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 - Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce, which I first visited with a group of friends during Easter many years ago, changed what it meant to see the effect of sand, wind and water. hiking through the other-wordly red-rock hoodoos of different shapes and sizes in the grand amphitheater of the park was a memorable experience. Since then, I have been to the park twice more, each to explore a different area of the park in detail. And even though it is not a particularly large park, it takes on a fresh coat of color with every change of season, and that makes it worth visiting more than once.
One of its hidden secrets, which make it worth staying by the Park entrance, is the phenomenal night sky, At 9000ft, the clear air on a no-moon night lends for spectacular astrophotography, as long as you can bear the cold.
Bryce Canyon National Park
UT 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 - Olympics National Park
I never knew a rainforest could exist this part north of the equator. Hence I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked along the moss-laid trail made of roughly hewn wooden planks that snaked its way through the dense foliage. A thick undergrowth of ferns and shrubs covered every square inch of earth, from which sprouted towering trees draped loosely with moss and lichen. It was only a short hike through the forest, but even that short time had etched its memory into my mind.
I have since returned back multiple times to explore the multiple biomes the park had to offer, from vast glaciers, ridge-top walks, alpine lakes and the pristine Pacific coast. It is one of those parks that offers a new perspective with every new visit. Living closer to the park compared to my very first visit certainly has its advantages.
Olympics National Park
WA USA
A National Park Journey - Pinnacles National Park
My strongest memories of Pinnacles remains wandering through a wildflower meadow dominated by with brightly blooming California Poppies. Its vibrant orange blossoms were a show of delight against the dry chaparral vegetation, and egged me to go further on the trail on that warm spring day. I thought that was all there was to Pinnacles, but in my subsequent visits, I discovered that this park had far more to offer: I tracked breeding pairs of California Condors with a wildlife biologist, squeezed through narrow clefts and clambered over steep pinnacles, and watched the night skies above and the delicate under-canopy below.
It was perhaps this reason that Pinnacles was designated a National Park in 2013. While it may not carry the epic grandeur that is typical of National Parks, it preserves a rather unique part of California
Pinnacles National Park
CA 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