my travels through life
Back in May both my brothers came home for my dad’s birthday. One of the days they were home we headed out to hike Saddle Mountain in the Oregon coastal range. This was my fourth time doing the hike and it is still one of my favorites in Oregon. From the top you can see both the ocean and a few mountains in the Cascade range.
Promises of 60 degree weather beckoned me to the coast last Thursday. Sure enough when I stepped out of my car in Pacific City I felt transported to summer (at least what the best days of summer are like on the Oregon Coast). To the left of the Pacific City beach lies Cape Kiwanda which is one of my favorite places on the coast. Beyond a massive sand dune lies beautiful rock formations colored in orange and red. I could easily sit there all day watching the waves hit the rocks.
The weather was really nice again over the weekend so I headed back there with a friend. We came across an area on the cape where, when the waves hit the rocks, they shot 50+ feet up into the air. Reminded me of Old Faithful at Yellowstone, except this happened much more frequently (every two minutes or so). There are two photos from that day mixed in.
At the beginning of August I headed to Crater lake to go camping with my brother and cousin. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States.
My friend Ben Canales’ star photos have been really inspiring me lately so I decided it was time for me to get out there and take some of my own. I headed up to Mt. Hood with my brother Nathan yesterday afternoon. The plan was to head to Trillium lake and scout it out in the late afternoon for a future lifestyle shoot and then stick around to get some photos of the lake, mountain and stars all together. The photo I had in my mind didn’t come together because the conditions weren’t cooperating. The moon was out and fog had rolled in over the lake so the stars weren’t as visible so our plans had to change a bit. I was however able to get off a couple shots before the clouds completely came in.
We then headed up to Timberline lodge and hiked a little ways up the mountain so we could get some shots looking down into the valley.When the moon was about to set it became very orange and looked strangely similar to a sunset. This ended up creating a very surreal photo of a “sunset” with the stars and milky way in the sky. I’m pretty happy with how my photos turned out and I’m excited to get out there again.
At the beginning of July I went up to Vancouver B.C. to visit my friend Ben.
The photos below are along the route up to Whistler. The photos can be purchased on istockphoto.com
I’m waiting to meet up with a friend to go check out the Top of The Rock Observatory, in NYC, so I thought I’d share some experiences from my past weekend trip to Eugene.
Last Saturday I visited my cousin Syd. He’s taking a class in large format cameras so he showed me how to use one and we got to play around with it for a little while. Large format is a completely different world than 35mm. When I start making a little more money from photography, large format and medium format cameras are definitely an area I want to explore.
The weather outside was drizzly all day so we didn’t get to take the camera outside. So instead we hopped in the car and headed up to Cougar Hot Springs (about an hour outside of Eugene). We ended up getting lost (multiple times) so we didn’t make it up to the hot springs until it was dark. Even in the dark though it was one of the best experiences I’ve had. In the dark all we could make out were shapes of the hills, huge rock faces and vast forests which forced me to take in the surroundings in a much different way.
A short walk from the car and we arrived at the steaming pools of water. At Cougar Hot Springs the hot water comes from the mouth of a small cave. It then flows into a generously sized pool (created by rocks being piled up). From there it flows down into three or four more pools, each one a little cooler than the last.
Syd and I stripped down into our birthday suits and carefully walked down the slippery rocks to the hot springs pool below. Tealight candles bathed the pool in a warm and soothing light. About 5-7 people were already in the pool.
For the next four hours we lounged in the amazing water that somehow was the perfect temperature. We had great conversations with our fellow bathers, learned how clean our faces with the soapstone that surrounding the pool, and had plenty of time to mediate and take in our surroundings.
Cougar Hot Springs; I will be back.
On the way back to our car we stopped along the road to take some photos. I had forgotten my remote trigger for the shutter so I had to hold down the shutter on my own, while in bulb mode. For the shot below I believe I held the shutter down for 6 minutes. It ended up making the photo look like daytime when really it was pitch black out. The second photo Syd took of me while a car passed by.
It’s been awhile since Mike and I have gone on an adventure together. In typical adventure day fashion Mike asks me last-minute at 12pm if I want to go to the coast. I had planned on spending the day editing photos but a day at the coast sounded better. We get to the coast and it’s a torrential downpour and very windy. I kind of liked it though (despite my face below which was actually due to all the wind and rain hitting my face, haha). We ended up going on the short hike which takes you down to Ecola Beach. By the time we got down to the beach the storm had broken and clear sky began to peak through . . . just in time for the sunset.
To end our adventure we stopped at Pizza a’ fetta in Canon Beach for some amazing pizza and great conversations with the owner. He gave us a lot of great adventure locations for the future.
It is Wednesday and that means adventure day. After brainstorming Mike and I decide to head up to Larch Mountain in the Columbia Gorge. Driving up there, as we gain elevation snow slowly becomes part of the landscape. Snow covered trees symmetrically line the road.
We decide halfway up to pull of to the side of the road and explore the surroundings. Opening my door I am pleasantly surprised at the absence of sound. Dead silence. I get my camera out and position myself in the center of the road to capture the symmetrical landscape in front of me.
Out of the silence a strange methodical sound surrounds me from above. I look up and see two huge hawks sweeping above the trees.
Twenty minutes later and we’re back in the car and on our way to Larch Mountain.
We are often so set on getting to our desired destination that we fail to enjoy the journey. While getting to the top of Larch Mountain, with the amazing view of Mt. Hood National Forest, was breathtaking, the most enjoyable part of the adventure was stopping and exploring the forest area along the road.
Two weeks ago I had a jam packed weekend of ultimate frisbee and hiking. The day after I returned from the Handford Howl Frisbee tournament I headed out to Bagby hot springs with a group of friends to relax my sore muscles. The following day consisted of ultimate frisbee, lunch at a Nicholas Restaurant (a Lebanees and Middle Eastern cuisine) and a hike on Wahkeena trail in the Gorge. About halfway through the hike it got completely dark so it became a night hike.
The photos below are of the stream that feeds Multnomah Falls.
Overlooking the Columbia river and I-84. I think it was a full moon that night or at least pretty close to one.
Speaking of night photography in the Columbia Gorge you should check out this photo taken by Ben Canales, a photographer I found on flickr. Pretty awesome story for how he got the photo.
Last Wednesday I headed up with some friends to Mt. Hood to go snowshoeing. We went to Trillium Lake and then headed up to Timberline.
Later that night I went to game night at Lucky Lab in SE Portland.
