Deserts and Badlands

The deserts and badlands of the American West possess some of the most unusual and mind-blowing landscapes on the planet, and this gallery contains images from Utah, Arizona, California, and Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Fullscreen Slideshow
Cholla cacti glow with the light of the setting sun while the sky explodes into a symphony of color in Arizona’s Kofa Mountains.
Creatures Of The Sun
While exploring Utah’s Paria Badlands, I was delighted to find this dramatic hoodoo tucked away within the colorful bentonite badlands.
Hammer Of The Gods
A squiggly bolt of lightning touches down at sunset in the colorful and tortured earth of South Dakota's Badlands National Park.
Lucky Strike
A wildfire at night burns in the Great Basin National Park. Notice the stars and moon in the background.
Luna & Lucifer
A beautiful yucca plant stands out against the bright sands of New Mexico's White Sands National Park.
Yucca Portrait
Morning light dramatically spotlights the colorful bentonite badlands of Southern Utah.
Good To Be Bad
The colors and textures of the badlands pictured here, I immediately thought that it resembled the skin of an elephant.
Psychedeliderm
Pretty yet prickly cholla cacti made for a perfect foreground to capture the sunrise on a beautiful winter morning in the Kofa Mountains.
All That Prickles Is Gold
The presence of various minerals in bentonite clay can lead to some incredibly colorful layers of badlands.
Mineral Madness
Abstract compositions, largely centered around the yucca plants that dot the sand dunes.
90 Minutes
Colorful stones washed down from bentonite badlands after a heavy rain became trapped in the cracked earth once it dried.
Fruity Pebbles
Beautiful badlands, a colorful sunset, solitude, and the thrill of exploring dusty trails in my Land Cruiser.
Land CRUUUZN
Cholla cacti soak up the morning sun below the rocky spires of the Kofa Mountains.
Kings & Queens
Two large Joshua trees stand out from the crowd below the mountains of the Mojave National Preserve.
Mojave Joshy
A hot air balloon with a cactus design on the balloon floats through the sky above a large cactus next to my campsite in the Sonoran Desert.
Imitation
Morning glow begins to find its way over the mountains and down to the cacti on the desert floor below in Arizona’s Kofa Mountains.
Rise & Shine
The setting sun illuminates a family of cholla cacti in Arizona's Kofa Mountains.
Pricklier By The Dozen
Rippled badlands in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park look more like a scene from a foreign planet than the Midwest.
Timeline
Layers of color and time are revealed in the bentonite badlands of Southern Utah.
Color and Time
The view out of the back hatch of my Land Cruiser from my campsite near the Paria Badlands in Southern Utah.
Lookin' Out My Back Hatch
Evening light delicately illuminates the boulders and badlands of Southern Utah.
Boulders And Badlands
A dramatic sunrise brings even more color to the already vivid bentonite badlands of Southern Utah.
Badlands Sunrise
Pretty yet prickly cholla cacti made for a perfect foreground to capture the sunrise on a beautiful winter morning in the Kofa Mountains.
Touching's Gonna Cost You
A dramatic sunrise brings even more color to the already vivid bentonite badlands of Southern Utah.
Morning Drama
Yucca plants stand out from the bright white sand dunes of New Mexico's White Sands National Park.
World Of White
The presence of various minerals in bentonite clay can lead to some incredibly colorful layers of badlands.
Color Canyon
Colorful bentonite badlands of Southern Utah, I was immediately drawn to this collection of red boulders trapped in the badlands.
Stuck
Dramatic lenticular clouds fill the sky above the Joshua trees and mountains of California's Mojave National Preserve.
Mojave Wave
Colorful badlands look like something not of this earth, but this is, in fact, just one of the countless otherworldly locales in Southern Utah.
Alien Lands
Beautiful badlands, a colorful sunset, and the thrill of exploring dusty trails a Land Cruiser on an evening in Utah.
Runaway High
The shadow cast by a yucca plant onto the gypsum sands of New Mexico's White Sands National Park made for an interesting abstract composition.
Projection
A beautiful contrast of color and light in Southern Utah’s Paria Badlands.
The Edge
Exploring the lonely backroads at the base of the colorful Paria Badlands in Southern Utah.
CRUUUZN In Candyland
Yucca plants in various life stages reside atop the ridge of a sand dune in New Mexico's White Sands National Park.
High-Key Yuccas
Wildflowers, cacti, cottonwoods and sandstone towers are visible during a sunset drive in Arches National Park.
A Lifetime of Discovery