Photo of the Day 299

The Needles, Black Hills, South Dakota

Photograph by Bobby Model

Rock climbers descend the spire of Tricouni Nail in the Needles of South Dakota’s Black Hills. Popular with tourists and climbers, the Needles is full of eroded granite pillars, towers, and spires.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Secret Worlds of the Black Hills," October 2004, National Geographic Adventure magazine)