Good friend and veteran adventure journalist Peter Potterfield has traversed an entire continent to compile an essential guide to twenty-five of the most magnificent trails across the United States and Canada. Beautifully photographed and eminently practical, CLASSIC HIKES OF NORTH AMERICA [W. W. Norton & Company; August 6, 2012; $39.95 hardcover] analyzes spectacular vistas with both beginners and avid hikers in mind.
Three decades have passed since Potterfield “succumbed to the irresistible appeal of the wilderness,” and in that time, he’s mastered a critical skill: identifying where to go. There are an infinite number of breathtaking patches of wilderness and, understanding that it would take lifetimes to see them all, Potterfield undertook the task of prioritizing the routes that brought the greatest return on time, effort, and expense.
Illustrated with more than 200 full color photographs and hiking directions, this volume awakens our wanderlust and demands a journey into the wilderness. The dazzling images and Potterfield’s lush prose offer provocative glimpses at the “sublime experience” of roaming through iconic landscapes and storied peaks. The routes included in this guide cover the Northern Loop in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, the Sawtooth Traverse in Idaho, the Coyote Gulch in the Canyons of the Escalante in Utah, the Hermit-Bright Angel Loop in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona the Slate Range in the Canadian Rockies, and many more.
In addition to providing inspiration, THE CLASSIC HIKES OF NORTH AMERICA is an indispensable source of practical knowledge for those who are ready to venture into the backcountry. Potterfield provides detailed information on each trail and the result is a uniform, accessible guide to the American wilderness. Each chapter contains wisdom such as: level of difficulty, trail conditions, recommended seasons, potential hazards and difficulties, resource information, and detailed maps of hiking routes.
Potterfield, who first journeyed into the backcountry in the 1970s, has hiked and photographed hundreds of trails, learning invaluable lessons along the way. He shares his remarkable wealth of knowledge in CLASSIC HIKES OF NORTH AMERICA, offering his expertise to future generations of hikers and adventurers. This beautiful and informative book truly shows the North American wilderness at its best.
Catch Peter for an engaging slide show & discussion of Classic Hikes of North America at the following locations:
August 3 @ 3:30: Debut booksigning in the Magellan booth at the Outdoor Retailer show, Salt Lake City, Utah
Sept 23: Bend Oregon Great Outdoors Store
Oct 9: Boston Reading REI
Oct 10: Boston downtown REI
Oct 11: DC—Rockville REI
Oct 12: DC—Fairfax REI
Oct 16 Redmond (Seattle) REI
Oct 17 Seattle Flagship REI
Oct 25 New York SoHo REI
Oct 30 Saratoga REI
Oct 31 Corte Madera REI
Nov 1 Berkeley REI
Nov 2 San Carols REI
Nov 7 San Diego REI
Nov 8 Los Angeles Santa Monica REI
Nov 14 Chicago Downtown REI (Lincoln Park)
Nov 28 Minneapolis Flagship REI (Bloomington)
Dec 5: Portland Downtown REI (Oregon)
Dec 6: South Puget Sound REI (Olympia, WA)
June 30 – November 25, 2012
The Burke Museum will once again exhibit the winners of the International Conservation Photography Awards, a biennial juried competition initiated in 1997 by acclaimed local nature photographer, Art Wolfe.
Over 75 photos were chosen from more than 1500 images submitted by amateur and professional photographers from across the globe. The photographs are conservation-focused, chosen in categories such as Wildlife, Landscape, Underwater, and Community at Risk, which focuses on environmental threats to urban areas. Capturing beautiful moments in the natural world, the photos connect us to the tiniest of creatures and enormous environmental changes. The competition and its award-winning photos inspire, educate, and encourage us all to consider our impacts on the world’s natural resources.
A panel of five judges selected winning photographs in each of the nine categories. The winning photographs will be announced on Opening Day, June 30. Four of the honored photographers will speak about their work, photographic techniques, and passion for conservation on the hour between 11 am and 2 pm on June 30. Judges from the panel will offer visitors guided tours of the exhibit. Check the Burke Museum’s website for a full schedule and details.
For the first time, the Burke and the International Conservation Photography Awards will also collaborate to create a traveling exhibit, which will include the top 25 first- and second-place winners.
The 2012 International Conservation Photography Awards exhibit is organized by the Burke Museum in partnership with the ICP Awards. The exhibit is sponsored by 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, with support from Kym Aughtry, Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, The Mountaineers Foundation, Carl Skoog Memorial Fund, U.S. Bancorp Foundation, and the Peg & Ric Young Foundation.
ICP Awards sponsors: Art 4 Vision Foundation, Art Wolfe, The Bullitt Foundation, Canon, Epson, Getty Images, Museum Quality Framing, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Robert P. Rotella Foundation, and the Washington Environmental Council.
High resolution images available, contact burkepr@uw.edu.
Photo: Caribou Crossing. Photo by Peter Mather. Dalton Highway, Prudhoe Bay Alaska, June 29, 2010.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s great natural wonders & now it is going to be part of the largest marine park encompassing 1.2 million sq miles of ocean surrounding the continent. In this age of economic peril, it is such good news to hear of a preservation of our planet of this proportion.
There are a ton of articles out there on it. Here are a few links to follow:
I was asked to be part of the judging of the King County Parks container camping structure competition.
Architecture firm, HyBrid, was recently named the winner of a competition sponsored by the King County Parks department to create a camping structure from re-purposed cargo containers. The 8’x24′ structure incorporates recycled glazing and mess kitchen and can accommodate up to 6 overnight guest. Funding is secured for the prototype unit and should be camp ready by Summer 2012.
Visitors to King County’s Tolt-MacDonald Park will be able to spend the night in a comfortable and ecologically sound camping structure – thanks to the creative vein tapped by King County Parks’ Little Footprint/Big Forest contest.
The challenge given to designers was to create an overnight camping structure from a used cargo shipping container that could be placed in select areas of King County Parks’ 26,000 acres of open space.
The winning design – selected from 12 entries by a panel of judges that included King County Executive Dow Constantine, plus architectural and sustainability experts.
“Re-Tain” features an adaptable floor plan complete with queen-sized bunk beds, a table that can be moved outside for more floor space inside, and a multi-purpose mess cabinet made from recycled and reclaimed materials that allows for use from inside and outside the structure.
See the winning design and other entries at: http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/partners/littlefootprint.aspx
“The contest provided us with an exciting and replicable design, and we hope to install these camping structures at appropriate sites within our open space areas,” said King County Parks Division Director Kevin Brown. “I want to thank the judges for their thoughtful analysis of all the entries.”
Design competition judges said they were impressed with the overall design concepts and the creative approach to the second use of storage containers.
“King County is home to wonderful parks and outdoor experiences, and the Little Footprint, Big Forest contest shows that we have the creativity to meet the challenge of preserving our environment and adopting sustainable practices,” said judge Andy Wappler.
Early May is a great time to catch the migrating shorebirds as they fly up the coast from California, or the Pacific Flyway as it is called. Sanderlings, dunlins, and other assorted shorebirds pause for a couple of weeks at Bowerman Basin in Grays Harbor on the Olympic Peninsula. Boardwalks provide great access. When the tides are high, and there are no exposed mud flats, all the birds are densely packed together. It is quite the spectacle to see a million birds in a tight area. Also, if there happens to be a bird of prey near, they fly around in tight bundles turning in all directions with great precision. It looks like many bodies, but one brain operating them all. It is definitely worth a trip out to the coast if you are in the Pacific Northwest in those two weeks.
The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival is May 4-6 this year:
What to do with April Showers? – Get an umbrella, grab your camera and get outside.
I spent 2 days photographing in the Columbia Gorge and along the Southern Washington Coast, in the rain, and I couldn’t have been happier. The previous 2 days were beautiful. Blue skies, sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures – and I wasn’t at all interested in getting outside with my camera.
While I’m always open to any subject, on this trip I had very soft, high key, moody images in mind that I could render in black and white. The coastal and inland waters of the Columbia Gorge in addition to having one spectacular waterfall after the next are littered with old pilings from a bygone era of wealth and prosperity from the timber barons of the late 1800 and early 1900s. I have photographed these subjects in the past and knew they needed the right atmospheric conditions, namely fog, to be successful. Here in the NW fog isn’t all that predictable or persistent, but when you don’t have fog, rain can be an excellent (and even better) substitute.
The overcast skies provided the perfect soft box to light the subject, the falling rain softens the image and disturbs the water such that the long exposures necessary with my smallest apertures render the image as a high key, mysterious and quiet, yet powerful image. I knew I would be rendering these in black and white and positioned myself to maximize the white background where the sky was indistinguishable from the sea. I could have stayed with these as a subject for the entire day working different angles, focal lengths and exposures. It was food for my soul and I felt like I was at an all you can eat buffet.
I wasn’t going to overlook the waterfalls as this was the perfect time of the year to photograph them through the fine lines of the trees. The leaves have only just begun to come out adding a touch of color while not obscuring the view of the falls. Most people would say I was “too early” to shoot the falls but you’ll find in about 2 weeks time the trees will have leafed out to where the shots I was able to create with patterns of lines and positive and negative space would be impossible to replicate.
Lastly I met up with friends early in the morning to photograph the Portland Japanese Gardens. With an annual pass you can visit the gardens 2 hours ahead of the general public and photograph largely unencumbered. Again the time of year allowed for some subtle color in the maple trees as they had only begun to leaf out while not obscuring the fine details and patterns of the intricate under-story of their branches. Yes it was a bit too early for bushels of blossoms but when you look at the patterns in nature, the energy contained in a balance of positive and negative space, you’ll find there is rarely ever a bad time to photograph areas like the Japanese Gardens. And when you realize the potential you may never look at a rainy day the same way again.
And if you like baseball & live in Seattle, Forterra (formerly the Cascade Land Conservancy) and the Mariners are teaming up.
For every ticket purchased through mariners.com/forterra, the Mariners will plant a tree and donate $2 to Forterra! http://www.forterra.org/get_involved/knock_one_out_of_the_park_for_nature
