As one more summer slowly transitions to fall, I have realized that, at least in the Pacific Northwest, I live for the bountiful summers. The short sweet summers abound with life and color, and more than make up for the dreary winters. Summers are when I seek out the mountains teeming with wildflower laden meadows, glistening alpine lakes, and snow-capped peaks.
We are halfway done now, and only a precious few more weeks remain for one more summer to be done.
Bridger Teton Wilderness
WY USA
Granite Wonderland
I had stumbled upon this esoteric wilderness destination while sightseeing on Google Maps: a land of glistening blue lakes wrapped by granite monoliths in the least populated states of the country. I had docked the thought in my mind, and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd actually get to visit this unspoilt backpacking destination.
It happened in the summer of 2015, as I was scouting for locations that did not require an advanced permit to visit, and realized that this backcountry was one of those destinations. But getting there wasn't going to be easy: a flight to Salt Lake City followed by a 5hr drive to a frontier town that was a last outpost of civilization, and a 15mi hike to the heart of the wilderness area in conditions that were nothing short of miserable.
But once the skies cleared and the sun shown, the vastness of the landscape oozed with an inescapable and indescribable beauty like no other.
I hope to return back to this remote backcountry area just to explore it's nooks and crannies once again.
Bridger Teton National Forest
WY USA
Last light in Titcomb Basin
When I crossed the final set of boulders and crested the saddle on the trail, the entire basin opened up, and I knew at once that what I was seeing was special. A rocky treeless basin that was seemingly endless, filled with two long glistening blue alpine lakes, and lined by jagged peaks on either side, greeted my eyes. The photos that I had seen of this hidden backpacking destination were nothing compared to the splendor of soaking in this beautiful scene
It had been a cloudy second day deep within the Wind River range, a glacier-scoured rugged mountain range in the western Wyoming. The freezing rains and cloudy weather had sucked away from the photogenicity of the wilderness, and I was slowly losing my patience. But that evening, my patience was rewarded, as a break in the clouds resulted in the pinnacles catching one last breath of orange light during the last minutes of the day.
I wish I had been better prepared with a suitable foreground, but as a photographer knows, light doesn't wait for anyone. So I composed this one shot that captured the beautiful alpen glow and the last light on the clouds in the Titcomb basin of Bridger-Teton Wilderness. This was captured at F11 at 1/4s and ISO 200
Titcomb Basin
WY USA