Category: Adventures

Rae Lakes Loop – We came, we saw, we didn’t conquer! Kinda…

Ok, we needn’t get into the finer details, but the one silver lining of our failed attempt to backpack the entirety of the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park was that we got to spend the week in Yosemite National Park’s Tuolumne Meadows instead – a rare case when the consolation prize turned into the Grand Prize!

It started off innocent enough – the group that I completed the High Divide Loop in Olympic National Park a few years ago, wanted to do another backpacking trip and how was I to say no? This time, we decided on the Rae Lakes Loop in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, a popular backpacking loop in the Sierras.

We spent a few weeks planning and preparing and hyping and training (OK, maybe not the training…), so once the group met up at the Kings Canyon Campground and we secured our permits, we were ready. We were ready to do this. So let’s do this!

We had our final ‘real meal’ at the campground lodge, hoisted our 40 pound packs on our backs, and hidey-hoe’d our way through the first 2 or 3 miles quite painlessly.

And then the real trek began…

As we proceeded deeper into the canyon, the elevation gains became more and more apparent and as we meandered alongside South Fork Kings River, brushing by waterfalls like Mist Falls and the subsequence cascades, we covered roughly 1700 feet over the next 4 miles or so. The scenery and surroundings were absolutely fit for gods, however, the scorching midday sun bouncing off the white granite walls surrounding us was more fit for devils.

We made it to the Middle Paradise campground for our first night just in time to set up camp and stoke a fire as the final rays of the days sun slithered away through the pine canopy.

The next morning began a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. Originally, we thought we’d be able to cover more mileage per day, but a combination of ridiculously idyllic spots to stop at, pools to swim in, pictures to set up for and be had (sorry…it’s an addiction…) made us quickly realize if we tried to cover as much as we thought we’d be able to each day, we would have no time, energy or wherewithall to stop and enjoy it all.

Being as we were looking at two back-to-back days of over 2500 feet elevation covering about the same distance ahead of us, we had some thinking to do…

Could we have done it? Sure.

Should we have done it? Maybe.

But the discussion centered around the fact that we see each other maybe once a year, perhaps every other year, so did we want to bond through treachery and pain simply to satisfy our pride and egos, or was the point of this to enjoy as many moments of the few days that we had together?

As everyone began packing their packs, it seemed the tide was tilting towards the latter.

As soon as I uttered the phrase “well, if we do decide to turn back now, we’re only a couple hours from Yosemite, and Tuolumne Meadows is open this time of year…”, it was over.

Being as how Tuolumne is only open 3 to 5 months of the year, there was little chance we were going to pass on seizing that opportunity.

So we packed our packs, headed back down the 8 miles we came, got into our cars, and made our way out of Kings Canyon and a couple hundred miles north to the next National Park in the Sierras, Yosemite National Park.

We made the obligatory stop at Tunnel View, and drove the valley loop just to show it off to a couple of Yosemite newbs in the group, and then left the circus that is the summer crowds of the valley behind as we made our way up Tioga Road, which just opened for the season a few weeks back. For those unfamiliar, Tioga Road is the route that takes you from the western side of the Sierras into Tuolumne Meadows at the top of the valley, and this is the part of the park that’s only open a few months of the year. The rest of the time, it’s snowed in.

For a quick primer, Tuolumne Meadows and this northern upper ledge of Yosemite National Park is the source of the waterfalls that cascade down into Yosemite Valley, including the famous Yosemite Falls themselves. It’s also at the final (or first) leg of the John Muir Trail (JMT) begins, (or ends, depending on which way you take it).

After failing to secure a campsite the first night and taking a nap in a motel in Lee Vining, just outside the eastern entrance to Tuolumne, we were at the ranger station a few hours later at 5:30am the following morning and were able to secure a site once the first-come-first-serve batch began processing at 8am.

We set up camp, and began our Tuolumne adventures. Over the next 4 days, we explored nooks and crannies and trails and lakes and rivers and mountains and meadows and wildflowers all throughout this alpine-level northern ledge of Yosemite National Park.

And it was glorious!!!!!

Everything we had asked for and hoped for came to fruition here in Tuolumne.

Do I wish we had finished the Rae Lakes Loop instead? One the one hand, yes – it would have been nice to finish what we set out to do. On the other hand, absolutely not. The time we got to spend in Tuolumne Meadows is time none of us will ever forget. The conditions were perfect, the environment was, well, YOSEMITE, and it was beyond evident that none of us regretted it.

And selfishly, I’ve wanted to return to Tuolumne Meadows, a region of the park that’s only open a portion of each year, since my first, and only time there 6 years ago, when I only had an appetizer – a single day – and have been craving the main course ever since.

Would I have been able to sit and wait for a deer to walk into the perfect sliver of fading sunlight as she drank from the banks of a river? No.

Would I have been able to marinate on the shore of an alpine lake for hours and watch the clouds drift by as those sunset rays draped the trees and mountaintops in the distance? No.

Would I have been able to lie on a slab of granite for an hour while a Park Ranger gave me a tour of the cosmos? No.

So while I didn’t get to cross Rae Lakes Loop off my list (this time), I still got to cross a proper and comprehensive trip to Tuolumne off my list – and to be fair, that has been on that list for much longer…

In any case, here’re are a series of images captures over the week from Kings Canyon Seqouia National Park as well as Yosemite National Park.

Hope you dig…

Aaaaaand…there’s always more where that came from on the Instagrams: @wasimofnazareth

The strawberry moon. That’s what they called this one. And that strawberry moon gifted me the opportunity of a lifetime.

But let’s start at the beginning.

About a year ago, I first met the founders and owners of Oakwood Gardens when I was assigned to photograph one of their cottages for Airbnb. When I drove onto that property, I did NOT expect to be greeted by a field of alpaca.

Alpaca have long been one of my favorite animals simply for their uncanny ability to coax a smile, and often an out-loud-laugh, out of me, no matter my mood or condition.

They just do that.

Apparently, Michael and Julie Saffley are some of the foremost experts on alpaca, being amongst the first to bring them to the states back in 1984. Since then, they have helped build the now thriving alpaca industry and started charities such as Quechua Benefit, in Peru to help the disadvantaged and poverty stricken indigenous peoples of the Peruvian highlands (which I have a feeling we’ll be hearing more about as there are a few projects involving Quechua we are currently discussing).

In any case, during that shoot, I asked the owner if I could come back one day and shoot the alpacas in 360 video (Virtual Reality) and she agreed.

Well, that didn’t happen immediately, or even soon after, as Oregon sees actual seasons and wet winters aren’t exactly the best time to try to take expensive optical electronics out into a pasture.

As luck would have it, a couple of months back I was assigned to shoot another one of the Airbnb units, this time a converted barn, and best of all, the season was Spring.

Perfect! The reunion hath be upon us!

During that shoot, Julie Safley indulged me and put me in the midst of a pasture of alpaca to capture the Greatest 90 Seconds Of 360 Virtual Reality Video In The History Of Life – Alpaca Therapy at Oakwood Gardens.

And it was glorious!!!

Which brings me back to the strawberry moon of June 17, 2019.

It was during that shoot that Julie asked if she could hire me to stay the night on the property, in that very converted barn I was now familiar with, to spend the sunset, strawberry moonrise, strawberry moonset, and sunrise shooting photos around her impeccable gardens.

Some things you just do NOT say no to.

While we were a bit unfortunate in that the moonrise and moonset were mostly obstructed by low-lying clouds, the light was still incredible and had me meandering excitedly around the 7-acre gardens to play and shoot and pet alpacas and play and shoot and feed alpaca and do it all over again.

Here are some of the images captured during that night & morning.

And click here for more information on the VR video.

Finally, go buy some alpaca stuff from Alpacas.com. Proceeds go to Quechua Benefit, the non-profit they founded in 1996 to help break the cycle of poverty amongst under-served communities in the highlands of Peru.

It’s all good.

All of it.

And for more all the things:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth 

I have no idea how it happened, when it happened, and if it wasn’t for these images as proof, if it even ever happened at all. It seems like just yesterday I packed up all my stuff and migrated to Portland, Oregon. But apparently it was many many yesterdays ago. So just for documentary’s sake, here’s the evidence of my third consecutive Spring in the Pacific Northwest – some of my favorite images from the past few months here. Hope you dig’.

Not too long ago, I shared a post about my adventures shooting 360 in our country’s heartland and some of the eye-opening adventures along the way. Well, then Winter came and most of that gone done kaput – no one really wants to shoot their beautiful destinations in the midst of leave-less trees, mud, and colorless gardens. Well, we’re back in shooting season again, and the first destination client Miles Partnership sent Superswell VR, my Virtual Reality production company, was to Grand County, Colorado, along right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park looking upon the great Continental Divide. We were there to capture some of the prime destinations in both traditional still photographs and 360 images for Google Street View.

Here are a few scenes , mostly from one of my favorite stops on the shot list, the ridiculously stunning Devil’s Thumb Ranch, that I managed to bring back from a whirlwind trip to the Rockies.

For the 360s, keep an eye on a Google Map or Google Street View soon…

T’was a crisp winter’s day in the mountains high above the city is where this tale hath begin…

For real though, it wasn’t just crisp, it was frickin’ freezing! I was up in Welches, Oregon, essentially the gateway from Portland to Mount Hood, to shoot a property for sale in the area for a client. She offered me run of the condo if I wanted to stay a few nights, and being as the mountain was covered in fresh snow from the day before, my camera would not allow me to say no.

I Turo‘d myself a snow-ready all-wheel drive, snow-tire-laden Audi Q3 (for a ridiculous $30/day!? I heart you sharing economy) and headed on up the mountain.

While it was cloudy and overcast much of the first day, I took advantage of that time to shoot the interiors (figured I should probably do the job I was actually up there for…), with one eye on the weather forecast for any opportunity the following day. It showed partial sun that afternoon, so took a gamble, grabbed my camera bag, bundled up, drove to the trailhead and started hiking my way up to Mirror Lake.

And that was the day this Pacific Northwesterner in his sophomore year learned the value of snowshoes. Not because I had them, but because I didn’t, and EVERYONE else did! It was about 2.5 miles each way, and about a half dozen hikers or so that I passed were taking the snow-covered trail like it was nothing. Meanwhile, me and my hiking boots huffed and puffed and slipped and slid my way through the thing. I even had to retire one of my trekking poles on this one (don’t ask why…). It didn’t help matters when one set of hikers on the way back down saw my tripod and figured to boost my morale by explaining “Mount Hood is covered in clouds. Can’t see a thing.”

And, as a I found out about 30 minutes later, they were right.

Sort of.

She was definitely covered up.

And at first I was a bit bummed, but then I looked around at the sky and there were patches of sun raining down on stands of trees surrounding the snow-covered lake bed. I figured it wouldn’t be a complete loss as I was already seeing some ridiculously idyllic winter-wonderland frames all around me.

And then, just before the sun began to set, she decided to give me a short, but glorious, reminder of who’s in charge here. For about 15 minutes, Mount Hood decided to pop out of her office, just to remind me who’s boss.

At the perfect time.

With the perfect light.

And the perfect colors on the perfect clouds.

I could not have asked for a better scene. It was THE very image I was hunting for.

Had I been 15 minutes earlier or 15 minutes later, I would have missed that opportunity (and had I had snowshoes, I probably would have been).

Anywho, here she is, hope you dig…

And here’s some some more zen moments from those few glorious days in the mountains.

And for more of my riffer raffers and wacker knackers:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth 
ello: @wasimofnazareth 

Finally, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

As a self-employed freelancer you spend most of your life looking for jobs, bidding for jobs, creating decks and proposals and quotes and presentations for jobs and, if you’re lucky, about 15 to 20% of your time actually doing jobs.

Furthermore, more often than not, 80% of those jobs that you’re actually doing are ones you don’t even want to do but have to do to pay the bills.

But every now and then you get a gig that reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing to begin with.

One of those gigs where you have to stop, slap and ask yourself “Am I seriously getting PAID for this!??”

Well, this was one of those gigs…

My VR company, Superswell VR, was asked by the SITKA Center for Art & Ecology to produce a 360 virtual reality tour of their campus – a campus that sits at the trailhead of one of the most spectacular spots on the Oregon coast – Cascade Head.

This was basically a retreat – I was given an apartment, a studio to work in, free reign of the property, as well as the 80-acre homestead attached to it where the founders still live, and I was surrounded by artists, creatives, happy smiley people, all of whom’s demeanors couldn’t hide the fact that they were just happy to be.

Just…

to be.

It’s the kind of place where you wake up to random Buddhist chanting from the art studio next door, then an hour later, you find yourself sipping your coffee to the sounds of bells and Native American song wafting in your windows from the other side of campus.

I got to witness collage classes and calligraphy classes and painting classes – all these workshops of which are strewn about and between the various studios and nooks and crannies across the campus.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the aforementioned ‘I’m getting PAID for this’ moment solidified itself when I found myself meandering through old growth forest that led to…well…THIS:

One of the most glorious spots I’ve stood on so far in my journey in the Pacific Northwest.

The confluence of the Pacific Ocean meeting at an estuary at the headwaters of the Salmon River.

Within that 3 hour period I saw someone catch 2 Chinook Salmon in the river, made my way through glorious old-growth coastal forest on Nature Conservancy land where an owl announced its presence by silently gliding through the canopy like an oracle demanding your undivided attention, and broke through that forest about 1000 feet of elevation later for my first glimpse of the landscape from above.

Then, on your way back, as you sing your way through this mystical Hobbit land under the twilight, a family of feeding deer go prancing by you.

Forty-five seconds later, you find yourself followed by a herd of elk – it could have been 15 to 20 of them – and, being no more than 20 yards from them – I stood mesmerized. As soon as one turned it’s head towards me, and the herd followed his lead in unison, I realized I had no idea if they were dangerous or not.

So I Googled are elk dangerous (yes, that happened). And that’s when I extended my tripod to have it on the ready and made my way out…

Needless to say, the SITKA Center is a pretty impressive and special little place. With it’s robust programming and its artist-in-residence programs and its location…oh its location…you couldn’t find a better way to spend a weekend…or a week…or a month.

This is a haven.

An oasis buried on the edge of the forest where the trees dramatically meet the ocean.

The meeting of life.

This.

This is the meeting of life.

To view and experience the VR video, hosted by Sitka founder Frank Boyden, here it is on YouTube (best experienced in a VR headset, but still beyond awesome to drag around and see in all directions on your phone or browser):

And for you Veer.Tv’ers, here’s that link.

And for the Samsung VR and Google Daydream crowds, click this one.

Finally, if you were in the Portland, Oregon area last weekend and happened upon the Sitka Invitational at the World Forestry Center, amongst a plethora of ecology-inspired art, you might have had a chance to actually check it out in live VR demos!!

Now do your soul a favor, go book yourself a Sitka workshop.

Trust me, it’s impossible to be disappointed…

And for more of my wabber scabbers and raff riffs:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth 
ello: @wasimofnazareth 
google+: +WasimMuklashy

And of course, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

For all of you that know me, you know that there are few things more important to me than ensuring that not another generation goes by that doesn’t connect to Mother Nature and understand her importance and role in every aspect of our lives, from clean air we breathe to the water we drink.

I will do everything in my power to ensure that not another single generation goes by downplaying the effects of climate change and the role we humans play in it.

And one of the things that I’m proudest of is getting involved with Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors (ECO).

ECO is a non-profit based in Portland, Oregon who’s sole mission is to connect kids to nature. We do this through both in-classroom educational programs as well as in-the-field service learning programs.

Through this year, I’ve had the chance to join them on several outings, in several classrooms, at several events, and see what and how something as simple as holding a snail can make a lasting impact on a kid’s life and psyche.

It’s beautiful.

And playing testament to the voracity and resonance of ECO’s mission is what has happened this year.

Let me explain.

Over the course of the past 13 years, ECO has already helped bring over 20,000 K-5 kids to nature.

TWENTY THOUSAND.

Most of which come from underserved neighborhoods and many of whom, despite the fact that they live less than an hour from the nation’s highest concentration of waterfalls, have never seen a waterfall before in their lives!

Well, we find that completely unacceptable (and borderline criminal!!).

So as of August of this year, ECO has absorbed three successful similarly-aligned programs: Green Schoolhouse, Dig-In, and Siuslaw Stream Team. What this means is that the ECO reach expands past Portland metro schools, all the way to the coast. Furthermore, we’re now able to reach further than the K-5 students that have traditionally been our demographic. Due to these acquisitions, our hands-on ecology educational outreach programs are now in front of middle and high school students and even include after-school and summer camp programs.

Needless to say, it’s been a pretty monumental year for ECO, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of those who have science and education and our environment high on their agendas and list of importance.

Furthermore, as a non-profit, we can’t do any of this without the support of the public.

It’s because of you that we have been able to grow at the clip that we have, and provide the tools necessary to keep science and nature at the forefront of our future generations’ curiosities.

Which brings me to the inevitable ask – every year, Portland’s weekly, the Willamette Week, puts out their annual ‘Give!Guide,’ which highlights some of the region’s most promising and influential non-profits, and creates campaigns to help bring attention to them. So while we’re running around comparing menus for the holidays and figuring out what friendsgiving we’re going to attend and whether I should buy this in black or blue or an L or an M (or an XL washed once…) or a 44” instead of a 41”, the Give!Guide is a reminder to keep those less fortunate than us in at least a corner of our minds.

And for the fifth year in a row, ECO is prouder than proud to be selected as one of those organizations represented. And what we are able to raise through the Give!Guide each year is a very big reason we are able to do what we do.

But the biggest reason – you (and your generous wallets…).

Literally, 10 dollars.

TEN DOLLARS

is enough to bring a future ecologist, scientist, park ranger, river guide, outfitter or conservationist into the program.

One month’s worth of Netflix.

TEN.

FRICKIN.

DOLLARS.

Two days’ worth of fancy shmancy pumpkin spicy ‘coffee’ concoctions.

TEN.

MEASLY.

DOLL HAIRS.

So if you’re looking for some last-minute tax deductions and want to SAVE THE WORLD at the same time, drop a dollar (or two, or 10, or fifty) into ECO’s coffers.

You can even give on someone else’s behalf (which makes a perfect gift for the nature-lovers in your circles).

You, your kids, and your kids’ kids futures depend on it.

Literally.

So here’s that link again: www.giveguide.org/#eco

Doooo iiiiittttt!

And for a 360 glimpse into what we do at ECO, here’s a little video produced by Superswell VR. Grab a headset and join us, or drag around on your phone or browser to see everything in all directions at all times.

Eco.

Find them.

Follow them. (FB / Twitter / Insta)

Help them.

Help you.

Oh, did I give you that link yet? www.giveguide.org/#eco

Just in case I didn’t: www.giveguide.org/#eco

Toodles,

wasim.

I recently had the distinct pleasure of photographing the Society of American Foresters convention, this year held in Portland, Oregon, and I must say, it’s quite refreshing to see how the face and core of the organization is adapting and evolving with the times and today’s realities.

For one, while there was plenty of talk about forestry in the sense of its traditional paradigms – logging, lumber and industry – there was an equal, if not even more pronounced presence bubbling just underneath the surface discussing things like diversity, climate change and sustainability, including inspiring speeches by keynote speakers Oregon State University’s Bob Lackey and Commonwealth of Virginia’s Bettina Ring, who both made impassioned pleas for science and its relevancy in the forestry debate, from climate change to forestry and carbon management.

Additionally, and this was a surprise, was the number of minorities and women that were involved in the conference.

It was amazing.

In addition to the convention’s first ever SAF Diversity & Inclusion Working Group – I walked in to photograph this meeting and it was Asian women and African-American women seeing eye to eye with white men and black men and Muslim women sitting at the same table with Native American and Hispanic constituents and talking about how they all fit and their roles in moving the space forward.

It was truly beautiful.

Another great sign of a growing industry and interest from a young crop of future foresters and ecologists was the traditional Conversation with the Chief, in which a question and answer session is set up with the standing chief of the U.S. Forest Service. This year, it was standing room only. Literally.

We walked in to hear Chief Vicki Christiansen and the seats filled up immediately. Staff had to bring in additional seating which still wasn’t enough, and people ended up sitting on the ground and standing around the perimeter of the room to listen and engage with her.

It was another incredible display in the massive interest that is taking over the industry, and finally having a say in it, from all sectors including environmental, scientific community, minority community and the international community.

Needless to say, there was a dark period in the industry.

Not doubt about it.

This wasn’t your average ‘how can we make money off of trees’ forestry conference. While there was certainly a good amount of that, there was an almost equal representation and sentiment expressing how can we work on the trees behalf just as much as the trees work on our behalf.

Judging by the conversations and discussions this weekend, the future of forestry is truly looking good.

I can’t thank the Society of American Foresters enough for having me there. It was incredibly eye-opening and encouraging to hear the different viewpoint and witness the foundations being set for the future of our trees and how we manage them.

I (and I know I’m not the only one) left this weekend quite optimistic.