Wind Cave was quite unlike any other caves or caverns I had explored. While most carried the typical speleothems (stalactites, stalagmites, columns and drapes), Wind Cave, set in the heart of Black Hills region, features boxwork formations formed from the strong winds that channel through the caverns of this park. There are no dripping stalactites or massive caverns, but tiny needle like structures and flowering growths of calcite that dominate one of the longest caverns of the park.
It is not a park on the main tourist map for Black Hills, and were I not searching for National Parks to visit on my cross-country trip, I would not have even considered it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the rare formations I saw during my day trip to the 30th National Park
Wind Cave National Park
SD USA
A National Parks Journey - Rocky Mountain National Park
It was late May, and yet I felt like I was visiting the my 27th National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, at the wrong time of the year: many of the trails that climbed to the backcountry lakes were still icy, and Trail Ridge Road was just beginning to be opened. And yet, crowds thronged the trails and roadways of this National Park, as well as the nearby town of Estes Park. I came to the park expecting a few moments of peace and solitude in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and my early spring visit was anything but.
But then I waited until the sun went down, and I wandered down a remote trail far away from the main attractions. And it wasn't until then did the park quieten down enough for me to hear the gurgling brook, the rustling leaves and the soaring winds. Being so close to major urban centers and with such a short visiting season, this gem of the park system attracts dense crowds in the summer months, and can make it challenging to escape into the wilderness, but if you search for the right place, you can find your moment of zen too
Rocky Mountain National Park
CO USA
A National Parks Journey - White Sands National Park
On my feed, I have often waxed poetry about White Sands, which I had first visited when it was still a National Monument. Sheer white sand dunes of the type found in White Sands National Park take on otherworldly hues at the magic hours of sunrise and sunset. And since the park is open only from an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset, the only way to experience the magic hour is to camp between the dunes. Doing so requires contending with freezing temperatures and billowing winds, desert bugs and wildlife, and lack of any water. But the reward is the ability to shoot at the golden hours.
After grabbing dinner, it is time to take up the camera and shoot the dunes before night sets in. And while the evening light brings on yellow, and later pink hues on the sand, I prefer shooting the dunes before sunrise when the dunes take on a blue tone reflecting the deep blue desert sky of New Mexico. It also helps that the winds blowing through the night ensure that the fresh ripples in the sand constitutes a new canvas ready for another day of painting by the light.
Even though I have been there twice, this place has enraptured my heart so much that I would never refuse another night of camping in the dunes.
White Sands National Park
NM USA
A National Parks Journey - North Cascades National Park
Almost every National Park that I had visited so far had a central attraction or theme that made it famous: Death Valley for the vast desertscape and sand dunes, Rainier for its peak, and Shenandoah for the views of the Appalachians. I couldn't put my finger on what specific attraction North Cascades had in store. At least not until I climbed to the lip of the Sahale Glacier, and surveyed the panoramic vista of snow-capped peaks of the Cascades all around. That view planted in me the seeds that would eventually lead me to settle down in the Pacific Northwest.
I returned to the park multiple times after moving to the Pacific Northwest, each time exploring a different part of the vast network of mountains and valleys along State Route 20 and the Mount Baker Highway. The short summer hiking season really leaves very little time to appreciate the place, but I hope I never get tired of hiking to the nooks and crannies of the wonderland.
North Cascades National Park
WA USA
A National Park Journey - Denali National Park
I saw that etched on a keychain in a souvenir shop outside Denali National Park. When I asked the store owner about the significance of that ratio, I was told that 70% of the tourists who visit the park do not get to see the famed peak. Whether it was true or not, the ratio kept repeating in my head as I sat on the park bus trundling closer and closer to the peak, and it left me wondering whether I would get to see it. The incessant clouds and moody grey skies on that day certainly didn't help. The sky never let up that entire day, and even though I could catch partial glimpses of the snow-covered slopes, it was never visible in its entirety. I went to sleep with a heavy heart, hoping the weather would improve tomorrow.
I still don't remember why I woke up that early, after just 4hours of sleep, but I did, and when I stepped out of the tent into the freezing cold, Denali was there in its entirety. The deep pink light of the rising sun shone on a vast swatch of the glaciated slopes, with the broad summit barely visible. I considered myself lucky to see the peak bathed in such heavenly light.
I would continue to see the summit for the rest of the day, but I do hope to return back and explore more of the amazing backcountry of this park.
Denali National Park
AK USA
A National Park Journey - Kenai Fjords National Park (Copy)
It wasn't until my 19th National Park that I got to see a glacier. While I had visited other parks that featured glaciers, it wasn't until I visited and hiked up to the Harding icefield did I get to grasp the enormity of a glacier, and the impact such a large moving river of ice could do to a landscape. I got to see crevasses, seracs and see through to the blue ice in between the various folds of the glacier. I would go on to see many more glaciers in Alaska, but the memories of trudging through a steep muddy slope up the rocky sides of the Exit Glacier was my strongest one of the park.
The park certainly has more to offer for all adventure levels, from cruises in the fjords of the Kenai peninsula to epic hikes towards vast icefields. I hope to return back and explore the remote backcountry of this park.
Kenai Fjords National Park
AK USA
A National Park Journey - Zion National Park
Back in 2009, word had spread amongst the hiking community I was part of of the famous Zion Narrows trail, a 16mile hike that follows the channel of the North Fork of the Virgin river as it descends through the layers of red-colored sandstone. This challenging hike wasn't for the faint of heart, as it traverses across multiple waterfalls and cascades, and requires swimming across several deep channels of water. And this experience was precisely what I sought out for my first visit to this tiny gem of a National Park.
But my first hike in this park wasn't the Zion Narrows, but an equally adventurous trail called Angel's landing, memorable for the final half mile section that required scrambling up a narrow fin of sandstone up 800 feet with plenty of exposure to the actual landing. Having never done anything like this before, it felt like I was learning to use my arms and legs for the first time. But the bird's eye views from the top of the landing were worth the effort involved in getting there.
This is my take of the summit vista, a place where one could enjoy a moment of solace before the mobs of social-media driven crowds thronged this dangerous hike for the 'gram'.
Zion National Park
UT USA
A National Park Journey - Glacier National Park
My visit to my most favorite park of the National Park system (so far) started as an off the cuff conversation at a friends barbecue. Pretty soon, I found a trio of folks with whom to head to my 15th park on perhaps its most crowded day of the year. But because it was the early 2009, long before social media had drawn thousands of people to the great outdoors, the vast park never felt crowded.
I remember being awed by the breathtaking mountainscape around me as we drove along perhaps one of the most spectacular park roads in the nation. From above the low treeline rose towering snow-capped peaks that dropped down to graceful glacier-carved canyons draped in a lush green meadow filled with summer wildflowers. Every inch and every minute of hiking in this alpine terrain made me feel like I was in the Swiss Alps. And even though glaciers were few are far inbetween, the mark it has left on the landscape will forever enthrall park visitors and photographers alike.
With most of the mountains and valleys facing east, sunrises were always worthwhile to wake up for and shoot. I still remember one particular morning where a quick pre-dawn squall soaked all our gear, but left behind a spectacular landscape in glorious morning light. This is one take of the light on the east face of the continental divide.
Glacier National Park
MT USA
A National Park Journey - Canyonlands National Park
The next door neighbor to Arches, Canyonlands, is a National Park with a completely different geology. While the park does have a couple of solitary arches, Canyonlands is more known for its jaw-dropping terrain, where birds-eye vistas are meant to be laced with superlatives to describe the vast landscape with towering cliffs rising from the depths of the Colorado river exposing the geological history in its strata.
Hence Canyonlands was an obvious next choice to visit after Arches. Moab, which in those days was a sleepy town geared towards the occasional recreation traveler, proved to be an ideal base to explore both these parks (though I would have preferred to camp under the stars of Canyonlands). And compared with Arches, I was more enthralled by the monumental scale of the landscape in Canyonlands, replete with enough hiking trails and wilderness regions to last a lifetime.
Here is one such view of the vast open and yet geologically rich landscape of Canyonlands during a midsummer day.
Canyonlands National Park
UT USA
A National Park Journey - Arches National Park
On my very first visit to the heart of red-rock country, my mind just couldn't fathom the formations I had been seeing: arches of all shapes and sizes hewed out of smooth red sandstone, set in a landscape full of sinuous curved canyons where towering pillars of rock precariously balanced on narrow fins. This was Arches National Park, a place so bizarre that even listening to ranger talks didn't help my brain comprehend the diversity of forms that arose from erosion by water and wind.
I would return to this park multiple times, and even though it covered only a small area, I never felt like I got to experience the entirety of this unique park. I knew that one of the places I wanted to return to was Delicate Arch, pictured above, hewn out of a narrow slab of rock over thousands of years of erosion. Between getting the right weather and avoiding the crowds, it is not easy to shoot this formation while surrounded by the best of the La Salle mountains. This image is my take on this one-of-a-kind arch, and not pictured is a queue of about 50 people waiting to get their portrait taken by the arch.
Arches National Park
UT USA