The second of the two National Parks in Texas, Big Bend is more than just about a big bend in the Rio grande river as it winds towards the Gulf of Mexico. Remarkable montane terrain, a rugged canyon carved through red desert rock, and spectacularly clear night skies await anyone who makes the long drive out to this isolated park. It is certainly worth visiting for the diverse ecosystems that are found in this high desert corner of the state, along the remote section of the border with Mexico.
Beyond these, what captivated me was the small stretch of the Rio Grande river as it wound sound through the tight Santa Elena Canyon, with one face of the towering canyon wall in Big Bend, and the other side in Cañón de Santa Elena in Mexico. In this small stretch, the river serves as the border between two large economies with different culture and history, and all that was separating these two nations was a river a few yards wide easily traversed by any mode of watercraft. It left me wondering as to how such a small body of water could ever serve as a barrier between people and economies wanting to come together.
Big Bend National Park
TX USA
A National Park Journey - Grand Canyon National Park
They say never to visit the Grand Canyon in the peak of summer unless one had a deathwish. And yet, that was exactly what I had done. Lacking any travel experience in the desert southwest and foresight to temper my hubris, my foolish brain assumed that Grand Canyon would be perfectly ok to hike in June. It took a deathmarch down and back up the canyon to realize the foolishness and audacity of what I was attempting.
My first glimpse of the giant gaping hole was jaw-dropping. In front of me was a canyon larger than what I had imagined, gouged by a excavator of stellar proportions. It was only later I realized that this impressive geological spectacle was the the result of flowing water acting on a land that was rising slowly over millennia. My brain tried and failed at making sense of the immense number of sandwiched layers that formed the terra-firma over which I was standing.
Hiking down the canyon helped provide an even better sense of perspective, primarily because the slow slog back up gives you plenty of time to admire the layered terrain on which the trail was laid down on. It can be easy to get lost ensconced in the rich topography, but the stench of fresh mule dung fermenting in the hot sun will snap you back to real life, and you will discover newfound energy that will help you scurry past those unforgettable droppings.
On my return visit to the park, I carried with me those experiences, and that helped me time my hikes properly, including setting up at the right location for sunset. This is one such view from the rim of the Grand Canyon, looking down at the river still carving its way down the canyon.
Grand Canyon National Park
AZ USA
Memories of Summer
I peered over the edge, nervously balancing my tripod. It was a long way down, and I couldn't afford to slip, even as I was hurrying to catch the last of the sunset colors. My heart was still rushing from the nerve-wracking drive to catch this sunset, and with the sky turning a vibrant crimson on the western side, it was not going to slow down anytime soon.
Palouse falls was just as I had remembered it. I had visited this amazing destination many years ago, at the time it was just starting to get well known. The cavernous canyon formed by the waterfall cuts through the bedrock as it makes it way downstream is a sight to behold. And the roar of the waterfall is certainly unforgettable
As the sun descended on the horizon behind me that day, the clouds lit up, the colors reflecting gently on the winding river below. I paused for a moment, trying to soak in the sights and the sounds, know that it will be a while before I return back here. With the Pacific Northwest getting ready for a cold and dark winter, memories like these keep me going until the next summer.
Palouse Falls State Park
WA USA
Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon
It appeared as nothing more than a small road climbing up to a rolling uplands, a grass-covered green hilly terrain devoid of any trees, with a tiny creek meandering out from a small canyon. A quizzical look passed by my buddy's eye as I urged him to turn into that road that the road-sign helpfully indicated as Fjaðrárgljúfur, a name that would surely stump a spelling bee winner.
But as we got closer, the terrain became more dramatic. The creek still continued its slow course upstream, but on either sides, towering stone walls stood beside finger-like projections of earth. And as we climbed higher and higher, the geology became as twisted and gnarled as its confounding name. Finally, from its very end, I looked back at the twisted walls of the canyon, with green vegetation sticking to every possible slope, slowly mellowing away to the flatlands yonder; I kept wishing I had had time to explore this canyon from the river, a perspective that would have been rather unique. There's certainly more to this place than meets the eye
Fjaðrárgljúfur
Iceland
Winding down Summer
As the smoky summer slowly fades to a refreshing fall, I looked back on some of my favorite wilderness outings in the warm halcyon days in the past few weeks. Sunny weekends flew by as the snow melted off mountain tops, converting ski routes into hiking trails, creating space for trees to grow and flowers to bloom; mountaintops became more accessible, making for photogenic treks and indelible memories
This was one such short trek after a volunteering event with WTA, where I climbed up to an stunning overlook near Mt Baker. From atop here, endless mountain ranges carpeted by green conifers and punctuated by deep river valleys stretched in all directions, with the glacier-capped Mt Baker standing proud amidst the northern reaches of the North Cascades
Mt Baker Recreational Area
WA USA
The Gaping Hole
Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon
- Duane Vandenbusche
Up until I visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, I thought that the canyons of the Canyonlands and of Zion were some of the most impressive examples of the impact of hydrological forces. That changed when I peered over the edge of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River: a vertical dropoff of 1800ft below me, and a sheer cliff face rising equally high on the opposite side of the gorge barely a quarter mile away, all created by a sliver of river threading through this narrow gorge.
Seeing that gaping hole cut through miles of rocky terrain really put into perspective the sheer power of nature. The river, tamer now, must have been one of the most powerful forces to cut through such a geology, revealing patterns in the rock the likes of which I had never seen before. states:
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was out there, but I am glad I explored this gem of a National Park.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
CO USA
The Wall
The Wall
A physical symbol of a divide between two regions. There exists many famous walls, the Great Wall, the Berlin Wall, the West Bank barrier, and the proposed addition to the border wall along the 1989 mi long border between Mexico and the US. But it was this wall, or lack thereof, deep in the heart of Big Bend National Park, that perhaps took me most by surprise.
The hike into Santa Elena Canyon, formed by the Rio Grande river as it cuts through a sandstone mesa, is a spectacular one. The beautiful narrow slot canyon with towering walls and a cooling breeze was a welcome transformation after hiking through a hot desert.
As I continued inwards, the walls narrowed in, and towards the very end of the trail, I spotted this smoothed piece of rock jutting out onto the river, with the other side mere feet away. The sandstone walls here rose hundreds of feet into the sky, opening up a only a quarter mile away. But right where I was, I could almost jump across onto Mexico.
The other side felt no different than where I was, and yet, the symbolism of this divide was powerful. The juxtaposition of the openness of landscape, and the purported urgency to close border, as conveyed by the leaders and the news media, was stark. I spent quite a bit of time contemplating why the nations are so different, and yet share the same piece of land. But all I could take away from this place was this image of the wall, or lack thereof, that I shot at F9, 1/400s at ISO 1600
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Big Bend National Park
TX USA
Inhospitable Morocco
The winds were relentless and the trail had disappeared into scree, but the views were just endless
I was hiking high above the Dades river valley, deep within the Atlas mountain range, the spine of Morocco. I had started out huffing and puffing in the warm late afternoon sun, but a few hundred feet up, the cold gusts of winds from the snow-capped peaks absorbed all my surface moisture, chilling me to the bone. But the views were just getting better, and that prodded me on.
And finally, the vista of the beautiful Dades river valley finally opened up. Tiny fields lay beside a meandering river, with red brick houses of a small village scattered along the steep slopes of the canyon the river had cut through. In the distance, the river disappeared through a narrow gorge it cut downstream on its way to the Atlantic, while the backdrop of a long line of snow-capped peaks reminded me that winter was not yet over in this high desert.
This is one exposure from that vista point, shot at 1/500s at ISO 800 at F11.
Dades Gorge
Morocco