Journal

The aurora show on Friday (May 10th, 2024) was incredible! So many different things made it unique. The variety of colors, including yellow, which is quite rare. The corona overhead all night. The aurora visible to the naked eye from my driveway, and from my car driving on I5 through Everett. All that is great, but two things stick out for me.

Japan is a dream destination for many travelers, and since the pandemic has ended and Japan reopened to tourists, it’s also been an extremely popular place to visit. But for me, it’s kind of like going home. I was fortunate enough to be able to live in Japan for around 18 months when I was a kid, and I have been fortunate to visit several times since then. This year, we were able to visit again, and I brought a camera along to take a few photos.

Sahale Arm is a stunningly beautiful place, unique in the North Cascades for its diverse ecosystems, incredible views, and accessibility. It’s no surprise that it’s popular. I hate crowds in the outdoors though, so for this trip, I rounded up my friends Jon and Brian, grabbed my 500mm lens, and left my house at midnight with the goal of starting our hike in the dark and arriving at Cascade Pass before sunrise.

At the beginning of every year, I sit down with a calendar and map out the big photo trips I want to take for the year. This year, I was very fortunate to be able to plan a trip to visit Kluane Lake National Park in the Yukon, with my good friends from Offbeat. I was totally blown away by the small slice of the Yukon I visited. The landscape is beautiful and has a lot of diversity, but more than that, the people were wonderful! It was refreshing to be among great company in such a beautiful place!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jon and I embarked on an evening trip to Mt. Rainier's Sunrise area that turned into a fun adventure that included a phenomenal wildlife encounter. Our primary aim for the day was to capture images of bears in the quieter meadows around Sunrise. We also planned to stick around for the Milky Way, as we were there during the new moon.

Ptarmigan Ridge is lauded as one of the hikes in the Mt. Baker area with some of the finest views. Whether it has the finest views or not I couldn’t say, as both last year when I did it for the first time, and this year when my wife and I visited again, we were in the fog. I can’t really complain too much though, as I think the fog gives the place a very ethereal quality. Plus, the hike is really exposed, and the clouds and fog keep away some of the heat!

This year, I decided I wanted to revisit Yellow Aster Butte during prime-time Milky Way season. All of my previous trips had just been day trips, and in the fall, so I liked the idea of spending at least one night, and doing so during the summer. I find that revisiting a favorite location like this is a great way to come away with something new. Plus, when I visited, there was a possibility of the northern lights!

Every year for the last few years, we’ve made a tradition of leaving town for the Fourth of July. We’re not big fans of fireworks (especially our kids), and since our neighborhood sounds like a war zone on the Fourth, getting out of town is best. Most of the time, we head to Winthrop over in the Methow Valley - this year, we brought my mom along, rented a giant cabin, and had a blast!

Thunder Creek should probably be named Thunder River as the creek is enormous! This long trail starts in the Colonial Creek south campground and goes dozens of miles, eventually crossing Park Creek Pass and descending down into the Stehekin River valley. Any amount of this trail is a treat, and because it is relatively flat and accessible, it’s also an excellent choice for hikers of all ages and abilities.

Today, I wanted to share a hike my wife and I did up to the Sultan Basin area. If you aren’t from Washington, I doubt you’ve heard of it, and even if you are from my neck of the woods, you might not have heard of it either. Thanks to its relative obscurity, longish access, and the propensity to be quite rainy, the area is usually pretty quiet, which is just the way I like it!

Springtime is waterfall season in the Pacific Northwest, as they are usually at their best this time of year. A few weeks back I decided to revisit Wallace Falls State Park, an old favorite. Although it is crazy busy on sunny summer weekends, in the off-season and with iffy weather, it’s a very quiet and tranquil place with a beautiful forest and of course the waterfalls.

I spent a little time recently looking through my back catalog of images, and spotted a couple of older images that I thought could use a facelift. Both images are from the same location at Mt. Rainier, and today I wanted to talk through the now and then. Hopefully it will be instructional!

Every year as spring starts, I start paying close attention to the weather in Eastern Washington, because Milky Way season starts in my part of the world! This year, I spotted a time at the very end of March, with clear weather, and was pleasantly surprised to have the aurora make an appearance! I got in a great night of shooting at Quincy Lakes with lots of cool images to share.

It’s Sunday afternoon, and the rain is absolutely pouring as I drive down the freeway in my bright red 4Runner. Often you can just wait for a few minutes and it will stop, but on this day, it seems like the rain is just going and going and going. I’m relieved when I finally get off the freeway and onto the side streets, and as I pull into Lord Hill Regional Park, I ask myself: why the hell am I going for a hike in this weather?

Wintertime around here can be a bit of a mixed bag. Unless you want to get into the snow, not a ton of trails are accessible. I normally don’t mind getting into the snow, but sometimes it’s nice to just have your feet on solid ground. So, I found myself driving down to Poo Poo Point back in January with the intent of doing just that. On the day I went, thanks to a weather inversion, there was a thick layer of clouds at the bottom, but I was betting that Poo Poo would be above the clouds, so I thought a sunset hike would be nice. I was right!

I love photographing in the snow, and I love how a blanket of snow simplifies a scene. This year, we had a great opportunity right as the kids were starting winter break. It had just snowed, and the weather was supposed to be clear and cold, but we wanted to avoid the crowds. So, off to the Mountain Loop Highway we went.