Big Basin

While in Dodge City Saturday for my daughter's swim meet, I took the chance to go to Big Basin Praire Preserve, roughly 40 miles south of Dodge City. Big Basin is a large circular depression, about one mile in diameter and about 100 feet deep with nearly vertical walls. The basin, along with nearby Little Basin, were probably formed by dissolving salt far below the surface which then collapsed. I took this at about 1540, on a hot but relatively still afternoon. The clouds moved out a couple hours later. 30D, ISO 200, f/11/ 1/250, circ polarizer. C&C always welcome and appreciated.

Nice clouds! Wish there were an old shack or something to be a more definite subject, but an interesting location for sure.

Beautiful sky Rob and an interesting story about the location, thanks for sharing it with us. A strong fg element would have taken this to the next level, but still very nice as is.

Pretty nice summer scene, Rob, and interesting geology. From past experience, I know that swim meets are not the most exciting sporting events. You spend all day waiting for one or two events, and that's it. Glad you got out to take a few photographs!

Big Sky! To me, the clouds of summer are the best of any season. You've captured some nice ones Rob. I, too, appreciate the information about Big Basin. And your photo is a good illustration. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Rob, what time were you there? looks like afternoon from the great clouds. I was there from before sunrise til about 11 AM. Maybe we'll actually meet up one of these times. I'll post something in another thread.

Did you get a chance to explore the place very much? My favorite place is around on the north side of the rim.

Thanks everybody for the comments. There is no real foreground object in the basin. I just posted a new pic with the only large object in the basin. Yep, William, the mornings can get long, although since she swims 7 events in 2.5 hours, it isn't too bad. She did well enough this week to earn Swimmer of the Week for her squad :).

Ken, I got there about 3:30pm, so I didn't you by that much. I didn't get very far off the roads, it was too hot IMO to explore much. I want to go back on a cooler day and do more exploring. I didn't see any of the buffalo; I suspect they were holed up in a cool valley somewhere.

Rob, this is a nice shot and I love the sky & clouds! I was in Dodge City in late Sept. last year and I did stop briefly at this basin. Of course, the wind was roaring about 45 mph so I couldn't get any good shots of the buffalo, which weren't too far off the main road. I'd love to go back out there again sometime and explore more. Did you drive a ways in and walk down to that little pool? It was a steep little hill and the pool was pretty but I gave up trying to photograph it as it was hard to find a good composition, I thought. Hope you make it back out there soon.