Brandon Slater

Brandon Slater

01
Nov
Palisades State Park

Palisades State Park

Pink quartzite, a nearly empty campground, and a surprising little corner of eastern South Dakota
6 min read
28
Oct
Snake Creek Recreation Area

Snake Creek Recreation Area

Three quiet nights along what I thought was the Missouri River
4 min read
22
Oct
Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park

Three nights at Cedar Pass exploring the geology, fossils, prairie, and complicated history behind the Badlands
11 min read
17
Oct
Black Hills National Forest

Black Hills National Forest

A quiet camp near Sheridan Lake gave us five days inside a landscape of granite spires, cave country, old flume tunnels, and high-country trails
8 min read
11
Oct
Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Granite spires, narrow tunnels, bison, burros, and golden-hour prairie made this one easy to underestimate and hard to forget
7 min read
06
Oct
Stairs climbing through a rough limestone chamber inside Wind Cave National Park.

Wind Cave National Park

Boxwork, bison, and a breathing cave made this one of the more surprising national parks I’ve visited
7 min read
30
Sep
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

An extraordinary achievement carved into a landscape with a much older and complicated history
7 min read
30
Sep
Appalachian Trail thru-hikers celebrating around the Katahdin summit sign at the end of their northbound thru-hike.

Appalachian Trail | 100 Mile Wilderness & Mt. Katahdin

Approx. Mileage 2,080–2,198 | The Finish
12 min read
25
Sep
Eroded Pine Ridge buttes rising above a trail at Fort Robinson State Park in Nebraska.

Fort Robinson State Park

A quick stop turned into a deeper look at military history, Native conflict, and the strange buttes rising above Nebraska’s plains
6 min read
15
Sep
Appalachian Trail | Southern & Central Maine

Appalachian Trail | Southern & Central Maine

Approx. Mileage 1,910–2,079 | Maine State Line to Shaw's Hiker Hostel
8 min read