Posts in Landscape
Geysers, Hot Springs & Landscape // Yellowstone National Park, WY
Geysers, Hot Springs & Landscape // Yellowstone National Park, WY

My wife Erin and I set our out-of-office replies, packed our car and headed to Yellowstone back in late July. We made our first stop at a campground in Montana, then arrived in West Yellowstone the following day. After getting a map and making a game plan we spent the next three days in the park. The first night was extremely cold with temperatures in the low 30's/high 20's and even expected snow! The following nights warmed up quite a bit and were a bit more comfortable for tent sleeping. Our fist full day in the park we hit the north loop which took us by the Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, and beautiful views filled with clouds and rolling hills. Our second day we hit the south loop which brought us to waterfalls, the shores of Lake Yellowstone and of course Old Faithful! Our third day we had breakfast in town and spent the rest of the day exploring the Upper and Lower Geyser Basins. Erin got to see her buffalo, I got to take LOTS of pictures, and we had a great time exploring together.  My dream would be to go back and see the park in all its fall or winter glory!

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LandscapeChris Harthyellowstone, wyoming, montana, camping, yellowstone national park, geysers, hot springs, landscape photography, travel, road trip, buffalo, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot SpringsComment
Barclay Lake Morning Hike // Washington Trails
Barclay Lake Morning Hike // Washington Trails

This was the first hike of the season for us. We're just tip-toeing into hiking and we found this one to be very reasonable. It had a few down trees that had to be either walked around or climbed over. The view of the lake and Baring Mountain at the end of the hike was very nice. Take a gander at the rest of the images from the Barclay Lake hike...

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Landscape, LifestyleChris HarthBarclay Lake Hike, Baring Mountain, Cascade Mountains, Forest Moss, Hiking, Northwest Hikes, Pacific Northwest, PNWisbest, Sultan, Washington Trails Comment
We Love Washington // North Cascades Highway

Here are a couple of images from a camping trip my wife and I did this summer. The location is Diablo Lake on the Northern Cascades Highway of Washington state. As I had mentioned to others about this area, it's one of the most scenic areas in the Pacific Northwest. Nothing but clean air and good views for a relaxing weekend. We did the Rainy Pass Hike overlooking Lake Ann and even canoed on Ross Lake. That was in the midst of a small lightning storm too! If you like to camp and adventure into the wilderness, this area has tons to offer. Take a visit!

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Landscape, LifestyleChris HarthCascade Mountains, Diablo Lake, Hiking, HW-20, Lake Ann, North Cascades Highway, Pacific Northwest, Rainy Pass Hike, Ross Lake, Scenic Landscape, Travel, Washington Comment
Camping it out on Icicle Creek Canyon (NF-7601) // Leavenworth, WA

With all the news about the wild fires growing between Leavenworth and Steven Pass, it blows me away that we were just there camping! No more than 4 days prior. We were probably about 10-15 miles south of the fires too. However, at the time we were there, it was extremely hot and we didn't do much but enjoy the landscape and take a dip in the water. Our campsite was just an unmarked area, pulled right off the side of the road. Enough to fit the cars, tent and couple chairs to relax in. We did take a hike up the mountain in search of some boulders to climb, but as we topped the hillside we found what appeared to be the remains of prior fires. We walked around of what looked to be the 1994 fire that engulfed Icicle Creek Canyon all over. Anyways, enjoy the photos and do hope that current flames can be put to rest before any more damage is taken. It sure is a beautiful landscape of the Northern Cascades.

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Landscape, LifestyleChris HarthCamping, Forest, Icicle Creek Canyon, Icicle Creek Road, Landscape, Leavenworth, Nature, NF-7601, Northern Cascades, Washington, Wild Fires Comment
Friends of the Ranch // Circle 8 Ranch | Cle Elum, WA
Friends of the Ranch // Circle 8 Ranch | Cle Elum, WA

Every year in preparation of another season of camping, the Ranch as we call it, gathers help to clean up the campsites and buildings for future visitors. This weekend is called "Friends of the Ranch" and as like many years before, there was a great turnout of helpers. As I busy on my own tasks, I unfortunately didn't get around to everyone in the campground, but I could certainly see all the hard work by everyone. Earlier this year there was a wind storm that is know as a microburst wind storm. Basically the wind comes straight down at damaging forces and wipes out anything in its path. As you will see in the pictures below, that windstorm took down dozens of trees throughout the campground that had to be cut up and hauled away. Of course we like to have some fun after a long day of work. Take a look and enjoy!

Join us next year and mean while you can plan your trip by visiting the Circle 8 Ranch website and liking them on Facebook!

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Event, Landscape, LifestyleChris Harthbow and arrow, campground, Camping, Circle 8 Ranch, Cle Elum, Forest, friends of the ranch, harth photography, logging, microburst winds, Pacific Northwest, WashingtonComment
Snoqualmie Falls // Winter Wonders

Whenever I get stuck inside the house on rainy days i'll tend to test out different setups or gear, in this case a lens I borrowed from a fellow photog for the weekend. I don't do this often but I thought it would be nice to do a quick review. This is not a new lens, but an older Russian Zenit model that I have found to be really impressive! Production of these were between 1958 and 1960. It's all manual focus with focus confirmation, as well as manual aperture control. It has a max aperture stop so you can limit your f-stop. As shown below I always left it at 8, but it would be fine 4 or even 2.8 :) This lens has an attached, built-in lens hood so you never have the trouble of losing or twisting on/off like other hood types. The storage case is a solid tube that holds up to 3 or 4 filters stacked. And to top it off, a nice gun metal finish to let everyone know you're serious. See the lens and various sample images below...

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LandscapeChris Harthharth photography, Landscape, Long Exposure, Pacific Northwest, Snoqualmie, Snow, Washington, Waterfalls, WinterComment
Pacific Northwest

This weekend I got to spend some time on the East side of the mountain range... our very own guy's weekend. After a long day of working on the dirt bikes and their constant need for maintenance we decided to venture out to an area we have been wanting to visit. We also made a decision to trek out there on a Sunday morning at 2:00 a.m. . So, we began our adventure! Grabbed our sleeping bags, small essentials and made our way through Cle Elum, Roslyn, Ronald and then further. We took the next cut off which began 10 miles of poorly maintained logging roads and limited vision due to the cloud cover at night and thickened forest. Through the winding and beat-up roads we got about seven miles until we came across a large amount of water flowing over the road. It wasn't going to stop us. We made it all the way out there and was determined to make it all the way!

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LandscapeChris HarthComment