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The Cold Fire
The Cold Fire

The Cold Fire is what I discovered blocking the way to northern segments of Wind Cave National Park along SD87 (there is actually a "US" highway 87 sign at the US385 junction which must be an error) yesterday afternoon (4-3-2016). I had noticed the recent burn not long after driving south out of Pringle, much of which appeared to have crowned in the recent high winds, leaving many of the grasses untouched. The smoke plume was visible during much of my drive down US385, in fact. The reports I read last night mentioned 1300 acres had burned in this first 24 hours of the fire (the trooper mentioned 1600 acres) due to the rugged terrain and high winds.

This is an excellent example of what the frequently high winds combined with warmer temperatures (it was around 70 degrees yesterday while I hiked to Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon where there is still snow in the shady areas) can do with a cigarette butt tossed out a window or a campfire left unattended. Fire is a good thing since it clears a lot of duff and brush that accumulates but controlled burns are a far better way to go about such rejuvenation.

This South Dakota state trooper has the company of the antelope in the background and the prairie dog town in which I was standing at the intersection when he's not turning people around. I'll return to shoot the historical bridges along SD87 on another trip.

Here's a link that shows images from within both Wind Cave National Park and adjoining Custer State Park: wildfiretoday.com/2016/04/02/photos-of-the-cold-fire-in-t...

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Taken on: April 3, 2016
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with West Custer Township West Custer Township Everybody's photos tagged with Custer Custer Everybody's photos tagged with Hot Springs Hot Springs more » Everybody's photos tagged with Pringle Pringle Everybody's photos tagged with Custer County Custer County Everybody's photos tagged with South Dakota South Dakota Everybody's photos tagged with The Cold Fire The Cold Fire Everybody's photos tagged with wildfire wildfire Everybody's photos tagged with smoke plume smoke plume Everybody's photos tagged with distant distant Everybody's photos tagged with forest fire forest fire Everybody's photos tagged with Wind Cave National Park Wind Cave National Park Everybody's photos tagged with Custer State Park Custer State Park Everybody's photos tagged with LEO LEO Everybody's photos tagged with law enforcement officer law enforcement officer Everybody's photos tagged with state trooper state trooper Everybody's photos tagged with patrol car patrol car Everybody's photos tagged with SD 87 SD 87 Everybody's photos tagged with Black Hills Black Hills Everybody's photos tagged with antelope antelope « less
Sets appears in:   • Scenic/"other" Photography    • Wind Cave National Park & Custer County, South Dakota   
Groups appears in:   • South Dakota    • North & South Dakota Photography    more » • South Dakota Parks - National, State, County and City Parks    • Olympus E-510    • Wind Cave National Park    • Vehicles... Anything and Everything!    • Geotagged: South Dakota    « less
Camera: Olympus E-510, f/16.0, 1/100 sec, 22mm (=44mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Olympus E-510
Lens: 14.0-42.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture: f/16.0
Exposure Time: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length: 22mm (35mm equivalent: 44mm)
ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Saturation: Low
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)
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