Hatcher Pass, AK in Autumn

Amazing how much a few months can change a place.  This is the same mountain pass from the previous post.  Definitely a different feel from when its not encased in 10 feet of snow, and made for a much more enjoyable hiking.

Not sure where the pooch came from, but it was nice to have some company for bit til she trotted off down the mountain.

I found her people but she went off exploring the mountain on her own.  I need a mountain dog…

This guy’s got alpine travel figured out.  I think when my knee finally goes I’m gonna go this route.

Sketchy crossings,  no problem for the slow and steady…

Autumn found in pockets amongst the pine.  There were also entire mountainsides which were a blanket of yellow birch and spruce.

I’d been on the road for a week at this point, and hadn’t found a shower in awhile.  This is me, debating whether to brave the cold and take a bath in this lovely little alpine lake… Frigid but completely worth it.

Nice little ptarmigan, funny little birds and not in the least bit shy.

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Colorado Ghost Towns and Abandoned Mines

I spent a few weeks driving around the Rockies in Colorado and finding all sorts of great places long abandoned and slowly returning to the earth. 

St. Elmo, a wonderful preserved little ghost town in the heart of the Sawatch Range, and the jumping off point to a number of old mining sites way up in the mountains.  

Along Colorado’s Scenic Alpine loop lies the ghost town of Animas Fork, an amazingly well preserved ghost town that has stood dormant since this mill closed more than 100 years ago.  

The bones of an old church jut out of a forest along Hwy 25 in eastern Colorado, the only remains of an old mining town which once thrived there.

Cali Coastline

Wandering along the Cali coastline, from San Diego to San Francisco, with a few slipped in from a venture in Oregon.  

Scripps Pier in La Jolla

Solitary stairway, Socal

Perfect morning to catch some waves, Ecola State Park, Oregon

Cormorants roosting for the evening, La Jolla

In for the night, La Jolla Cove

Couldn’t decide which version of this image I liked better, the orange glow of sodium streetlamps or the more neutral feel of my speed light.  La Jolla Cove

Patterns in the sand, San Diego

Ocean fog rolling in, Southern Oregon

Misty morning at Ecola State Park, Oregon

Dolphins playing in the wake on the way to Santa Cruz

Sea Lions soaking in the sun

Scripps Pier, La Jolla

A few from the La Jolla potholes

A good night’s rest

Random Roadtripping Pt. 1

I’m going to be playing catchup with the next few posts.  Finally got around to working a bunch of images from some wandering around I did last year, I just kept on traveling and was so busy shooting I never found time to work the backlog.  

 A foggy night at the Umpqua Lighthouse, Oregon

 An old dancehall in an abandoned amusement park, Central PA

 A few from Crater Lake, OR

 Many forest fires raging through SW Washington

 Lighting flashes as the clouds open up an isolated rainstorm

 Crop burns and hundred of geese coming in for a landing

 High atop the Columbia River Valley, OR

 Striated land shows just how series the drought has become in Southern California

 My buddy Banks perched atop Sequoia’s infamous Mono Rock

 The ascent up Mono Rock

 Just down the other side of the Sierra’s are the strange tufa formations of Mono Lake

 QueensBridge’s Finest

My favorite barn in the Palouse, WA

Glacial Trekking

A collection of images taken from glaciers all over Iceland.  The majority are from the Vatnajökull area (including Breidamerkur, Svinafell and Skaftafell), but I also explored around Myrdals, Snæfells and Eyjafjallajökull.  

 

Mossy Lava Fields of the Eldhraun

From the moss covered lava fields in the Eldhraun area in Iceland, also some from the western peninsula near Breidabólsstadur.  A land carpeted in clouds and green pillows, air hisses as it escapes the moss underfoot.  This was one of the most fun and fantastic landscapes I’ve ever encountered.

The Blue Lagoon, Church Mountain and the original Geysir

A collection of images from around some of Iceland’s biggest tourist destinations.  The Blue Lagoon, a spa and pools filled with mineral rich runoff from the geothermal plant, Svartsengi.  Kirkjufell, Icelandic for Church Mountain for obviously reasons and from Geysir, the original namesake of geysers worldwide (although the images below are of Strokkur, an adjacent geyser which routinely erupts in heights up to 100 ft!)  The actual Geysir is infrequent, and may often go dormant for years at a time.  I visited this spot three times trying to get the right light, and over those days never once saw it erupt.  But fortunately, Strokkur goes off every 15 minutes or so I had plenty of action to capture… 

Winter Is Coming

This post is all about putting the ice in Iceland.  Never have I seen such crazy snowstorms in all my life.  While in the north near Akureyri, I got caught in a blizzard and was stuck in whiteout conditions for days.  While most of the first day was spent digging my car out of a ditch i9 careened into, I braved the cold and managed to make the most of it.  After the storms had passed, it was a whole new world, where what had been verdant hills days ago was now white stretching to the horizon.  Glad I brought my snow shoes, because a few times when I went out without them I ended up buried chest deep after falling through snow banks.  Anyway, it was brutal out there, so I hope you enjoy!  

Land of Fire

Iceland is a diverse and ever changing landscape of volcanic activity.  Five geothermal plants generate a vast majority of the country’s heating and power need. The land is also rancid with volcanic features, such as fumaroles, hot springs, and the original geyser, Geysir. The red skies in some of the images below comes from the eruption of the Bárðarbunga volcano high up on the Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest glacier.  

Icelandic Heritage Sites and Other Rural Goodness

A collection of churches, farms, barns and other adorably quaint scenes from all over the Icelandic countryside.