Brighten your day — warm summer sunsets are on the way

Mid-summer sunset catches the River Bend Overlook above the Little Missouri River at the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Sunday Snapshot — Summer Sunsets Ahead!

One of my favorite images because that’s my son who took a weekend to hike with me from Magpie to the Ice Caves.

Now that daylight savings time has started — even though the weather is still very wintry — it won’t be long until we can once again bask in the warmth of a summer sunset.

I’m hankering for those days, especially as I browse through images such as these.

Be encouraged!

You made it this far, you can make it the rest of the way to summer!

Browse through these images to see your reward for making it through another winter.

One of the best places in the west to bask in summer and enjoy the sunsets is the Magpie Campground between Grassy Butte and Belfield, about 17 miles west of Highway 85.

Looking north over Magpie Creek near the Maah Daah Hey Trail.

Near the Riverbend Overlook and the Achenbach Trail.

If you can tear yourself away from the sunset for a moment, look to the east to see the Belt of Venus. We did just that while camping at Elkhorn Ranch, northwest of Medora.

Look to the east at sunset to see the magenta display of the Belt of Venus.

Also at Elkhorn ranch, a different visit, we stood where Theodore Roosevelt’s Ranch once stood and watched the light display erupt from behind the hills.

Not something you see every day, sharp distinct rays from behind the hills at Elkhorn Ranch, reaching across the blue sky

Sunrise

We’re actually treated to two light shows in a day — if you get up in time.

We did.

Spring was warming up a year ago when we took the back road of Highway 16 to Marmarth from Beach. The sun rose behind Sentinel Butte.

Sunrise behind Sentinel Butte

Autumn Sunsets

Autumn also is waiting for us, and the sunsets in the crisp cool days of autumn produce warm vistas such as this one at the Snowden Lift Bridge, just inside Montana, not far from Cartwright, Williston and Watford City.

Snowden bridge and an autumn sunset.

Late in the summer and at the beginning of autumn, the starts of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park get busy. It’s a social time for them as they mate up and organize themselves for herd dominance.

Bison wallow in the dust on a late summer evening.

It’s a promise.

There will be warmer weather — and no globe-covering floods. That promise shows up after a summer storm at sunset and the rainbow loops across the eastern sky.

Rainbow over Magpie Creek.

Where in the Badlands of North Dakota do you like to watch the sun set? Got photos?

We’d like to see your Badlands sunset photos. Share them with us on our Facebook page. We may use them to show others the beauty of the Badlands. While you over there on our Facebook page, go ahead and “like” us. There’s a lot more happening on our Facebook page than elsewhere in the Badlands!

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Beauty from the Heart of the Badlands. A photo exhibition from the heart. Don’t drive by. Get into the Beauty of the North Dakota Badlands.

Mike Kopp

Love to tell stories -- romantic, nostalgic stories of our explorations in the Northern Plains. 15 years a television reporter/anchor, 12 years radio news director, 3 years newspaper editor, 6 years documentary producer -- a lifetime of communication.