Gateway to Heaven

In Japanese culture, the Torii (gate) is a symbol that marks the entrance from the mundane to the sacred. Almost every Shinto shrine has this unique structure, clad in vibrant orange, standing guard at or near its entrance. And relatives of this structure are found as far away as India (from where the concept seems to have originated).

The Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto is unique in its long rows of torii gates, known as Senbon torii. There are more than a 1000 torii gates densely packed along the main pathways, attracting casual tourists and devout clerics in equal numbers. I found the long alleyways lined with the vermilion orange a fascinating subject to photograph, though trying to frame a shot without people seemed quite foolhardy! But just the walk around the shrine was rewarding enough.

This was one such attempt of the many trying to capture the essence of the Fushimi Inari Taisha

Kyoto

Japan

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The Short Summer

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An early summer's hike into the alpine terrain of Mt Rainier revealed a landscape slowly recovering from winter's fingers. Melting slow slowly give way to undulating grassy meadows, drained by tiny creeks harboring the first generations of insects. Down in the meadows, tiny glacier lilies pop up en masse, the first flower to blossom in the short spring. They add a burst of yellow and white to the landscape as the rest of the flowering plants send out tiny shoots skyward.

The pressures of a short summer have led to many interesting adaptations in the fragile alpine ecosystem, and thanks to the well-preserved landscape, the flora and fauna grow and thrive right up to the eaves of winter. There are many such beautiful niches in Rainier, and one just has to walk around to find them.

Mt Rainier National Park

WA USA

Azure Crystals

I find the ripples of the sand dunes quite fascinating: the patterns are ever so numerous, but often gets lost in the vastness of the dunes and the angle of light. But early in the morning, even the tiniest of lines on the sand becomes patterns onto themselves. That is what I seek out every time I am in the dunes.

An early morning in February found me amidst the dunes of White Sands National Park. I was hunting to find the right location where the lines were highlighted by the rising sun. In the gentle pre-dawn light under the deep-blue morning sky, the white sand took on an ethereal hue, slowly changing through different shades of blue as the sun rose up. I knelt down to capture the lines of shadow and light stretching in front of me.

White Sands National Park

NM USA

Morning Mysteries

I am sitting on the edge of the seat waiting for the results of the election to finalize. The nervousness is palpable, impacting my every awake moment. I try to distract my mind, but the effort is futile.

During times like these, I jump into my archives of photos to find my happy moments, recollecting those blissful scenes that make me feel elevated, and perhaps a little less edgy. This is one such morning scene from Mt Rainier, and it is scenes like these that are my escape from the hard-edged reality we are in right now.

Mt Rainier National Park

WA USA

Light on the Sands

Sunset on the sand dunes can be special. Sunset on white sand dunes with a gusting windstorm is even more.

Just before the pandemic lockdown shut all travel, I had ventured out to White Sands National Monument. My previous trip had been more than 9 years prior, and I had longingly looked forward to this trip. I had planned on camping in the sand dunes as I knew the landscape would turn spectacular at sunset and sunrise.

As luck would have it, the forecast called for gusts of winds up to 20mph which I knew would make for a poor camping experience with sand everywhere. But there was a silver-lining to this: a layer of undisturbed white sand stretching for miles and lending to unique compositions that I would find nowhere else.

What I eventually witnessed as I scrambled from site to site, hunting for new compositions, was beyond extraordinaire. I lucked out with the right combination of weather, light and location in this unique corner of New Mexico.

White Sands National Monument

NM USA

Hidden Gems

In my four days of wandering the Appalachian foothills, I found that the real wonder of the region is not in the Smoky Mountains or the famed Blue Ridge Parkway, but in the national forests that surround the east to west spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Peaceful lakes with undisturbed trails and bountiful waterfalls adorn the undulating and lush landscape of the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests.

I enjoyed the serenity of one such lake in western North Carolina far more than I thought I would, and it was only my first day in this beautiful part of the country.

Nantahala National Forest
NC USA

The Fleeting Summer

These are the reasons I love the North Cascades: the vista of endless snow-capped peaks catching the last light of the sun, with many such spots within an easy day's hike of civilization, as well as places to escape into the remote wilderness where you are unlikely to meet a soul.

The price to pay is the incredibly short summer season where many such places are actually accessible, and makes you realize the real value of time. I find the opportunity cost that you pay of working full time is the limited window of a few weekends when you can really explore the PNW Wonderland, while balancing familial and social commitments, as well as travel urges to places outside the northwest. The pandemic this year has made things more challenging for all, but it gave more time to explore local destinations which have become more crowded than prior years.

I have often wished whether I could change that balance and adjust the trade-offs, but so far, it has proved challenging.

Mt Baker Wilderness
WA USA

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Shimmering Cascades of the Smokies

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If you are always racing to the next moment, what happens to the one you are in?

It had been a hectic trip until then, driving miles and miles around the Appalachian foothills, and enjoying the vast difference in scenery this place had to offer. It was easy to get the big picture, but it was hard to slow down, stop, and enjoy the little creeks, the tiny cabins, the mellow wildlife, and the gentle colors of the forest.

I did want to slow down, but in the pursuit of "seeing everything" in a limited time, I was on the verge of missing all. And so I did. I found this lovely little creek cascading under the canopy of the golden leaves of fall. And I plonked myself right in the middle, just to enjoy its gentle gurgles.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
NC USA

Not So Smoky

When I arrived at the summit, it was still dark, with a faint tinge of orange on the eastern sky. I could barely make out the dark silhouette of the horizon. I wondered what the morning sun would bring.

As I waited through the cold and still dawn, the layers of mountains slowly became visible, stretching endlessly into the horizon with one range overlapping the next until they all coalesced into the boundary between the earth and the sky. Soon, the low angle of the autumnal rising sun cast sharp lines of shadow and light that lit up the fog lying low in the deep valleys.

After standing in that freezing winds for what seemed like eternity, I welcomed the glorious rays of the morning sun. Apart from lighting the vast vistas in front of me, it warmed up heart and soul.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
NC USA

From Earth to Sky

The recent news of the turmoil in Kyrgyztan, a land-locked country in the heart of Central Asia, nestled in by the towering Tien Shan mountains, was heartbreaking. Protests and riots have erupted around the ongoing political unrest regarding the elections. This crisis, coupled with the economic impacts from the pandemic, has proved to be devastating for this nation.

It feels like a different era compared to the time I visited the beautiful countryside inhabited by nomadic herders and sparsely populated towns and villages. I still remember standing in awe admiring the snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan range reaching for the azure skies.

I do hope that, for the sake of the amazing people I met in Kyrgyzstan, that things return to normalcy.

Arslanbob
Kyrgyzstan