Landscapes

Gold Rush

The morning sun shone through the dense conifers, a warm respite on that freezing morning. The 50s when I had left home at dawn had dropped to freezing, an unnerving temperature drop. I continued climbing, hoping to find the promised larches.

I was hiking up the Blue Lakes trail in the eastern side of North Cascades. Having missed the opportunity last year to capture the golden larches, this year, I was determined not to. And that determination motivated me to do the 3 hour drive to the cold reaches of Cascadia the past weekend. And hike in search of larches.

And they were waiting. Golden larches glowing in that morning sun along the shores of the glistening alpine lake against the backdrop of the lightly-dusted Cascades and a window of blue skies. A photographer's Gold Rush

Okanogan National Forest

WA USA

Gazing into the Mist

I stood along the edge of a steep rocky trail, gazing at the mystic valley that had opened up in front of me. Low-hanging clouds hugged the cliffs, now decorated with the eye-popping yellows of fall. They moved slowly, an ever-changing vista of greys, greens and golds.

A window appeared in the fog, a grey void revealing an avalanche chute that cut through a steep rocky cliffs. A thin mist hovered above those cliffs, lending an ethereal aura to the cold damp day. And just as soon as it had opened up, it closed again, the fog taking back its domain

As I immersed myself in this ephemeral beauty in Olympic National Park, a voice trailed in the background: "As I stood along the edge of a steep rocky trail.....", a fellow hiker echoing my thoughts.

Olympic National Park

WA USA

Coastal Sunsets

It was a cold damp day along the coast. The sun had played hide-and-seek throughout the day, light beams raining on the seaside. But the weather had been so tumultuous on this rocky bit of the California shore that I had half expected another grey winter sunset. It was going to be a moody yet beautiful evening.

Light had all but gone, and I was ready to pack up and leave, but the clouds beckoned to me. It showed a tinge of color on its fringes, a bat-signal to landscape photographers. And as I waited, more of its friends joined in the fray, until the whole sky was a dance of light and color. The graceful pink above, and the stormy blues below, made for a delightful twilight.

Sea Ranch

CA USA

A Window through the Fog

I was socked in by the fog. I could see nothing but my own feet and the dirt brown trail disappearing into the snow. The freezing wind was picking up, and my fingers started to numb.

Barely a half-hour earlier, I was enjoying my lunch beside a glistening glacial tarn under warm sunny skies, enjoying grand vistas of Mt Rainier. I had looked up at the Panhandle, eerily calling out to me through the clouds, and decided it would be a worthwhile post-lunch trek. No sooner had I reached within a finger's grasp of the summit when the fog rolled in. The warming sunlight faded awa, replaced by an ghostly fog that blew up from the other side.

Through the fog, visions of the surround landscape, an alien terrain at the edge of a glacial moraine, appeared like windows of light in the darkness. I could sense that, under better conditions, this would have been one memorable vista, but today was not meant to be.

One such vision I had from atop the Panhandle was this peak peering through the thinning fog, and the trail winding its way through the light snow.

Mt Rainier National Park

WA USA

Sentinels in Blue

As the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the distant peaks in the western horizon, the winds died down and the temperature dropped. An eerie sense of calmness descended on the grassy ridge I was on. The multitudes of mountain ranges slowly started compressing into one as the valleys below descended into darkness. Soon the sky will too, save for starlight.

The hikers had long gone, leaving behind only the beautiful blue hour as company for the cold evening. But staying back to enjoy this scene, despite the prospect of hiking back to the campsite in dark, was definitely worth it.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

WA USA

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The Eve of Fall

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Fall is around the corner. And while some of the trees out here in the PNW have jumped the gun and started changing already, the majority of the foliage around the country will take its time turning over the old leaf through the months of October and November.

A couple of years ago, I got to experience the magic of the changing colors in the beautiful midwest of US in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Walking amidst the yellow forest of dogwoods, maples and oaks over trails softened by layers of fallen leaves was a memorable experience. And even in that short time I spent in the park, I got to experience the essence of this beautiful region. This is one of those quintessential scenes in the park - an wooden stairwell leading to the Brandywine falls amidst the dense foliage.

I am looking forward to another spectacular fall season. Are you?

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

OH USA

Once upon a Glacier

Once upon a time, a glacier used to run this this massive valley, descending from the mighty Vatnajökull whose eruption brought the transatlantic flights to a standstill. Though this glacier had paled in comparison to its parent, it still had been a voluminous mass of ice, stretching a few miles long and a mile wide. Alas, now this glacier has all but receded to its ice-cap, leaving behind a gorgeous glacier-scoured valley, a meltwater lake and tiny slivers of water that wind their way down to the ocean.

Standing atop this vista overlooking this valley, I can't help but imagine what this amazing sight would have been.

Sakftafell National Park

Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

It appeared as nothing more than a small road climbing up to a rolling uplands, a grass-covered green hilly terrain devoid of any trees, with a tiny creek meandering out from a small canyon. A quizzical look passed by my buddy's eye as I urged him to turn into that road that the road-sign helpfully indicated as Fjaðrárgljúfur, a name that would surely stump a spelling bee winner.

But as we got closer, the terrain became more dramatic. The creek still continued its slow course upstream, but on either sides, towering stone walls stood beside finger-like projections of earth. And as we climbed higher and higher, the geology became as twisted and gnarled as its confounding name. Finally, from its very end, I looked back at the twisted walls of the canyon, with green vegetation sticking to every possible slope, slowly mellowing away to the flatlands yonder; I kept wishing I had had time to explore this canyon from the river, a perspective that would have been rather unique. There's certainly more to this  place than meets the eye

Fjaðrárgljúfur
Iceland

A Sunset to Remember

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”
-- John Muir

Another day in the backcountry wilderness of Washington was about to end. I sat on a narrow trail etched into the steep rocky terrain, watching the light slowly fade. As the light beams slowly swirled over the forests below, I felt as far away from the trappings of human civilization as I could ever be.

The sun appeared, albeit for a brief moment, from behind the mass of low-hanging clouds: a blast of bright orange without a mushroom cloud. Plants lit up, trees glowed, and cameras flickered. And then it disappeared. But, in that brief moment of light, it felt as though the mountains were calling to the tired souls inside all of us.

It is time to answer that call, and to go out.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest
WA USA

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Winding down Summer

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As the smoky summer slowly fades to a refreshing fall, I looked back on some of my favorite wilderness outings in the warm halcyon days in the past few weeks. Sunny weekends flew by as the snow melted off mountain tops, converting ski routes into hiking trails, creating space for trees to grow and flowers to bloom; mountaintops became more accessible, making for photogenic treks and indelible memories

This was one such short trek after a volunteering event with WTA, where I climbed up to an stunning overlook near Mt Baker. From atop here, endless mountain ranges carpeted by green conifers and punctuated by deep river valleys stretched in all directions, with the glacier-capped Mt Baker standing proud amidst the northern reaches of the North Cascades

Mt Baker Recreational Area
WA USA