drove, it continued to get better, with a curling green updraft, viewed from the nw side. A horrible shot above, I know. These aren't the greatest roads to be driving and taking stills on. Just as soon as I commited to this choice(for now anyway) I got pulled by another scene. Head on over to page 2 to see this chase continued, by clicking here. |
