10th Year Update

 

10^th Year Update.

The last couple of years made many of us think and appreciate the journey of life.  This made me think about what has happened over the past 10 years and so I put together one of my random musings as a 10-year update.

With life changes in the year 2007, I decided as soon as my daughter was out of high school that I wanted to travel and photograph the National Parks.  I didn’t take this decision lightly and wanted to be better photographer, so I found a mentor with a little help from a good friend that said, “Do you want to take a photography class with me?”  In 2011, another good friend convinced me to fly to Washington State to help my son drive back to Texas.  We had a rushed 4-day trip, but we spent some time in Grand Teton National Park on the way, and the hook was set. Later that year, I was able to “volunteer” for a layoff to pursue my passion.  Everyone (friends, family, kids, co-workers and just about everyone else) thought I was crazy to give up a good career, to have no income, and travel in a truck camper to photograph the Parks. Many of them still think I am crazy, but at the 10-year mark some of them are starting to think I was serious about the journey.

So… 10 years later I still get many of the same questions.  The main one is “Have you thought about going back to work or contracting?  Something to bring in decent money again.”  The answer: Not even for a minute have I wanted to go back to the corporate world.  For 10 years we have had the freedom to travel whenever and wherever we want to go.  The freedom of a “non-corporate” job has also allowed us to be there for family as they need help along the way. But most of all it has given us a chance to spend a lot of time with family and friends and just enjoy the journey of life a little more.  I have been fortunate enough to have my son, daughter, wife and a number of friends join me in the camper or on our travels. This may not have been possible if we were still working “regular” jobs.

Here are some of the things we have accomplished over the past 10 years:

·       Driven over 100,000 miles in the US and Canada to photograph the National Parks and the places in between.  (I stopped counting when we reached 100K in the truck and camper).

·       Driven through (not necessarily to) all of the 50 states in the US and 5 providences in Canada.  Many states and provinces were visited multiple times (see the map below).  Although we did not drive to Hawaii and Alaska, we drove all around those states once we arrived.

·       So far, we have photographed 61 of the 63 National Parks.  We will visit Glacier Bay, Alaska this year, and hopefully America Samoa within the next couple of years as worldwide travel opens up again.  When we started this journey there were only 58 National Parks.  

·       We have photographed about 300 of the 423 National Park Service (NPS) Units/Parks.  A list of the NPS unit designations is included after the maps below.

·       We are still using the same Lance truck camper purchased in 2010, however there have been a lot of modifications and upgrades.

·       We are on our 2^nd Toyota Tundra.  The original purchased in 2010 was a 4x2.  In 2015, after losing traction on steep dirt road in Colorado, we upgraded to a 4x4.   I had no idea how many times that 4x4 would actually be helpful or even necessary!

·       Flown an unknown number of flights. I never bothered to count all of them, although I did hire 11 different planes during one trip to Alaska.

·       Volunteered in a number of NPS locations.

·       Lived in the Parks for over 30 months.

·       Published a book and have sold over 2000 copies.

·       Presented the Parks to over 10,000 people through lectures and workshops.

·       Presented the Parks to over 3,500 elementary school children.

·       Honored to have a solo museum exhibit that originated as part of the 100 Year Anniversary of the National Park Service.

·       Worked with a gallery on San Juan Island to display and sell our photographs and books.

·       Partnered with Pottery Barn in Fort Worth to display and sell our work during the holidays.

·       Met and shared the journey with incredible people along the way. 

·       Started 3 companies:

o   HaresPhotography.com - A photography company

o   RabbitPress.org  - A publishing company

o   ExploringAmericaExhibit.com - An exhibit company

In 2015, we put together a consolidated map for the book and the museum exhibit.  At this point we had only covered about 40,000 miles.

 

 I have been thinking about created a year by year consolidated map for some time and thought at the 10 year mark, that maybe it was time.  This new map shows our Park to Park route for each of the 10 years so far. It is not necessarily a driving map, but more of a NPS park location direction in order each year.   Those who travel the parks know all too well that the roads taken to the NPS locations are definitely NOT straight lines. 

NPS.gov  has been a valuable asset for determining our routes and for information about each park. 

The National Parks Service (NPS) contain the following designations for the Units/Parks they manage:   National Battlefields (11), National Battlefield Parks (4), National Battlefield Sites (1),  National Military Parks (9), National Historical Parks (61), National Historic Sites (74), International Historic Sites (1), National Lakeshores (3), National Memorials (31), National Monuments (84), National Parks (63), National Parkways (4), National Preserves (19), National Reserves (2), National Recreation Areas (18), National Rivers (4), National Wild and Scenic Rivers and Riverways (10), National Scenic Trails (3), National Seashores (10), and Other Designations (11)

 

Thanks to everyone that has supported, encouraged, and followed us electronically over the past 10 years.  Stay tuned, there is much more to come.  We are not done yet!

The 20-Minute Stop

Time for a random musing... I haven't done one of these for a while.
It has been interesting to see all the people jumping on and off the busses at the various locations in the Canadian National parks. They rush into a place like Emerald lake in Yoho, bus pulls up, they jump off, buzz around like a mass of bees, take pictures and back to the bus all in about 20 minutes.  The bus must also make them all very hard of hearing because they all talk very loudly and at the same time. The other thing we have become better at is dodging selfie-sticks... you never know what direction they will be coming from. So for 20 minutes the calm and peaceful place turns into an amusement attraction with no concern for the other people there or the rules and posted signs.  

 

We talked with a bus driver at one of the stops. He said that his was a 4-day tour. They start in Vancouver drive thru 5 of the Canadian National Parks, with 20 minute stops all along the way. And then back to Vancouver all in 4 days. We are on day 15 of enjoying these parks and have not yet seen all of the stops they make... 

 

We have found that it is best to sit back, watch, smile and get out of there way and just wait until they get back on the bus and the peace and quiet returns....until the next bus shows up.

Three Canadian Parks Down - Four More To Go!

Glacier National Park

Yoho National Park - Hoodoos

Mount Revelstoke National Park

We have made it through British Columbia and three National Parks so far.. Mount Revelstoke National Park, Glacier National Park, and Yoho National Park. They are each unique and make you feel like you are definitely in the mountains with glaciers, sub-alpine layers and alpine layers of rock.

Hidden lakes break up the scenery and if you are up for a little adventure, there are always hiking trails. Even the trails marked "easy" require shoes with a little grip. The altitude can also be a challenge on the trails as well as the roots, rocks, boulders and one of my favorite descriptions "relentless switchbacks."

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, the only wildlife we have seen so far are a variety of birds and small animals such as squirrels and chipmunks. But now we have entered Alberta and Banff National Park. Next we will head up to Jasper National Park and then slowly make our way south.

Check out the new videos on our You Tube page to see a bear bugler in Glacier National Park, sunrise on Emerald Lake, the Takakkaw Falls, and the spiral tunnels in Yoho National Park.



Whales!

One of the highlights of the San Juan Islands are the orca whales. There are day trips on whale boats and miles of shoreline to watch and hope for a whale sighting. Everyone hopes to be at the right time and the right place to get that perfect shot of these amazing creatures. There is The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor to learn more about these magnificent creatures and events throughout the year such as the Annual Orca Sing. With many possible routes for the whales to travel as they feed on salmon around the islands, you never know what you might see.

Click on the video below to see a short clip of the whales or click on the link below to watch it on You Tube.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6f76YG6E_U
 

Deception Pass

The 2015 trip has begun! This year we will begin with a stay on San Juan Island, Washington and then travel the Rocky Mountain range from Jasper, Canada to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our journey began narrowly escaping the wrath of Tropical Bill on a flight into Seattle, an overnight stay in Seattle and then a ferry ride from Seattle to San Juan Island’s Friday Harbor. The ferry travels along the coast of Washington and through Deception Pass.

Deception Pass received its name from Captain George Vancouver, the first European to identify the area near Whidbey Island as a passage, which he named Deception Pass. The Captain thought the island was a peninsula. Tidal flow can be extremely rough and low tides create standing waves, huge whirlpools and roiling eddies. With the small islands between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, the passage appeared to many early explorers to be sides of a small bay or perhaps the mouth of a river.  It was Vancouver's chief navigator Joseph Whidbey who sailed into the pass and followed the water south into the Saratoga Passage, disproving the bay theory. Vancouver named that island Whidbey in honor of his assistant, Joseph Whidbey, who was at his side when Vancouver realized the mistake. The captain named the inlet at which he was anchored Deception Pass to commemorate the error.

 

Next stop…San Juan Island, Washington!

WE'RE BACK!

Welcome back to HaresPhotography Blog.   I know its been a while since we posted, but it is time to start up again.

Please join us for our upcoming exhibit at the Fort worth Museum of Science and History starting December 19,  2015. Exploring America: A Photographic Journey

 

We are about to begin our next adventure and hope you will follow us! We will be posting as we travel to the San Juan Islands, farther north to Banff and Lake Louise in Canada, and then following the Rocky Mountains down to Santa Fe. We plan on photographing 22 National Parks as well as the places in between.

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter @HaresPhotos, Instagram @HaresPhoto, or the Hares Photography blog located on our website HaresPhotography.com. See you on the road!

Sturgis – Deadwood

Got up this morning to go photograph the Badlands at Sunrise,  but the clouds came in heavy last night and no sunrise this morning.  I drove the whole park and got a few shots,  but no Bighorn sheep, or any other animals to be found.

 

I decided to head through Sturgis just to see main street,  there were no rallys going on, so it eas a pretty dead town.  Headed towards Spearfish canyon.  On the way I went through Deadwood.  Touristy, yes, but with a little class.  This is an old western town with brick streets. 

 

On towards Spearfish Canyon,  first stop was Roughlock Falls. This was an impressive small falls and  definitely worth the stop.  The rest of the canyon towards Spearfish was really nice and peaceful drive.  Too bad I didn’t go this way to Rushmore instead of going through Keystone.  Next time…

 

The drive up to Theodore Rosevelt National Park was through the prairies of South and North Dakota.  Nothing much to see but hundreds of miles of hay bales.  The storm was coming in so not much of a sunset as I set up camp in the national park. 

Badlands National Park

On the way to Badlands,  There are brainwashing signs along the highway for miles and miles advertising Wall Drug.   The two that hooked me were homemade ice cream and a 6 ft rabbit.  So, I stopped at the largest tourist store I have ever been in.  I found the ice cream right away and went in search for the 6 ft. rabbit.   This store has every piece of tourist stuff that could find in almost every gift shop, anywhere,  but all in one place.  Well the ice cream was not that good,  and I couldn’t find the rabbit after 2 passes.  So that was enough it was time to go to the Badlands.

 

Badlands National Park is the edge of what they call the wall.  From the north, it looks like the plains just dropped off,  from the south, the Wall stretched for a hundred miles.  The edge has been eroded to form pinnacles and gullies revealing many different colorful layers of earth.  Some of the mounds were similar to ones I had seen in the Petrified Forest.

 

I thought I had escaped the Texas heat,  but it

has been rather warm the past few days.  Today was just HOT.  It was 96 degrees and high plains desert.  I drove the loop from west to east in the afternoon.  Interesting, but the colors were just not there.  I needed to go back during sunset and sunrise.  I got to the visitor center and campground and decided to wait out the afternoon till sunset.  It was so hot,  for the first time in the camper,  I paid for an electric campsite so that I could run the air conditioner in the camper.  

 

For those who have not read the whole blog,  my camper is solar powered and runs everything I need except for the air conditioner.   Last year,  I only plugged in twice, not because I had too,  but because the campsite was the same price with, or without electricity and I thought I would try it.  I found it not even worth the hassle of getting out the electrical cord.  I did not even plug in Death Valley last year!

 

I got back out about an hour before sunset to go photograph.  Definitely worth the wait.  At one point there was a big horn sheep, silhouetted on the mountain crest.  I got one shot with my normal lens,  and wanted to put on the 400 to get the real shot,  but a ranger pulled up behind me and made me move on.   That would have been a shot for the books.  I turned around down the road to try again, but it was gone.   The rest of the shots were pretty good though.

 

Back to the campsite, with electricity for the night and off towards Theodore Roosevelt National Park tomorrow. 

Wind Cave National Park.

 

 

I made it to Mount Rushmore before sunrise, and was able to hike the president’s trail close to the mountain.  What a wonderful time of day to see the mountain.  I only saw 2 people the whole time and got incredible sunrise colors on the faces.  Breakfast sounded like a good idea, so I waited for the cafeteria to open, and sat with a view of the mountain and free WiFi!  Was able to get some pics and blogs work done and uploaded.  What a nice office for the morning!

I used a whole computer battery, and by the time I left,  there were hundreds of people around.  Good thing I got there early and avoided the masses.   I got a Thomas Jefferson recipe ice cream on the way out,  couldn’t pass that up!

 

 

 

 

Leaving Mt Rushmore, there is the Iron Mountain Scenic road.  This road is a blast!  It has 3 pigtail bridges, and 3 tunnels through the mountain; each having a view of Mt. Rushmore.  This road is very steep and curvy and they said the road could not be built.  If you ever get a chance,  definitely worth the time.

 

From there I drove the wildlife loop through Custer State Park and on to Wind Cave National Park.  Wind Cave was a little more crowded,  there were about 40 people on the tour,  but did not really seem that crowded.  Wind Cave is a dry cave with over 145 miles of explored cave, but the cave is only about 5% explored.   The cave was formed as fractures in the early made the Black hills rise.  Millions of years ago, there was subsurface water that flowed through the cave for a time that dissolved the limestone and left the calcite in a formation called Boxwork.  It is a thin, honeycomb shaped structures on the walls and ceilings.  Wind cave has 95 % of the Boxwork formation in the world. 

 

Next was the Needles Scenic Drive.   This was even more fun than the Iron Mountain drive this morning.  There are 2 tunnels.  The first one was through a crack in the Needles and the tunnel was 8’ 4” wide.  With the mirrors fully extended, the truck and camper are exactly 8’ 4” wide.  I know this because at one point, both mirrors barely grazed the sides of the tunnel.  That was FUN!  There was a guy at the end that was watching intently and was sure I was going to get stuck.  Good thing I know my truck well.  He was really amazed I made it through.

  

I found a campsite in Custer State Park.  Off to Badlands tomorrow.

 

Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse SD

After watching a nice sunrise over the Tower,  I headed towards Mount Rushmore.  I made a  mistake as to the how I arrived.  I went through Keystone,  wow… what a tourist trap.   I thought I would get there earlier in the day so it would not be as hot,  and , incorrectly, thought it would not be as crowded.  I found out later there were almost 30,000 people there that day.  Next time,  I need to make sure to come in from the east and enjoy the Black Hills.

 

I took a few pics,  as I dogged people with Ipads, and decided that coming back for sunrise would be a more peaceful way to enjoy the mountain.   One saving grace is that they had some Thomas Jefferson recipe ice cream. This was probably the best ice cream that I have ever had; it only had 3 ingredients;  Cream, sugar and eggs.  Delicious!

 

 

So next I decided to head towards Crazy Horse Memorial.  It was worse,  9 busloads of people with Ipads were everywhere.  I could hardly take a picture without someone walking in front of me.

 

 

 

It was time to get back to the solitude of a park.  I headed to Jewel Cave National Monument for  a cave tour.  I got there a few minutes before the tour,  and imagine,  only 15 people on the tour.  What a relief!  Jewel cave has a number of different cave formations.  It has some Boxwork formations (more on them it the upcoming Wind Cave blog).  The name comes from the Calcite Crystal formations.  There was also an interesting Fried Egg formation (see pic).  There was also a four foot long soda straw formation (this is the longest I had seen).  Definitely worth the trip.

 

From there, I headed to find a campsite near Mt Rushmore,  so I could get there for sunrise in the morning.  On the way I stumbled across the Naked Winery Tasting room.  Worth stopping for the name alone,  and as a nice surprise, the wine was really good too,  and the whole presentation, and label reading was very entertaining.  After a few tastes,  it was off to the campsite.

Devils Tower National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got up this morning,  enjoyed a nice breakfast, and headed to the hot springs for a soak.  They had an outdoor pool with the 127 Degree water flowing in,  the pools temp in most places was about 104.  They allowed 20 minutes to enjoy the hot springs,  and that was just about right.  I left feeling really refreshed. 

 

On to Devils Tower.  I was not sure quite what to expect,  but when I arrived,  it was better than I could have imagined.  They have a 1.3 mile trail all the way around the tower so you can really see it from all sides and with the different lighting.  You really get a feel for the tower and understand how this is a sacred place for many of the Native Americans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually like the Indian name better – “Bear Lodge”  The legend is that a brother and his seven sisters were out in the woods,  suddenly,  the brother changes into a bear, and starts chasing the sisters,  the sisters find an old stump that tells them to climb on top.  The stump rises towards the heavens,  as the bear claws at the sides to try to get to the sisters.  The stump rose so high that the sisters eventually became the constellation Pleiades.   With the bear (the big dipper) right behind them.

 

After the hike I drove to a viewpoint to watch the sun set over the tower.  After the sun set a thunderstorm rolled in,  and I got some night shots with the lightning illuminating the tower.  It was a nice night.