In my travels around the country I am always looking for those little treasures that most nature photographers have missed.  I have listed four locations below.  Some are definitely more obscure than others.

I should state that any article of this type is subjective.  I love being out and discovering places and sometimes that may make me easy to please.

Spruce Lake Bog/Wisconsin

This is surely the least known among my picks.  This tiny bog is a circle board walk located just north of Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest.  This is a great location for frogs, toads and insects but the plant life here rules the day.  Wild orchids like the Pink Lady’s Slipper and Grass Pink are abundant.  The carnivorous Pitcher Plant is also found here.  Be careful as there is Poison Sumac here.  Yes I know that from experience.   A map, perhaps from the web is a good aid, as this location is hard to find.

Pink Ladyslipper Orchid

Squaw Creek NWR/Missouri

This wildlife refuge is likely the most visited of my picks.  It is located in northwest Missouri just north of Kansas City.  While it is not quite as well known as Mingo NWR in the direct opposite corner of the state there was no shortage of visitors while I was here.  My logic for including this spot is that so few serious photographers seem to know of its existence.  Squaw Creek is a great spot to make photos.  Clean beautiful waters and there is a lot of water here.  You can edge your car up close to all of the various water impoundments and make clean and beautiful reflective images.  To me this is an average NWR for total species of birds and mammals found but it is the best place I have visited for great photography.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Arapaho NWR/Colorado

I have visited this spot near Walden Colorado on six occasions.  On one visit there was another vehicle circling this fairly small refuge.  That’s it!  On my other visits Arapaho was left to me and the animals. White-tailed Prairie Dogs, White-tailed Jackrabbits, Pronghorn, Swainson’s Hawks, Eared Grebes, American Avocets and more were in abundance.  I narrowly missed some nice moose images and found a Golden Eagle in the morning darkness.  Only the much visited Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin has produced more images of more subjects for me than Arapaho. This place is much quieter and a better nature experience.  Of course timing is everything, but I love Arapaho NWR.

Male Pronghorn

White-tailed Prairie Dog

Valley of The Gods State Park/Utah

My pal Ron and I drove into this park in the darkness one May morning and spent about five hours in this wilderness park and never saw another human until we drove out.  Beautiful red rock formations and large desert expanses rule.  Desert Paintbrush and other flowers make for some great foregrounds to your landscape photos.  This place is peaceful and you feel like you are in heaven. I am sure that the Valley has had its share of nature photographers but it was serene and void of others during my visit. 

Sometimes state parks are great alternatives to our heavily visited national parks.  Utah’s Deadhorse Point State Park is a great alternative to Canyonlands N.P. although Canyonlands is a park that you can find quiet spots.  Custer State Park in South Dakota provides many of the same mammals for the photographer as the often over crowded Yellowstone N.P.

Just some thoughts for those of you who like me tend to shun crowds.

I would love to hear about some of your special lesser known places.

Wayne