Photo of the Week #10

OK, so I missed a few weeks, being in Hawaii, and dealing with work craziness for the couple following.  Haven't had a whole lot of time to dig into photos of the trip.  Also been distracted a bit with JMT plans and prepping.  But I have completed my transfer of over 1,100 photos and will now start sifting thru, as well as start working on the five GPS tracks that will soon be going up on Backpacker.com. The areas around the island that I wound up photographing the most were Haleakala Crater, the northwest coast and the Nakalele Blowhole, La Perouse Bay in the south, and the Wai'anapanapa State Park and Waimoku Falls trail near Hana.  And whales - lots of whales.  Even managed to catch a few breaching!  Quite an incredible sight to see.  I probably won't be overloading the site with photos, but rather post a small sample selection from each area.

In other news, I just completed my second feature article for Washington Trails magazine - this one about waterfalls and wildflowers in the Columbia River Gorge.  Look for that piece, along with several photos in the May/Jun issue coming out in about another month.  Also, I'm especially looking forward to the May issue of Backpacker as there will be a short feature about me (!!!) and my favorite hikes around the Northwest.

This weekend its off to Crater Lake in southern OR for some snowshoeing and - of course - photo shooting.  More to add to the already long list of imagery to sort thru...

JMT 2010 - Permit Reserved!!!

I've been counting down the days to JMT permit application day for the last several months, steadily watching the summer trailhead quotas fill up.  Due to the popularity of hiking in Yosemite Valley and backcountry, the national park keeps very close tabs and tight quotas on the number of permits issued to backpackers.  For the time that I have selected, mid-August thru mid-September - the "prime time" to go, for lack of bugs and better weather conditions (knocking wood) - the permits started going fast starting a couple weeks ago. Finally today was my day to apply - holding to the 24-week application term.  I had my application in at 8am this morning and my first, second and third choices for trailhead entry were denied about 10 minutes later.  Not discouraged, and having numerous backup plans, I quickly submitted a new application with alternate trailhead choices.  About an hour later I received one of the best emails of the year - permit application accepted!  I had to settle for a trailhead in the Tuolumne Meadows area, which will require a little backtracking for me to do the "complete" trail, from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley to the end point at Mt. Whitney, but the 29-day window I allowed for has some freedom to make adjustments.  My entry date will be Aug. 10, and exit date Sept. 8.  Now the planning goes into high gear!  I'm still gearing up, testing new foods, and starting up a rigorous conditioning program in preparation.  I'll continue posting updates as day 0 approaches...

In the meantime, I also just returned from Maui with over 1,000 new photos - which I'll be sorting and processing thru in the coming weeks - and 5 new GPS tracks that will be going to Backpacker.com.  The next several Photos of the Week will likely be from The Valley Isle - Haleakala, Hana, the northwest and south coasts, and lots of humpback whales!  Stay tuned...

More Washington Trails and Off to Maui!

Last week, I got a sneak peek at the March/April issue of Washington Trails magazine, and the section that I contributed to the multi-issue geology feature that will be running this year. It's a nice full page, featuring five of my images from hikes around Washington that exhibit unique geological features. It's accompanied by several more stories highlighting the geologic significance of Washington, and where hikers can go to see some truly unique formations and features. In addition, I've also been granted assignments for the next several issues, on features covering the Columbia Gorge, backpacking in Olympic Nat'l Park, and Oregon's unusual John Day Fossil Beds.

Tomorrow, I'll be flying off the the island of Maui for the next 10 days.  I'll be scouring the island - putting the new Nikon to work on its first big trip - looking to capture the beauty of The Valley Isle.  I have two hikes planned; one going back to Haleakala Nat'l Park and descending into the crater and visiting the colorful Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o cinder cone; the other to the west side village of Hana and exploring the Bamboo Forest and Waimoku Falls. I'm sure I'll be coming home with enough images to keep me busy for several weeks. I'll also be tracking these for Backpacker magazine, so look for GPS tracks to go up on their website in the coming months.

And speaking of tracking, I'll be carrying my SPOT Satellite Tracker with me on the hike in Haleakala. Click on the link here, or on my home page, to see a live GPS/Google map track of the hike!

Then, on the return home, I'll be submitting my application for my JMT permit!  2010's starting to gear up...

Photo of the Week #6

In anticipation of the upcoming trip back to the island of Maui, this week's photo comes from a couple years ago on our first trip to the island. This image is of the Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o Crater and the Ko'olau Gap in Haleakala Nat'l Park. It was late afternoon as we were hiking back up the Sliding Sands Trail to the crater rim at 10,004' when clouds started pouring into the crater through the gap, creating quite a fantastic scene. On this trip, we didn't have time to take the side trail to colorful Ka Lu'u o Ka 'O'o, but this will be one of our destinations next week. This particular photo was also featured in Backpacker's recent Nov. 2009 issue in the National Parks Hall of Fame feature. See more images from Haleakala and the Sliding Sands Trail on my website.

Photo of the Week #5

Today was such a gorgeous day in Portland - yet I found myself without a camera - as I wandered around downtown, and was able to spy a gleaming, snowcapped Mt. Hood thru the tall buildings. It inspired me to post my photo of the week from one of the better weather hiking trips from last year, to the Santiam Lakes in Oregon's Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. I especially like the way the reflections of the sky and trees give the water of Duffy Lake a marblesqe appearance, all the while backed by the jagged, volcanic peak of Three-Fingered Jack. This photo has been slightly HDR-ized using onOne's PhotoTools kit. I tend not to care for many overly HDR-ized photos, as they tend to appear too processed, and lose their sense of reality; so I try to keep any effects I use to enhance my images very spare, to maintain their natural appearance. See more photos of the Santiam Lakes and Three-Fingered Jack on my website.

JMT 2010 - Bed Time

JMT permit application day is coming up in just a few weeks.  I already mentioned the pack I'll be taking - the Gregory Palisade 80 - so thought I would keep sharing with the gear I'll be filling it with for the 4-week trek. Starting from the bottom of the pack, which I'll be stuffing in the bag compartment, will be the Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus sleeping pad, and the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 down sleeping bag.

The Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus (regular size) is a self-inflating 1.5" thick mattress that weighs in at a mere 24 ounces. The full-sized pad measures 20" wide by 72" long, yet rolled and compressed is just 5" x 11" - about the size of a liter water bottle. I have not used this pad in the field - this was a present from the Festivus Fairy - but am looking forward to breaking it in on several smaller backpacks before the JMT. Until now, I've been using Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro pad; this newer one comes in about a half-pound lighter, but the compressibility is the big feature.

After those long days of hiking - and ample time stargazing - I'll be snuggling into my Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 down sleeping bag. This is also a recent acquisition, thanks to the latest sale at REI. For several years I've been using a Marmot Sawtooth +32 for my 3-season bag with no complaints. For the big trip though, I'm counting every ounce, and going as compact as possible. The MH bag (regular) weighs in with a super-lightweight 23 ounces, and - like the Therm-a-Rest  - compresses to about the size of a Nalgene bottle. The Phantom 32 features 800-fill goose down in a performance cut shape, and is treated with a DWR finish. The combination of these two items will allow me to stuff both the pad and the bag into the pack's bag compartment - with room to spare!

Both items are available at REI.com, and other outdoor retailers.

Photo of the Week #4

This last weekend gave all of us in the Northwest just the break from the rain we all wanted - a gorgeous sunny day!  I took advantage of the day to head out into the Columbia River Gorge for dual reasons - to take a nice afternoon hike, and to shoot some imagery for a piece I was working on for Washington Trails magazine.  This week's photo is a simple shot of the Columbia Gorge, looking westward, from atop Beacon Rock, on the Washington side of the river.  Beacon Rock is an 840' plug volcano, with a narrow trail of bridges and switchbacks that leads to the top offering fantastic views up and down the river.  For this particular photo, I employed onOne's PhotoTools kit to HDR-ize the image to spruce up its appearance and give alot more detail to the wonderful clouds in the sky that day.