This is the first summer in years that I don’t have some sort of multi-day bike tour planned, as I’ve embarked on the adventure of raising a wild and beautiful baby girl. But the other day I received an email from a friend, who runs an adventure travel company up in Bella Coola (www.wildearth-adventures.com), BC, looking for photos that illustrate the area and can be used on his site.

I immediately thought back to the day, a few years back, when I loaded up the bike and B.O.B. trailer and began the 5-day bike tour from Pemberton, BC, (just north of Whistler) to Bella Coola. It was an amazing bike tour, one that started with a long climb up Duffey Lake Road (an awesome place to access backcountry ski tours BTW) over Cayoosh Pass (in the Lillooet Range) before dropping into the high desert town of Lillooet. From Lilloet it’s pretty much straight north to Williams Lake, after-which you head west again towards Bella Coola. While the entire ride is relatively devoid of traffic, this last section, on HWY 20, from Williams Lake to Bella Coola is pretty much desolate…a true bike touring paradise.

If you ever have the chance to visit this area – on two wheels or four – I highly recommend it. It’s truly a magical place.

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Last weekend a group of us met up east of the Cascades for a small epic of a mountain bike ride, that included climbing and descending Red Hill, climbing Devils Gulch to Mission Ridge, descending Mission Ridge, to another climb and descent of Red Devil back to the car. Long ride for sure, but worth every suffering moment.

On the drive home I tried to capture a few photos of the surrounding countryside

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This photo was taken during a short two-day bike tour from Sisters to Oakridge, Oregon, via the McKenzie Pass—Santiam Pass Scenic Byway. Closed in the winter, this road is a true delight to pedal…as long as you start early to avoid heat and summer traffic.

Making the below photo your desktop wallpaper is easy:

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I miss fall in New England. There’s a reason so many make their way to Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts to experience the kaleidoscope of colors that blanket the rolling hills and quaint towns. But thankfully, here in the pacific northwest, we too can experience the magic of fall. And I suppose it could be argued, in some ways, the shift in seasons is a bit more diverse here, as fresh snow coats the higher elevations, larch trees pop with color and maples burn green, red and orange.

Over the past two weekends I’ve made a concerted effort to pull out the mountain bike, the camera gear and head for the high hills. I didn’t necessarily find exactly what I was looking for in terms of color, but I found plenty of high-mountain solitude, felt the the coolness of the years first snowflakes on my cheek, and realized that the pacific northwest, although not New England, serves up fall serenity that is truly difficult to beat.

Below are some mountain bike photos from three different trails, 4th of July/Icicle Ridge in Leavenworth, Red Devil/Devils Gulch outside of Leavenworth, and the Dungeness/Gold Creek loop on the border of Olympic National Park.

I didn’t have a lot of time to begin with, so before even hopping on my bike, I was a bit apprehensive about whether I would even finish the hike-a-bike up 4th of July trail to Icicle Ridge and get back to the car by dark. I managed to get back to the car, as the last minutes of light faded away. It was a beautiful ride. I felt the seasons first snow flakes, inhaled the cool, crisp air at 6000 ft and peaked deep into the Cascade Range, with tainted views of Mount Stuart.

[View with PicLens]

The next day I met up some friends for a classic NW ride up Red Devils | Devils Gulch. Further east we expected dryer conditions. The trail was in perfect shape, until the top, where a couples inches of fresh snow coated the trail. It was great.

[View with PicLens]

Last on the list of fall rides was a loop on the border of Olympic National Park. The Dungeness River Trail/Gold Creek Loop is probably one of the better loops near the park, offering inspiring views of the Olympic mountains, deep solitude (the kind where you really don’t want to get hurt…help is far off), near-perfect NW singletrack and the chance to catch a glimpse of wild salmon spawning up Gold Creek.

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Fall in the NW is hard to beat. But the reality is, winter is coming. Time to wax the skis and start looking forward to some backcountry skiing photos

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Where else can you mountain bike on the side of an active volcano? The mountain bike trails that skirt the site of past Mt St Helens eruptions are truly one-of-a-kind. I don’t know of any other place in the US, if not the world, that offers such a unique and inspiring ride.

View More Mt St Helens Pictures on Flickr.

Photos from the previous days ascent and ski descent of Mt Adams are coming soon…

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Located at an elevation of 4500 ft (1500 meters) Dalat, Vietnam, provides a much needed respite from the searing heat seen elsewhere in the country. It’s a land of rolling hills covered in towering pines, while hidden valleys reveal fields of artichokes and small rice-growing operations. It’s also one of the few spots in Vietnam (that we knew of) that offered the mountain bike geek an opportunity to enjoy some aerobic exercise, fresh air and a unique, locals perspective of the “vegetable capitol” of Vietnam.

Below are a couple mountain bike photos from our 3-hr tour with Phat Tire Ventures. We had two very friendly English-speaking guides accompany us, both of whom were quite impressed with our (or should I say Jeannine’s) ability to ride all the terrain.

Our guide, with water and food (lots of bananas) mountain Biking in Dalat, Vietnam

Phat Tire Ventures offers other mountain bike rides in and around Dalat, as well as in Hoi An, a town we visited later (photos coming soon) on the central coast of Vietnam.

Pine-covered hills felt almost like eastern Washington, not Vietnam

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I love outdoor gear. My ‘office’ is crowded with bikes, skis, soft-shell jackets, etc…but really, when I look at it all, I’m pleased that all of it gets used. Very little of it collects dust. So as much as I would enjoy contributing to our ailing economy by buying even more stuff, I’d much rather prefer buying gear that works well in all types of environments and will actually last more then a year. I’m not sure why it is than, but I seem to be having a hard time finding a camera bag I really like. There are literally hundreds of camera bags on the market, so why is this such a challenge?

Lowepro Slingshot 200

The problem: I’m often outside, in the elements: snow, rain, mud, sand, salt-water (and sometimes the sun.) Furthermore, I’m typically on skis, a bike, in a sea kayak, while photographing. The result is, I typically don’t have a warm, dry car to escape to, or somewhere I can load up my photography gear, including a tripod, camera, lenses, towels, etc etc. Matter of fact, most of the time I only carry my digital Canon Rebel XT with a 17-85 IS lens, polarizer, some batteries and memory cards. The tripod typically stays home (although this may change as I just ordered an Ultrapod, a tiny tripod that will be coming with me to SE Asia in a couple weeks.) This is why I was looking forward to receiving the new Lowepro Slingshot 200 camera bag this past Christmas. It appeared to offer a utilitarian combination of space for cameras, lenses, etc,  but was small enough to mountain bike with, skate ski with, go backcountry skiing with, even act as a combo backpack/camera bag if needed for day trips.

Has it been a satisfying experience? Mostly. It’s worked great (most of the time) for a 2-3 hr skate ski, when I usually only carry the camera, polarizer filter plus some food and water. I can’t really use it for backcountry skiing, an activity that requires too much avalanche gear, extra clothing, food and water for an eight hour adventure. (For these trips I strap on a small TLZ-1 Lowepro bag that hangs from my chest.) The Slingshot does do well in these adverse conditions though. The bag repels water (and snow) well. Not sure how it would hold up in a downpour, but I think it would be fine, for a short while (the zippers aren’t sealed, so water would surely leak through these eventually.)

I am having some issues mountain biking with it, as I found out last weekend on a short ride outside Seattle.

Lowepro Slingshot 200 - just ok for mountain biking

The whole idea behind all Lowepro Slingshots is that you can access your camera quickly, without having to remove it, by undoing a single buckle and sliding it around your waist. And yes, it does work. The problem I have, and I will try to retrofit this, are the two existing straps don’t provide a tight enough fit if you’re actively moving around, be it on skis or while riding a mountain bike for example. What it needs is a waist strap.

Also, the bag doesn’t have any additional straps to carry a tripod, an obvious oversight in my opinion. It does contain a two small separate sections for all those little accessories and the inside will easily fit a DLSR and a few lenses (but probably not a big zoom.) I’ve never really been happy with Lowepro zippers…they just don’t seem to last very long.

Not sure why, but I always end up with Lowepro camera bags. If you’ve used another bag or have some recommendations for something similar that may be better for outdoor use, please let me know.

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There are many reasons to live in the Pacific Northwest, even if it does rain a bit here and there. Sure we have moss sprouting from the roofs of our homes, but now I know that’s a good thing.

Mosses cannot survive in polluted air. Like the lichens, they need a healthy atmosphere to survive.

A couple mountain bike photos from a short ride the other day.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 5 years since I embarked on, and survived (barely) my little bike adventure down in Patagonia, Chile. The route, a whole lot of kilometers from El Chalten, Argentina, to Puerto Montt, Chile, would eventually take me just under a month to complete (with 2 rest days.) It was to be an epic adventure.

(If you want to skip the story and just see the bike tour photos, click here)

From the moment I made those first pedal strokes leaving El Chalten, a small outpost located in the shadow of Mt Fitz Roy, I knew I was in for a challenge.

Leaving El Chalten, Argentina for somewhere further north

Below are some photos illustrating what I perceived, once I was done, to be one of the best bike tours in the world (I of course haven’t bike all over the world, not even a small percentage of it, but…that’s what I read on the internet.) I wouldn’t be at all surprised if in many many years, this route, named the Camino Austral, Carretera Austral, La Ruta Austral, is paved over. I encountered numerous sections that were indeed being prepped for pavement, which was actually brutal because golfball-sized rocks were scattered all over the road, making for, I can now admit, hell on wheels.

I encountered every type of weather imaginable, from the infamous Patagonia winds to searing temps. Truthfully I didn’t encounter all that much rain, relatively speaking. Matter of fact, I would later overhear many claiming it to be one of the warmest Februaries on record. I wasn’t complaining…

Unfortunately at the time, I wasn’t into adventure travel photography as much as I am now. All photos were taken with a Canon point and shoot. For my bike, I pieced together a beat up Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike frame that didn’t fit me very well. Attached, was my trusty B.O.B trailer which, thankfully, was my closest friend and never let me down. (I did almost break Him on my second day bushwhacking from El Chalten, but we won’t bring that up.) Not sure how much weight I had in the trailer, but it never felt light, even on my last days near Puerto Montt. The road north was a constant, relentless up and down dirt road (with mind-altering sections of pavement) that meandered through remote homesteads and rural outposts.

When I reached Coyhaique, about halfway, I was elated. Why? Because I made it halfway. I started to put in some big days as the weather was beautiful. Thankfully this weather held as I rode through Parque National Queulat, a stunning kaleidoscope of deep, dense evergreen forest, massive nalcas plants, hanging glaciers and nearly zero visitors.

Parque National Queulat

In Chaiten, I ran into a problem though. It was end of the February, which meant their summer (and apparent ‘tourist’ season) was coming to an end (umm…how about over.) Nearly all campgrounds, parks, etc. were closed. This was great for me as the roads were nearly empty…of everything…people, cars…Unfortunately, upon arriving in Chaiten, I found out the ferry that was supposed to shuttle me across one of the many inlets south of Puerto Montt, was shut down for the season. Ooo…bad. I was bummed, because although I spent three days riding south from Puerto Montt upon my original arrival many many weeks ago, this meant I couldn’t ride all the way north to Puerto Montt. What’s a poor, starving cyclist to do? I was forced to hop an overnight barge back to Puerto Montt. In the end this turned out to be ok. After a day cleaning up in PTO Montt (which at this point almost felt like ‘home’) I enjoyed another 4-5 days cycling around the island of Chiloe, visiting the only place in the world where Humboldt and Magellanic penguins coexist and camping on the beach.

Cycling the Camino Austral was extremely challenging. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I would much prefer to bring a partner though. It’s get quite lonely in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Patagonia.

View the entire Camino Austral Slide Show.

Certain photos are available as fine art prints. Or, you can download a digital copy of any image for only $1.25. Simply CLICK HERE to browse and click on the BUY link if you find an image you want to use as wallpaper, desktop background or even small prints!

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I’m not sure I could survive without my bike. From short rides along the shore of West Seattle, to epic month-long bike tours in Chile, I love to ride. Here are some photos I took along the way.

Fine Art Photography Prints are available, as are digital downloads. Contact me for further details. Click HERE for print pricing

Watch a slideshow of these and additional mountain bike & cycling tours photos HERE

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