Best of 2012 – My Top 12 of ’12
December 30, 2012

The Best of 2012 – My favorite 12 pictures I snapped this year.

(In no particular order.)

1. Up in Grand Teton National Park in August, I decided to hike up Cascade Canyon “for a bit,” and ended up hiking nearly 10 miles round-trip. Luckily I got back around Hidden Falls just as the light got soft enough.

Hidden Falls Grand Teton National Park Wyoming

2. I spent a few days in November in Luang Prabang, Laos and one of my favorite days of the entire three-week trip was when I spent some time just wandering around this city on a beat-up cruiser bike. We ended up going into Wat Sene off Sakkaline Road as we began to roam around, there were just young monks everywhere. We definitely began to get the feeling that we really shouldn’t be there and we quickly rushed our way back out to the main road, but I saw these monks huddled around a Westerner showing them something on his iPad. Taking pictures of locals was tough for me on that trip because I didn’t want to be disrespectful, but I had to zoom in on this.

Luang Prabang Laos

3. Pretty standard situation for me: Canyonlands. 5:00 a.m. Hungover. Tired. No coffee. Still beautiful.

sunrise mesa arch canyonlands national park utah

4. The famous Dallas Divide in the San Juan Mountain Range outside Telluride and Ouray, CO back in September. 50 of my closest friends for a cloudless Sunrise – the colors were just unreal on Hayden Peak.

Hayden Peak dallas divide ridgeway colorado

5. This was my second attempt at shooting Turret Arch through the North Window in Arches National Park – and more successful this time in March than the snowy morning back in January.

north window turret arch sunrise arches national park utah

6. After living in Colorado for 5 years, I had still never been to the Colorado Springs area so since it was January and one of the worst snow seasons on record (for skiing), I figured I’d take a day-trip down to Garden of the Gods and find some Dunkin’ Donuts. The nearly-full moon setting over Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods was a nice unexpected bonus that morning.

pikes peak garden of the gods colorado springs

7. We had sat at Chill Bar on Tonsai Beach (Thailand) drinking big Singhas and staring out into the bay for the majority of the day. A massively awesome afternoon thunder storm rolled through, but after 30 minutes, it began to clear leaving this peaceful scene in its wake.

railay tonsai bay thailand

8. One of the best days of offroading I’ve ever had. This skeleton of a car was outside the old historic ghost town of Animas Forks outside Silverton, CO.

animas forks solverton colorado

9. Sunrise over Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the more beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Hiking 5 minutes down one of the trails made it even better.

thor's hammer bryce canyon national park utah

10. Monks at Wat Phan Tao in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

chiang mai thailand

11. It was a relatively unexciting night at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. The typical scene of the arch lighting up with the LaSals behind it was unfortunately really dull. Right when I was about to pack it in and head back to the car, I noticed this was happening to the west and switching angles, I got a nice pastel sunset that’s different than a lot of typical Delicate Arch shots.

Delicate Arch Arches National Park Utah

12. And as with most of mornings when I get up at ungodly hours, I was shut out at sunrise by low clouds rolling through Rocky Mountain National Park in July. BUT, as the clouds broke around 10 a.m., it turned out to be an awesome morning in the park.

Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado

Now on to 2013…

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