Monday February 09, 2009

New blog If you are looking for new posts on my blog then kindly take a look at http://saurabhslr.blogspot.com/ or click here (2009-02-09 18:47:55.0) Permalink

Wednesday August 13, 2008

4 Days backpack in Glacier National Park, Montana

4 Day and 3 Night backpack in Glacier National Park turned out to be one the best backpacks I did in US. The route taken was : Appekuny Falls Trailhead -> Poia Lake Campground -> Many Glacier -> Swiftcurrent Pass-> Granite Park Campground -> Logan Pass which was done over 4 days of backpack with 10 miles round-trip day-hike to Ice Berg Lake in Many Glacier area. We, four of us and including an 11 yrs old kid, successfully managed to backpack in one of the most beautiful part of Glacier National Park.  I had to use park & private shuttle to get back to Many Glacier since we didn't end the backpack at the same place. We didn't see a Grizzly Bear but I manage to see a Black Bear. I really liked the meadows and reminded me of Indian Himalayan backpacks.

Statistics were : 28.7 miles of backpack and 10 miles of day hike. 

Sunday July 27, 2008

Clouds Rest and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

Half Dome hike is one of the most famous hike in the bay area not just because of the cables but also because you get to see the birds eye-view of Yosemite Valley and other Domes. We, a group of 11 people, started the hike at 5.45 am from Tenaya Lake. The distance was long and we were little apprehensive about reaching the cables on time mainly to avoid the rush. Without thinking twice we were mostly speeding towards half dome with a stop at Clouds Rest peak (9,900 feet). The Clouds Rest has fantastic views of Yosemite's high country and walking on a tiny cliff made it more fun. We ended up reaching the Cables at 11.00 am and were happy to see not-so-busy traffic on the cables. I picked a pair of gloves and with in half an hour we were at the top of Half Dome. We took rest and had lunch up there with usual photography session. I was not so surprised to see quite a few climbing/making their way to the cables at around 1.30 pm. On the way back, we took the Valley Trail to Yosemite Valley and the trail took us through Vernal and Nevada Water Falls. I always had not-so-good impression about Yosemite National Park but now I do believe that it's a nice park indeed.

Stats : 21.2 miles from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley via Clouds Rest and Half Dome. Half Dome  is around 13 miles from Tenaya Lake. We were little lucky you see a Brown Bear next to the creek.

Monday July 07, 2008

Backpack in Redwood State Park

Photographs of 16 miles round trip backpack in Redwood State Park. We started our hike from visitor of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and followed the West Ridge Trail camping at Ossagon trail wilderness campground. On the way back we took the coastal trail and had rather scary encounter with wild Elk and luckily it was a female Elk and didn't attack four of us.

Sunday June 08, 2008

Costa Rica Adventure...

We, six of us, went to Costa Rica - a small country in Central America which is famous for its rain forest and wildlife. This trip of mine was so spectacular that it is forcing me to write a small diary about the trip.  With lots of confusion and asking around, I first fixed up the places to visit in Costa Rica and in a specific order -- Rincon de la Vieja National Park, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and Tortuguero National Park. Arenal Volcano National park was not in the plan but we got two more days in Costa Rica due to heavy rains and tropical storm which stranded us in Manual Antonio National Park for two nights. Everything in Costa Rica was good and especially food. In fact we also got to eat sweet Mangoes.

We spent first two days in Rincon de la Vieja National Park with one full day reserved for hikes in the national park and the other day for Canyon Zipline,  Steam Sauna/mud-bath/hot-springs and White Water River Tubing. The most spectacular part was tubing and zipline over the canyon with a bit of rock-climbing and lots of other adventure. The only bad part of zipline was it didn't last long (only an hour). The place where we stayed and had organized all this was Hacienda Guachipelin.

The next place on our agenda was Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve famous for cloud & rain forest and wildlife. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much wildlife here other than the birds which were hiding from us most of the time. The museum and hanging bridge at Selvatura Park was great though.

We were little disappointed from Monteverde visit since we didn't spot frogs and were hoping that Tortuguero National Park will not disappoint us. We started our journey at 6.30 am from San Jose to a small town called Caño Blanco (3 hours bus ride). The bus ride goes through Braulio Carrillo National Park and the boat ride from the deck of Cano Blanco is just one hour 45 minutes. Guess that...the journey to Tortuguero National Park did not disappoint us at all. The boat ride and wildlife we saw (mainly birds) were great. We reached the resort Laguna Lodge at around 1.30 pm and welcomed by the staff. After having lunch we went to Tortuguero Village and the Museum there. We also went to the beach and the beach here is on Caribbean side (Atlantic Ocean). The most interesting part of the whole trip was the boat safari which was planned for tomorrow's morning. In fact we saw most of the wildlife in this part of Costa Rica. We got up early, had breakfast and started the safari by spotting Cayman alligators, Howler & Spider Monkeys, birds, Frogs including poisonous ones.  We also went for a hike which gave us a birds eye view of Tortuguero Canals. Unfortunately we couldn't spot Turtles because month of May is not their breading season. During our stay at Laguna Lodge for two nights and three days, we enjoyed the most.

We had only one day left before we were suppose to return to US. After a lot of confusion, we rented a car and drove to Manual Antonio National Park at night. The drive on Costa Rica's single lane highways reminded me of Indian road conditions and fun I used to have back home. Anyway, without knowing that a tropical storm Alma (Hurricane Class-I) is on the way and beginning to strengthen, we drove at night while it was raining. When we got up next morning and we immediately decided that we should head back because the rain and wind had picked up. By 9.30 am we were ready and hoped that rain will slow down but it didn't..it kept strengthening. We decided to start but we could hardly go 22 kms before police stopped us and asked us to return back since the roads were flooding and flood water had started going onto the firm lands and houses. The devastation being done by the storm looked very bad. We decided to stay at Quepos (a small town before the National Park). We knew that we will miss the flight next day and locals told us it may be two days before the roads open again.  The next day all of a sudden weather cleared up and we could start early morning to make alternative arrangements. The return flight we got is on 2nd June and today is 30th May. So we got two more days and we decided to go to Arenal (La Fortuna town) by local public bus from San Jose. Without knowing Spanish, we manage to find the bus station and board the right bus but the bus stopped at all the places and whenever someone was willing to board the bus, it stopped as people waved their hands towards the bus. Anyway, we got to Arenal in 5 hours of slow and steady public bus ride. Since we needed a car, I rented a manual 4x4 SUV for some off-roading to Arenal Observatory and Arenal Volcano National Park. We couldn't see the active lava at night/evening and missed by an hour which disappointed us a lot. Anyway, the trip to Arenal was unplanned but was beautiful in every aspect.

And yeah...I forgot to mention that I was stopped for over speeding in Costa Rica...I was doing 80 kms when posted speed limit was 60 kms. The cop was very understanding and after repeated pledging (sorry sir), I was lucky to get away with just a warning... 

Lets look at the photographs I took...

Fauna of Costa Rica

Flora of Costa Rica

Rain Forests of Costa Rica

People and Landscape of Costa Rica

Friday April 25, 2008

Photographs of a recent backpack and trip
22 miles backpack to Sykes hot springs in Big Sur


A trip to Kings Canyon National Park.
(2008-04-25 19:42:36.0) Permalink Comments [1]

Wednesday March 19, 2008

Desert Wildflowers
These photographs were taken at Joshua Tree National Park and Anza Borrego State Park in Southern California.

(2008-03-19 20:32:26.0) Permalink

Tuesday March 04, 2008

Photographs of Point Reyes Backpack

(2008-03-04 18:08:14.0) Permalink

Sunday February 24, 2008

Photographs of Crater Lake and Lava Beds


(2008-02-24 15:57:30.0) Permalink

Thursday January 31, 2008

Photographs from Hawaii (Tropical Paradise in US)

Kauai (Waimea Canyon, Waliua Falls)



Kauai (Na Pali Coast and Kalalau Trail).



Big Island (Mauna Kea).



Volcano National Park and Beaches (Big Island).

(2008-01-31 21:55:24.0) Permalink

Saturday January 05, 2008

Photographs of winter-break trips (21st Dec 2007 to 2nd January 2008)
Antelope Slot Canyon, Page Arizona

>

Arches National Park, Utah.



Las Vegas.



Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.



Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.



Zion National Park, Utah.



South Coastal Oregon, Oregon.



(2008-01-05 14:41:54.0) Permalink

Thursday December 20, 2007

Photographs of recent trip/hike



South Lake Tahoe, Castle Rock State Park and San Francisco (49-miles drive).
(2007-12-20 21:36:25.0) Permalink

Tuesday October 23, 2007

Fall Colors of Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains
We recently went on fall colors trip to Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. We had to go via Bakersfield field because Tioga pass was closed due to snow fall.

(2007-10-23 22:02:11.0) Permalink

Monday October 08, 2007

3-day Backpack in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
We all have heard a lot about Grand Canyon National Park and this was our chance to see as close as possible. So we decided to do South to North Rim backpack there. Permits are hard to get there; as a result one would want to apply at least six months in advance. We applied for back-country permit in first week of May for last week of September hike. The route was chosen such that we don't exhaust ourself. We took TransCanyon shuttle to travel from South rim to North rim and the backpack was started from North Kaibab trail at North Rim. The backpack is 21-mile (33 kms) with camping for two days. The first camp was established at Cottonwood campground which is 7 miles from North Kaibab and the next camp was established at Bright Angel Campground which is also 7 miles. This is where Bright Angel Creek meets Colorado River in the Inner Rim. Inner rim is the hottest place and the temperatures there is always high (even in winters). The final stage of our climb was a big confusion because we had to drive from South Rim to Las Vegas and then catch flight. We had two options -- (a) Take Bright Angel trail which is 9 miles or (b) Climb on South Kaibab trail which is 7 miles but far tougher to climb than Bright Angel trail and there is no water on the way. After much discussion with Ranger and group members, we decided to climb on South Kaibab trail which turned out to be a good decision because it was cloudy and we started at 4.00 am in the morning to arrive early. And guess what we finished in five and half hours. During this hike, we got to experience the canyon most. We also got chance to attend ranger's program at Bright Angel campground and very nice sunset/sunrise. So overall a beautiful place and a hike.


(2007-10-08 16:28:49.0) Permalink

Sunday September 09, 2007

Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming The recent hiking trip of ours to Yellowstone and Grand Teton was fantastic. The planning was done such that we get to see key parts of Yellowstone and cover Grand Teton as well. We flew to Salt Lake City staying overnight at Idaho Falls in Idaho state and entered from West side (from Montana state). On the day 1, I had planned to visit Hot Mammoth Spring and mainly do small loops to see hot springs. It was fabulous to see those colors. Here are some photographs




On day 2, we went to Canyon to do some strenuous hike. The plan was to do two hikes -- Observation Peak and Mt Washburn. We ended up doing just Mt Washburn (14 miles hike) which starts from Mt Washburn trailhead and goes to Canyon (Upper Falls). It was very dry there but water falls were still great. We spotted Mountain Goat but couldn't spot Wolf or Grizzle Bear



On Day 3, we went to spent our day at Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful. The lake is a crater and the sun rise was beautiful. We got to see it from West Thumb side of the lake.



Old Faithful Geysers are very famous and we got to see two of them in action. We did a 4 miles loop to see all the Geysers in this area.



On day 4, we went to Grand Teton which I felt was better than Yellowstone in terms of Mountain Landscapes and the hike we did was also very beautiful.



The final day was spent in driving from Grand Teton National Park to Salt Lake City, Utah via Jackson, Wyoming. Yellowstone and Grand Teton should be in must see list just like Alaska. (2007-09-09 11:08:39.0) Permalink