Best Photos of 2012

Panoramic view from Trail Crest on the way back from Mt. Whitney The year is over, and I’m putting the coda on all of the adventures I’ve had this year. I’ve taken some good (and some not so good) photos along the way. I’m putting up a gallery of my favorite shots of 2012. Visually, this is a good representation of the variety of experiences – intimate, expansive, majestic, comical, unexpected, and awe-inspiring – that I’ve had doing this.If you have ever wished of doing something grand in your life, here is the visual proof that you get what you pay for.

Anza-Borrego Desert from the Pacific Crest Trail

Kelly Creek in Big Basin State Park

Big Laguna Lake

New black oak leaves in spring

Half-blind bobcat

California buckwheat on a fall morning

Half Dome viewed from Cloud’s Rest

Crescent Meadow

Sunlight shining through the oaks on the Doane Valley Trail

Foxtail Pine Snag

On the Gabrielino Trail in Santa Anita Canyon

Golden black oak leaves in the morning shadows

Intimate details at Grand Prismatic Spring

Snow-blown cedars at the summit of Palomar Mountain



Full-bloom on the Holy Jim Trail

Ant’s-eye view at Hemmingway Buttress

Lone bovine on Kanaka Flat

Lava Lake in the Gallatin Mountains

Lodgepole Pines at dawn in Yellowstone National Park

San Gorgonio seen from Mt. San Jacinto



Sunrise lighting on Mt. Whitney

Below the Oceanside Pier

Douglas Firs on the way up to Palomar Mountain

Ryan Mountain at dawn

Sequoia Roots

Boney Mountain with Serrano Valley in the foreground

Tenaya Lake at dawn

Sunrise from Trail Crest

Bison caught in Yellowstone traffic

Fungus at Palomar Mountain

Oceanside Sunset

Point Mugu and the Channel Islands

View from San Antonio Ski Hut on the way up to Mt. Baldy