national monuments

Faded Hills

From the distance, the rolling hills with faint tinges of ocher resemble the dry and brushy hinterlands ubiquitous in eastern Oregon, and there is nothing to differentiate this non-descript National Monument from the land around. That is, until you get closer.

Up close, the nooks and crannies of Painted Hills unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, take on vibrant and contrasting hues: layers of sandstone colored in vermilion, ocher, purple, black, green and yellow are exposed over this semi-desert landscape.

I was fortunate to visit this wonder of Oregon many years ago, and hope to pay another visit before it becomes too popular for its own good.

Painted Hills

OR USA

The Singing Sands

From the distance, it just appeared as a mass of white in a scorched desert environment. Plants seem to have shied away from this natural bowl between two mountain ranges where this mass lay. And as I got closer, the discernible shape of dunes emerged out of this mass of white.

White Sands was a surreal place, where the pure white gypsum sand place tricks with your mind: it looked like snow, behaved like sand, and flowed like salt, and yet, it had all the characteristics of a regular sand dune. And when the winds picked up and whipped into a frenzy, the dust storm of white sand was like nothing else.

I am excited to be returning back to this amazing place. And while it was a National Monument then, it has since been upgraded to a National Park status. Hopefully that brings more attention to this unique corner of New Mexico

White Sands National Park
NM USA

Wildflowers of California

After the winter rains, the spring blossoms arrive like clockwork, covering the vast California plains with a colorful tapestry of yellows, oranges, blues, and whites. Against the backdrop of the rolling green hills, this nature's kaleidoscope of colors is a sight to behold.

Over time, such tracts of unprotected plains are few and far in-between, and these delicate plants are fickle-minded, requiring just the right amount of rain and sun at the right time. And I am hoping that this is one such year where nature puts on a unrivaled spectacle.

Central California

Rocky Palette

The flowers swayed with the soothing evening breeze blowing up the ridge. It was a welcome respite on that hot dry afternoon atop a ridge in a remote corner of Oregon. But the heat didn't matter, for the landscape was enchanting: an undulating hillscape made special by the multi-colored layers of various metals exposed in the eroding landscape. Spots and lines of black, red, brown and pink made their appearance at various levels along the multitude of ridges. And even after spending an entire day capturing different perspectives of this unique geology, I never got tired of this captivating landscape.

The Painted Hills region of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is one of the few places were nature's palette is as visible as it is here. And with the late spring wildflowers adding to the kaleidoscope of color that is this region, it was quite a memorable trip to this unique region.

Painted Hills
OR USA

Hills of Colors

Hills of Colors.jpg

Words cannot describe the diversity of hues that were spread around in front of me. Across the valley, vibrant green hillslopes with fresh spring grass gave way to blue skies, while in the valley in front of me, erosion had stripped away the topsoil, revealing beautiful bands of reds, yellows, pinks and whites the likes of which I had only observed in Badlands.

This was Painted Hills, a unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument that is spread across the dry eastern half of Oregon. Photos don't do this very unique corner of the state justice. It deserves the drive out there.

This is one image taken from an overlook of the principal attraction at Painted Hills

Painted Hills
OR USA

Last light on the Wild West

The John Wayne country: a vast expanse of red sandstone monuments erupting from the undulating desert wasteland. It may seem like a forlorn place seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet the iconic buttes shaped over millennia by wind and water erosi…

The John Wayne country: a vast expanse of red sandstone monuments erupting from the undulating desert wasteland. It may seem like a forlorn place seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet the iconic buttes shaped over millennia by wind and water erosion are some of the most photogenic structures of the multitudes in the desert southwest.

My sojourn into this desert plateau took me around the varied valleys with each turn bringing up a new view. As the sun started to sink towards the horizon, these buttes took on even more color, the iconic red that personifies this country. This was my attempt at capturing these massive monoliths catching the last light of the sun.

Monument Valley Tribal Monument
AZ USA

 

Desert Survival

Every step was measured and calculated, carefully trying to use the least amount of effort in going up and down the rolling white dunes of sand while preventing sand from getting into my boots. And with the rise and fall of every dune, the views changed, horizons shifted, and features modified. The steady winds ensured that footprints disappeared as quickly as they formed. The mass swathes of tourists dwindled down to a steady few.

It was tough going in the loop at White Sands National Monument, dominated by dunes that gave this place its name. But thankfully, there was no real danger: even though visibility was reduced, the frequent and re-assuring trail-markers were ever present; the stewards of the park had ensured that no visitors would go missing.

Nevertheless, the surrealism of the place provided plenty of opportunities to gather some unique compositions against spectacular backdrops - backdrops of the sheer white-washed dunes. This is one such take where the hardy vegetation had taken hold in the tough dry environs that existed at the dunes.

White Sands National Monument
NM USA