We visited Badlands National Park in South Dakota this past summer and it was a great trip with many . I had read about the early morning light and how it played well on the walls of the canyons of the park. We had several days of storms and rain clouds but one morning I woke up very early and snuck out of our hotel room (to avoid waking my wife) and drove out to the Door Trail. This was one of the locations that was said to be good for catching the sunrise
I got to the spot and parked my car, walked the boardwalk out through “the wall” (of rocks) and down steps and out into the rocky terrain. I captured a few photos of the sun rising in the East and then turned around to see my shadow against the colored earth. That’s when I captured this photo.
We visited this same spot later in the day and the colors were not as vivid – glad I was able to not only see this warm display of nature’s new day but also get a photo to remember the moment.