fstopandsee

Covered in moss and covered in light makes for quite the combo.

Rocky Mountain National Park has a lot to offer hikers as summer turns into fall. This section of the Fern Lake Trail wraps itself into a little canyon to perfectly frame the mountains in front of you.

I wish I was feeling ice cold right now! It hit the 90s in the Bay Area today, much too hot for my liking. I’m thinking back to when I was on this amazing beach in Iceland two years ago. There is a huge bay surrounded by a glacier nearby where icebergs break off from the glacier and float out into the ocean. Small chunks wash up on the black sand beach, like this unique little bit of ice.

The clouds were breaking up and some very late fall colors were still hanging on. Everything lined up to give this shot a whole lotta things going on!

What’s a Talus Cave? Am I making up a whole new type of cave for my enjoyment? No, I am not. This is a unique cave made by boulders falling into a deep canyon, leaving an open space below. People walk through this cave, and under boulders hanging above your head, for fun. Also bats live in these caves. Good times.

A very wet and misty day set the mood for my trip to Mount Rainier. No big views of the volcano, but I quite liked the clouds and fog that were everywhere.

This angle of Christine Falls is not the one you normally see. I took this from the bridge very close to the falls, where the water drops straight down below you only a few feet away. There is a viewpoint down the road, but I decided to get up to the edge of the bridge, and shoot it top to bottom in a vertical panorama. This distorts the height of the falls and makes it feel like it is snaking through the rocks in front of you.

Rocky Mountain National Park earned its name on Fern Lake Trail, with lots of rough rocks every way that you look. We started our hike at Bear Lake, and after some good climbing the view opened up into this gorge with mountain peaks in all directions.

Just before sunset, a cloud perfectly hid the sun to create these crazy rays of light. Smoke from wildfires wasn’t good for the air quality, but also made for some dramatic lighting over the Rocky Mountains.

It’s hard to keep driving when all the roads look like this. The natural beauty of Zion is amazing, and the narrow strips of road that run through it get you where you need to go while providing a contrasting perspective.