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The Best Introduction to Pinnacles National Park
Wondering where to start in our newest national park ? The most spectacular views in Pinnacles National Park are on the High Peaks Trail which is fairly strenuous. However, the best introduction to the...
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Exploring the Channel Islands Sea Caves by Kayak
On the eve of my highest profile presentation to date, an improvised quick trip to Santa Cruz Island leads to beautiful discoveries and a new perspective on Channel Islands National Park. Last Monday,...
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Pinnacles Moses Spring Waterfall at Least
For most of the year, Pinnacles National Park is quite a dry place. I revisited right after the high rains of this winter – which put to shame last year’s El Nino conditions, to observe the place...
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Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall Firefall at Least
In mid to late Feburary, Horsetail Fall on El Capitan is backlit by the setting sun, creating the unique natural phenomenon known as the “natural firefall”. Nowadays, the Yosemite firefall is widely...
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Which is the Best Photo of Horsetail Fall Firefall?
I wrote previously about finding a new view of Horsetail Fall, Yosemite “natural firefall”. The high vantage point let me frame the waterfall in a rich wide-angle composition that brought me much...
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Carrizo Plain National Monument Super Bloom
Most of the times a barren-looking grassland, the little-known Carrizo Plain came to life thanks to the abundant rains of last winter, to become the site of a “super bloom”, with some of the best...
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Lombard Street: Variations on a Difficult to Photograph San Francisco Landmark
Lombard Street in San Francisco has a one-block section with eight hairpin turns known as the “crookedest street in the world”. Although one of the most famous sights in the city, it is also one of the...
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Three Unnamed Iconic Rocks, Jumbo Rocks, Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is well-known for the namesake Joshua trees and rounded boulders. The Jumbo Rocks area, home to the largest campground in the park (124 campsites), contains some of Joshua...
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Mojave Trails National Monument Highlights
Protecting a huge 1.6 million acres, Mojave Trails National Monument is the largest of the three California desert national monuments established by President Barack Obama in February 2016. In the...
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Undeveloped in California: Castle Mountains National Monument
If I was to sum up my impressions of Castle Mountains National Monument in one word, it would be “primitive”. See what I managed to discover and photograph in one day of exploring this beautiful desert...
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Nature Preserves at the Edge of Wilderness in Sand To Snow National Monument
Sand to Snow National Monument owes its name to the striking elevation difference between the Sonoran Desert floor (about 1,000 feet) and 11,500-foot San Gorgonio Mountain, Southern California’s...
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Palms to Snow in Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
Instead of its utilitarian name, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument could also be have been called Sand to Snow National Monument because it spans a similar range of elevations,...
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Two Peaks in San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is recent, been having designated by President Obama in October 2014. This, combined with its relatively large size (346,177 acres or 541 square miles), has...
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Starting Large Format Photography in Death Valley
By the fall of 1993, I still didn’t own a car. Back then, the same UC Berkeley student group that I joined for my first trip to Yosemite organized a yearly outing to Death Valley during the...
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Berryessa Snow Mountain: Northern California’s Mysterious New National Monument
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument was established in 2015 to protect more than a hundred miles at the heart of North California’s Inner Coast Range. Although its southern tip is located only...
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Snow Mountain: Where is it? Is there snow?
North of highway 20, the character of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument changes. Elevations rise, conifer forest dominate, and roads are all unpaved. Snow Mountain, the highest point in the...
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Big Wall Climbing in Yosemite
Back to the beginning of the year 1993, I knew almost nothing about the U.S. national parks. However, I knew that Yosemite was home to a 3,000 feet high cliff called El Capitan, the tallest in North...
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Pisgah: how to photograph a cave with a single light
Caves open for tours geared towards the general public, such as those found in national parks, generally have paved paths and beautifully installed lights. What sometimes makes them difficult to...
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Guide to Giant Sequoia National Monument: Southern Unit
Giant sequoias grow only along a narrow band on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California and I clustered in about 65 to 75 groves, depending on how you count them. Three groves grow in...
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Guide to Giant Sequoia National Monument: Northern Unit
Because it is wedged between areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, the northern unit of Giant Sequoia National Monument, is more traveled than the southern unit. When driving highway 180...
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