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The Wanderful View, Las Vegas, NV (2026)

07/04/2023

POV: You’re standing on top of a 750 foot high sand dune in the middle of a 30 square mile dune field in the middle of Colorado.

This is Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, the tallest sand dune in North America. With wind blowing from the Southwest and the Sanger de Cristo Mountains to the Northwest, sand, rock, and sediment was blown and blown again to create the towering dunes.

The National Park and Preserve is a wonderful place to take up some new hobbies like sand boarding and camping, build some new leg muscles as you hike through layers of deep sand to the very top, and hell of a place to capture a great sunset!

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 18-135mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/5.6 1/20, ISO100⁠
📍Great Sand Dunes, Colorado

03/14/2023

The 310,000 acres of Grand Teton National Park encompass not just one, two, three, or four ecosystems, but 5-different ecosystems; the rigid alpine tips of the Teton Range, the dense-green forests, the wildflowers of the meadows ecosystem, the drier plains of the sagebrush communities, and swamps and rivers of the wetlands community, making Grand Teton one of the most biodiverse landscapes in the lower-48.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 18-135mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/8 1/320, ISO100⁠
📍Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

01/14/2023

Why is the water so blue?

No it’s not because of photoshop. Glacier National Park is home to some of the clearest and bluest bodies of water in the lower-48. Why? The turquoise-colored water shown here from Grinnell Lake is due to the glacial melt of the nearby Grinnell Glacier. As the glacier moves, finely grounded sediment called ‘Rock Flour’ is created and mixed with water to create the vibrant hue. The result is so astounding and so beautiful that even Gatorade felt obliged to name their turquoise-colored Glacier Freeze after it. No kidding.

To catch a glimpse of spectacle requires an out-and-back 11.2 mile hike up to Grinnell Glacier from the Many Glacier trailhead, but we promise the views are worth it.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 75-300mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/14 1/50, ISO100⁠
📍Glacier National Park, Montana

01/08/2023

Looking like a depiction straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, the Joshua “Tree” isn’t actually a tree. Contrary to its name, it is actually a “plant” from the Yucca family, popularly found in the dry and arid deserts of the America’s.

However, this particular “plant”, can only be found in the Mojave Desert of the Southwest United States. Its namesake, Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, is home to some of the largest ranging up to almost 50ft.

Joshua Tree National Park is home to hundreds of thousands of Joshua Trees, as well as unique rock formations and cultural history, and offers year-round hiking, rock-climbing, and camping options. It is also one of several International Dark Sky park’s in Southern California offering one of the best places to take in the night sky.

📸 Canon EOS Rebel T3i / EFS 18-55mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/5.6 1/100, ISO100⁠
📍Joshua Tree National Park, California

10/09/2022

Zion in all of its glory ⛰️🤩

For thousands and thousands of years, the Virgin river and wind has slowly been carving Mukuntuweap into what it is know as today… Zion National Park. These changes are still being demonstrated to this day, as the canyon is prone to frequent rockfalls and scenic changes.

From the faintest touch of a pebble falling on you from above, to which the early Native American’s claimed, “we’re from the gods” of their “sacred” canyon, to sweeping rockslides like the one that recently claimed the East Rim Trail, Zion is ever-changing.

In 2018, I was fortunate enough to be able to hike the East Rim Trail by Weeping Rock up to Observation Point. A year later, that trail was wiped completely off the face of the Cable Mountain and buried under 31,000 tons of sandstone and debris. While luckily no one was severely hurt, the trail may never open again and another part of Zion is forever changed.  What you may see today may be forever changed tomorrow, but it will always be Zion. I guess that’s another reason that makes this place so magnificent.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 10-22mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/16 1/50, ISO100⁠
📍Zion National Park, Utah

09/26/2022

Welcome to the Badlands of Death Valley. Zabriskie Point in the low lying Death Valley overlooks what seems as a carefully painted masterpiece. Caused by drying lakes, lava, sinking sands, uptilts, and erosion, Zabriskie Point and the badlands that it overlooks create a geological maze that makes you feel like you’re walking on the surface of Tatooine (multiple scenes from Star Wars were filmed here). Not to mention, that it is one of the best places to catch a sunrise or sunset in Death Valley National Park.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 10-22mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/14 1/80, ISO100⁠
📍Death Valley National Park, California

08/04/2022

“America’s Switzerland”– or at least that’s what some early explorers came to call it.

The Great Northern Railway used that slogan in the early 1900’s in order to lure visitors to Glacier National Park. Even so much so, the Great Northern Railway constructed numerous Swiss-style Chalets throughout the park, even having hotel staff dress in Swiss-inspired uniforms. And it’s easy to see why they were so inspired by the Swiss Alps. With an endless canvas of melting glaciers, alpine meadows, carved valleys, and spectacular lakes, Glacier National Park really are the alps of America.

Oh, and they don’t really have a problem luring visitors to Glacier National Park anymore - the park see’s an average of 3 million visitors a year.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 10-22mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/7.1, 1/250, ISO100⁠
📍Glacier National Park, Montana

07/31/2022

Have you ever questioned the nature of your own reality?

It’s clear why it’s called Park Avenue. With sandstone walls towering upwards of 600 feet on both sides, walking the heavily trafficked trail down Park Avenue seems just like its industrial counterpart in New York City, yet you’re surrounded by the tranquillity, peace, and quiet that makes you feel like your right in the middle of a scene from “Westworld”.

That’s right! Arches National Park and the surrounding Moab area was used for filming of the hit HBO series “Westworld”. Make sure to plan a stop here to feel like a human among giants…

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 10-22mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/16, 1/25, ISO100⁠
📍Arches National Park, Utah

04/22/2022

Happy Earth Day from the Grand Canyon. 🍃 🍂

Largely considered one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, no place is more awe-inspiring on Earth than the 6,000 foot deep and 18 mile wide steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River. The Grand Canyon is a time-capsule of the evolution through nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history.

The Grand Canyon encapsulates all of the seasons as well; The Mojave Desert to the west, High hills that lend to cold and snowy forests to the north, sweeping valleys of the Sonoran Desert to the east and the forestry terrain to the south. The Grand Canyon is truly a product of nature.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 10-22mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/3.5, 1/20, ISO100⁠
📍Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

04/19/2022

There’s a lot of beauty in Death Valley 🏜

While most notably known for being one of the hottest places on earth, Death Valley National Park is also the driest and lowest place in the US, as well largest national park in the continental US.

But don’t let that leave a gloomy outlook on the park, Death Valley is home to a colorful landscape of oxidized volcanic deposits among a variety of geological features including salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It’s like a mini Tatooine. 😉

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 18-135mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/5, 1/30, ISO100⁠
📍Death Valley National Park, California

04/15/2022

All along the Waterpocket Fold. ⛰

Welcome to Fruita, the heart of Capitol Reef National Park. This aptly-named historic district is home to multiple orchards containing over 2,000 fruit and nut trees originally planted by early Mormon Pioneers.

All the while, the tiny homestead is just a blip among the breathtaking landscape of dramatic cliffs, gorges, domes, and natural bridges that make up Capitol Reef National Park, giving it a uniqueness that’s always ready to be discovered.

📸 Canon EOS 90D / EFS 18-135mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/14, 1/80, ISO100⁠
📍Capitol Reef National Park, Uta

04/09/2022

Nothing like a Joshua Tree sunset 🌅

Designated as a National Park in 1994, doesn’t seem like much at first… That is until you descend on into the 1,242 square miles of vast Joshua Tree forests, playgrounds of giant granite rocks and boulders, and the ecology of two merging deserts, the Mojave and the Sonoran.

Even more magical is when the sun is at its lowest. Sunrises and Sunsets cast beautiful landscapes of colors and shadows that make the park seem outer-worldly. And don’t forget about the night-sky as Joshua Tree is also designated as an International Dark Sky Park.

📸 Canon EOS T3i / EFS 18-55mm⁠
⚙️ ƒ/3.5, 1/50, ISO100⁠
📍Joshua Tree National Park, California

The Wanderful View

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