Album Your favorites from 2016

Dave · Dec 19, 2016

Like @Nick and @Artemus , my year started at Ahlstrom Point.

Significantly, I made three first-time visits to national parks in 2016. Death Valley in March for the super bloom...

Glacier in July...

...and Hawaii Volcanoes in December.

Also on the first-time list, Valley of Fire.

Squeezed in between, as much river time as I could manage. Dark Canyon by packraft...

Ruby-Horsethief on Nick's new raft.

And, as time permitted, old favorites. Goblin Valley...

Canyonlands...

Grand Staircase-Escalante...

...and of course, the Uintas.

Laura · Dec 19, 2016

Artemus said:
Great photography! I love the purple one.

"And of course, my favorite trip of all was in March, when Stan and I ran off to the Cook Islands and eloped!"

- AND congrats!

Thank you so much Artemus! And what an awesomely cool name you have.

Artemus · Dec 19, 2016

Dave said:
Like @Nick and @Artemus , my year started at Ahlstrom Point.

View attachment 51125

Significantly, I made three first-time visits to national parks in 2016. Death Valley in March for the super bloom...

View attachment 51129

Glacier in July...

View attachment 51133

View attachment 51134

...and Hawaii Volcanoes in December.

View attachment 51136

Also on the first-time list, Valley of Fire.

View attachment 51130

Squeezed in between, as much river time as I could manage. Dark Canyon by packraft...

View attachment 51127

Ruby-Horsethief on Nick's new raft.

View attachment 51131

And, as time permitted, old favorites. Goblin Valley...

View attachment 51126

Canyonlands...

View attachment 51132

Grand Staircase-Escalante...

View attachment 51135

...and of course, the Uintas.

View attachment 51128

Extremely well captured Dave!

o2bav8 · Dec 19, 2016

I bought a Sea Eagle Kayak this year and absolutely fell in love with it... it has cut into my hiking miles but now I've started some adventures doing both.
First adventure was kayaking into lower Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell & then hiking up canyon

One of my favorite trips this year was to Warm Creek Bay. Kayaked down to the Castle Rock Cutoff. It was over 8 miles one way and it was quite the adventure. Loved the look on my face, it was a very raw moment & a feeling of accomplishment. Would eventually kayak over 20 miles that day.

A big surprise this year was finding a slot canyon in the Arizona wilderness via a local lake.
The wall are volcanic instead of sandstone, quite unusual and made for a fun adventure.

I finally made it to Happy Canyon this year. Quite remote, rugged and beautiful. Already planning another trip in 2017.

Moonshine Wash was another amazing place to visit.

Finally, another buck-list item checked off, Rim-To-Rim-Rim hike of the Grand Canyon. Never thought 27 miles in one day could be so easy!
I suppose the scenery helps a little...

Yvonne · Dec 19, 2016

Dave said:
I'm very impressed by the quality of what you got at HVNP. I went out on the water one morning but the weather and seas were so rough, almost nothing came out. Steam clouds were extremely thick as well, limiting clear views of the ocean entry. Very nicely done.

so sorry to hear that conditions weren't perfect when you were there. There is so much lava entering the ocean right now that it's really hard to find a day without thick steam. But it happens, I see the images Shane posts during his tours.
I wished you had a perfect day out there, because it's so amazing to see.
I guess I was pretty lucky as well

gnwatts · Dec 20, 2016

Dave said:
Like @Nick and @Artemus , my year started at Ahlstrom Point.

View attachment 51125

Significantly, I made three first-time visits to national parks in 2016. Death Valley in March for the super bloom...

View attachment 51129

Glacier in July...

View attachment 51133

View attachment 51134

...and Hawaii Volcanoes in December.

View attachment 51136

Also on the first-time list, Valley of Fire.

View attachment 51130

Squeezed in between, as much river time as I could manage. Dark Canyon by packraft...

View attachment 51127

Ruby-Horsethief on Nick's new raft.

View attachment 51131

And, as time permitted, old favorites. Goblin Valley...

View attachment 51126

Canyonlands...

View attachment 51132

Grand Staircase-Escalante...

View attachment 51135

...and of course, the Uintas.

View attachment 51128

Beautiful shots. You had a good year.

gnwatts · Dec 20, 2016

This one is a favorite more on an emotional level. @slc_dan playing his guitar and singing in the Cathedral in the Desert, with @Nick and @Artemus. A sublime experience. Thanks Dan.

Vegan.Hiker · Dec 21, 2016

Some of my favorite outdoor moments this year.

Sandy Hook, NJ in February

Manasquan, NJ in March

Heart Lake, Adirondacks, NJ in March

Summit of Algonquin Mountain, Adirondacks, NY in March

Avalanche Pass, Adirondacks, NY in March

Needles CNP in April

Druid Arch, CNP in April

Paddling down Meander Canyon with @Chuck the Mauler

Looking back down at the Colorado from the Maze, CNP

Last night camping in the Maze near the Dollhouse.

Stowe, Vermont in May

My wife and Joey eating lunch on the summit of Camel's Hump, VT

Mount Mansfield, VT

Heading down Mansfield looking out on Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest

Cascade Mountain, Adirondacks, NY in June

Paddling the swamps in Trap Pond State Park, DE in June

A week hiking in Acadia National Park, Maine in August. Will eventually get around to writing a TR.

Seals chilling on the rocks

A bittersweet memory. Taking Gus my favorite rescue dog for a hike in the Catskills.

Unfortunately, after a rough life, he succumbed to Cancer before he could find a family to call his own. This picture was later used on the cover of our Annual Calendar.

Spent a lot of time with our wonderful dogs this year. This is adoptable (and still available) Daisy

Added a new member of our family when we adopted Lucy.

I have to be fair and give Joey some airtime too.

Not outdoors obviously but I really like this iPhone pic I got at a concert (M83 at Terminal 5, NYC in October)

Edit: Adding in a picture from my wife's 30th birthday celebration this week. The bar at Rolf's in NYC.

gnwatts · Dec 27, 2016

Glen Canyon:

Somewhere on the Colorado:

Ruby Horsethief:

Cathedral in the Desert.

Waiting for the shade.

I was tempted to add @Dave kitty pants, but I posted it before. It was clearly the obvious choice for best kitty pants shot of the year.

Dave · Dec 27, 2016

gnwatts said:
It was clearly the obvious choice for best kitty pants shot of the year.

This is one honor I feel confident I could win.

blueeyes · Dec 30, 2016

Didn't get out as much as I would have liked. My summers have been pretty tied up the last couple of years. Also I am glad to see 2016 go. Here is to finding balance in 2017. May more adventure and sunrises be in the new year.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

gnwatts · Dec 30, 2016

I have posted these before, but they are a few of my favorites.

Park below our house, Carbondale, Co:

Snowmass Peak

Bridal Veil Falls, Telluride:

Mt. Sopris, near Carbondale Co:

Sneffels Range near Ridgeway, co

Scott Chandler · Jan 2, 2017

2016 was in many ways a weird and awful year, yet it also saw some of the best outdoor experiences of my life. So in chronological order, here's what I have for the top ten adventures of 2016.

January- Druid Arch
Druid Arch in Canyonlands NP had long been on my hitlist. A large snowstorm had just blown through, and turned what would have been a sizable hike into a beast. Because of snow and ice, this was actually one of the crazier adventures I've ever had. It wasn't a wise choice, but the snow also scared away any chance of people, so I had an exquisite journey.

March- Coyote Gulch
Coyote Gulch was another spot that had long been on my hitlist. It epitomizes the Glen Canyon that once was, now lost under Lake Powell. My brother joining me on his first backpacking trip was icing on the cake.

March- Cedar Mesa
One shocking discovery of the year was that Cedar Mesa had not been on my hit list. AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. The canyons are beyond gorgeous. The archeological history is so prolific and seemingly intact. It seems like an endless potential for adventure and discovery. It's also now (as in the past week) protected in the Bear's Ears National Monument!

May- The Valley of 10,000 Smokes
Wilderness is a land of many meanings. The wilderness of Alaska takes that to a whole new level. Moving to the park service after years of being a forest service wilderness ranger, I wanted to distance myself from wilderness, try to talk about different things. Venturing out into the Valley of 10000 Smokes demonstrated how I can't leave that behind. Come on, a volcano created a landscape that looks like nothing else. Wild. This place also threw two very different experiences at me, the beautiful, mind blowing side seen in this picture, and a deadly, fierce side that was one of the worse and yet surreal moments of my life.

July- Brooks Camp
I could fill a top 100 list with pictures of bears. Getting to spend the summer around Katmai's brown bears was magic. There is no other word for it. This best encapsulates the essence of the wonder. Bears don't nurse their cubs in full view of people just anywhere. The drama of life. Yeah. Bear 128 and her three spring cubs. I thought I could stay objective with the bears, then I connected with this family. Some of the most magical moments I've ever witnessed happened with these bears.

August- Brooks Camp
The night sky is a familiar sight for me, so much so that I'm currently a night sky ranger. So when I went to Alaska, the chance to see something different in that night sky was tantalizing. On one fatefull night, the clouds cleared, the sun was active, and my awesome roommate woke me up. Mindblowing.

September- Brooks Camp
September bears. Words don't describe how amazing watching these tubby bears was. It was so great that I decided to add another bear picture to my top ten.

September- Harding Icefield
Climate change was always something hard to wrap my head around. Not that I didn't believe, it was just intangible, some things are simply too big. Then I saw glaciers. I cried, a lot, seeing these gods of the Earth melt away. This Icefield will be where I will have to bring kids to see ancient ice, theirs may not see any. Meeting the glaciers has been life changing.

November- Big Bend National Park
One thing that was truly different this year was the fact that I spent it with people. Many of these adventures were spent with loved ones, and that added to the experience in ways that I didn't imagine. Visiting friends in Big Bend, a place I likely wouldn't have visited without them being there, exeplifies that change in my life. Love y'all!

December- Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Now I'm in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I'm being paid to do what I love over a winter. It feels like a good "growing up" step. The Sonoran Desert is beautiful and all its aspects are intricately entwined. The amount of learning and discovery going on is tremendous. Oh yeah, and I'm being paid to play with telescopes. This is awesome.

Here's to hoping 2017 is another awesome year!!

chandlerwest · Jan 3, 2017

2016 had the continuation of an adventure started in 2015. Exploring the drainages of eastern Zion National Park. The 2nd best outdoor idea I have had. (The 1st being working in Glacier National Park in 1985). @Scott Chandler and @Jeffrey Chandler, my sons, were able to come along a couple times.

When a natural wonder occurs you HAVE to do everything to witness it. In March I went to the SuperBloom in Death Valley. 12 plus hours wondering aimlessly around the desert, literally dropping in awe at what was at my feet. Those who have ever spent time on a trail with me know that I am in my element around wildflowers. I don't think the smile ever left my face, all day.

My brother asked me "what was pollinating all this?" Then he saw this picture. "Oh....it was you!"

Our two trips to Glacier National Park in 2016 are well documented in their trip reports. http://backcountrypost.com/threads/glacier-natl-park-august-off-trail-adventures.6094/#post-72968 Jeff worked on me to get my out of my comfort zone and took me to incredible sites.

Then Scott went to Katmai National Park in Alaska. You would think that he was so far removed from home that there could be no sharing of this experience. But thru the webcams I was able to watch the bears at Brooks Falls during the summer. Getting to know them and best yet....being able to talk to Scott about them. This picture of Scott's represents the summer that I spent with him in Katmai. It is Otis educating Walker on the subject of "Personal Boundaries:.

Yvonne · Jan 4, 2017

quite a few more shots happened to be taken after I posted my last ones.
I'm back on the Big Island and played big with fire and water.

one of the last images before the entire delta collapsed hours later. I was standing past the fenced off area, like all photographer.s But it's your own risk when you hike out at 4am in the morning. Still pretty scary to think about that the entire thing is gone

close up view from the boat

Keahole Point

then of course some winter goodness before I went to Hawai'i

above Sundance

Snowy trees in the Uintas

North Fork trail , Uintas

wsp_scott · Jan 10, 2017

Miss Buffalo said:
quite a few more shots happened to be taken after I posted my last ones.
I'm back on the Big Island and played big with fire and water.

one of the last images before the entire delta collapsed hours later. I was standing past the fenced off area, like all photographer.s But it's your own risk when you hike out at 4am in the morning. Still pretty scary to think about that the entire thing is gone

close up view from the boat
North Fork trail , Uintas

I love all your volcano/lava photos, having never seen flowing lava in person I'm having a hard time processing them from a photographer's point of view. What shutter speeds and apertures are "standard" for something like these two? Tripod or handheld? Very much post processing?

Yvonne · Jan 10, 2017

wsp_scott said:
I love all your volcano/lava photos, having never seen flowing lava in person I'm having a hard time processing them from a photographer's point of view. What shutter speeds and apertures are "standard" for something like these two? Tripod or handheld? Very much post processing?

Thank you

Many of my lava shots were taken from a boat roughly 50-100 ft away from the flow and also that far away from shoreline. Because the boat is moving, no tripod. It was dark, so I needed to pump up the ISO quite a bit at the beginning.
The second shot was taken from the boat with these settings:
ISO 3200 with a Sony A 6000
FOCAL LENGTH 95.0 mm (95.0 mm in 35mm)
APERTURE f/7.1
EXPOSURE TIME 0.01s (1/100)

Not much post processing needed.

The first shot was taken from the lava viewing area just a few days before it entirely collapsed into the ocean. I used my full frame Nikon D610 plus a 70-200mm lens.
I used these setting for the shot:

ISO 100
FOCAL LENGTH 200.0 mm (200.0 mm in 35mm)
APERTURE f/8
EXPOSURE TIME 0.6s (0.6)

most of the time it's a bit of trial and error, but after shooting for several weeks last year I really got the idea which settings to use.
I was lucky enough to spend about 2 months out there last year and hiked out almost 30 times and went on the boat for roughly 10-12 times.
I still need to learn a lot but I'm getting there where I want to be.

I will post another trip report soon of the time I spent out there and will talk a bit about the challenges.

slc_dan · Jan 11, 2017

A different year for be, but enjoyable. A lot has changed in my life with the coming of my first child, Leah. Still, a good year.

I started the year at Alstrom Point with photo's already shared, great shots @Nick, @Dave, @Artemus.

I really enjoyed this short canyon on the same trip

https://flic.kr/p/C3dyiY
My first foray into winter backpacking. I'll do this more in the future, but I'll stay in the Desert for the time being.
Miller Creek, Southern Waterpocketfold

@Artemus took me on a little ski tour, which I'd like to do more in the future. Climbing purchases this year kept me from getting the gear.

I got my revenge on the Gulch. Always feels good to knock off a nemesis.

Drove some of the monuments with my 7 month pregnant wife. Damn she's tough.

Had a wonderful trip to Powell Climbing the Rincon with @Artemus, @gnwatts, and @Nick.

@ 6 weeks old we took my daughter on a "Baby Moon." Two weeks through Leah's first 4 National Parks. Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Cascades. Leah has 8 bag nights this year!

I snuck a night into the Uinta's. With my best friend Mya.

I had the great pleasure of yellow cottonwoods against a redrock canyon with @NateGeesaman . (I took my guitar down here, currently working on a video)

Wife baby and I got a few nights in Joshua Tree, tragically my best photos were deleted.

Last trip of the season, Stayed in @NateGeesaman's Cabin, and enjoyed some of the beautiful land of GSENM- Thanks for the land protection Bill!

Great year. Thanks for sharing, and enjoying everyone!
https://flic.kr/p/PRuyp5

Ross · Jan 23, 2017

@Dan_85 Beautiful shots. What's the name of that canyon on Slovenia with the lovely blue water?

Curt · Feb 1, 2017

I looked at everyone's pictures in this thread. Really great stuff. I'm going to go look at them all again after I post this.

I didn't get out a lot this year partly due to some health challenges. Getting old sucks. But I did have some memorable trips and thought I'd add some pictures. Most, if not all of these, can be found elsewhere on this website.

First up are pictures from a hike from Lipan Point to Grandview Point at the Grand Canyon.