So, I’ll be taking the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to the Needleton stop, hiking over several high passes to the remote and beautiful Balsam Lake, then I’m going to cross over the range and head down the east side over several passes until I get to the popular Chicago Basin, then back to the Needleton stop to catch the train 7 days later. According to the map the route is only 25 miles, but I know from experience that it’s a very strenuous 25 miles. There are so many epic campspots along the way that I will have plenty to see and photograph for 7 days.

I’ll back on Monday the 18th.

This last week I hiked the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the South San Juan Wilderness with two of my friends. It’s a 60+ mile trek from Cumbres Pass near Chama, New Mexico to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Although we initially planned for 6 days out there, we ended up hiking an average of 13 miles per day, finishing in 5 days.

This hike was the longest distance backpacking trek I’ve ever done, and the first time in a long time that I’ve gone on a trip where the priority for me was the hiking itself, rather than the photography. We had a lot of ground to cover and we spent a good portion of each day just hiking. The photography was mostly unplanned, take-what-you-can-get shots along the way.

It’s pretty amazing to hike so far, basin after basin, each day looking back at distant mountains on the horizon and knowing that you just walked all the way from there, step by step. Although I usually prefer to hike shorter distances each day (to have more time to relax at each camp spot and concentrate more on photography), the South San Juans are well-suited for this style of long multi-day trekking. The mountains are remote with poor access, and the trail is fairly flat and mostly on high tundra with the logical camping spots being few and far between.

See my gallery of photos from the trip here.

Sunset alpenglow light shines on the Amphitheater above the town of Ouray, Colorado. To see the opposite view, looking at the town from the top of the Amphitheater, check out this photo. Goes to show that mountains always feel much bigger when you’re on top of them rather than when you’re looking up at them.

A mother and baby marmot perched on a rock up in Ice Lakes Basin, San Juans, Colorado. Check out a zoom crop of the two below.

Another marmot up higher near Island Lake.

See more at AndySinger.com.

I was up at Ice Lakes Basin today, in the San Juans of Colorado, and saw a boat on the lake at 12,257′! They hauled this inflatable raft almost 2,500 feet up to take this cruise. That is some ambitious leisure.

I’ve been working on this for months in my spare time, and since I haven’t had much spare time recently, it has taken me months! I’ve finally implemented my new upgraded gallery admin program, so now I get to enjoy all the admin functionality that my web clients have been using for the last few months. Although there are lots of changes, most of it is on the back-end site, so the public won’t notice much difference in the functionality. The biggest upgrade for me personally is the ability to organize the images in whatever order I want for each gallery separately; so now I’ve moved some of my more popular images to the front pages of each gallery.

In the coming month or two, I’ll also be working on a new search feature which will enable me to structure my photos in an additional, alternative manner to the normal gallery structure. And of course then people will be able to search my database of images to find whatever photographs they are looking for.

Anyhow, if you have a chance, check it out and let me know what you think!

This weekend I went on a wonderful 25 mile backpacking loop from Ouray. I started at Bear Creek, a few miles up the road from Ouray, hiked up to the rolling green tundra paradise of the Uncompahgre Wilderness, along the Horsethief Trail to the Bridge of Heaven Trail, then back down into Ouray. I camped two nights along the way.

The tundra is so beautiful right now, with lush green grass and wildflowers popping up everywhere. In contrast to last week’s brutal bushwhack, this trip was a stroll through paradise. I was practically ecstatic as I walked through one gorgeous basin after another. This hike easily ranks among the best I’ve done in Colorado, and it’s basically in my backyard!

UPDATE: I’ve finally posted my photos here.

Here’s a goofy video for you. It’s pretty awesome how this guy Matt got paid to travel the world to do exactly this… read more about his adventure at Where the Hell is Matt?

I was just notified in a round-about way of this post of my Croatia waterfall photo on a Christian blog. (The blog is ironically titled “Atheist Central”).

The author posts my photo of the beautiful waterfalls, then states “Look what our God created. And it’s nothing but a trash bin, compared to what He has in store for those that love Him…” I understand that he’s just trying to make a point here, but the wording rubs me the wrong way. And since it’s my photo that he used to illustrate his point, I feel that I deserve a chance to express my opinion too.

It’s one thing to say these things when looking at a simple photo, but honestly I truly feel sorry for any person that could stand in front of a scene like this in person and think, “Wow, this is a trash bin compared to the glories that await me when I die.” Can they not recognize paradise when they see it? Maybe they should just get to it and jump off a cliff right then and there.

But now I’ll go on a tangent… Just because you happen to be at Plitvicka Jezera National Park in Croatia doesn’t mean that you’re in paradise. After all, perhaps that day you are irritable and grumpy, or maybe you are distracted by the crowds of tourists. What I’m getting at is that paradise also depends on your own state of mind and emotions, not just the scenery around you.

Now, if you truly believe that the most beautiful nature that Earth has to offer is a relative trash heap, then isn’t that a self-fulfilling prophecy? Your beliefs will then blind you to the true paradise that is here and now, and of course you’ll be left with the hope that something better will come along in the next life, or the next world.

How about we open our minds and hearts to the immense beauty of the Earth, and regard it, treat it, and love it like the true paradise that it is, instead of as a trash bin?