national parks – Michael Rappa

Glacier National Park, 2019: Going to the Sun Road

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023 Michael Rappa

These photos are from various stops during my drive along Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Famously depicted in the opening sequence of Kubrick’s The Shining, it is one of the most scenic national park roads I have been on. I was able to drive the entire length in both directions on separate days, which is highly recommended if you have the time.

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Going to the Sun Road

Going to the Sun Road: St. Mary Lake

Going to the Sun Road: St. Mary Lake, featuring Wild Goose Island

Going to the Sun Road

Going to the Sun Road: St. Mary Lake

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American Southwest Trip, 2018: Grand Canyon at Sunset

June 4, 2023June 4, 2023 Michael Rappa

A few shots of the Grand Canyon taken around sunset. The first features the lodge at the North Rim. The rest are from the South Rim.

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North Rim

South Rim

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Glacier National Park, 2019: Wildlife

October 3, 2021 Michael Rappa

Here are some animals I encountered during my hikes in Glacier National Park. I was particularly thrilled that I was able to see a bighorn sheep in the wild on my way back down from Grinnell Glacier.

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Ram on the Grinell Glacier Trail

Moose walking away from lake, viewed from high up on the Grinell Glacier Trail.

Chipmunk at St. Mary Falls

Mountain goat high up on a mountain at Two Medicine.

Mountain goat high up on a cliff at Two Medicine.

Glacier National Park, Montana - September, 2019

Marmot on the Highline Trail

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American Southwest Trip, 2018: Panorama and HDR

September 12, 2021 Michael Rappa

This is a collection of panorama and HDR photos from Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion national parks, as well as Cedar Breaks National Monument. The vast majority of these were not originally shot as panorama or HDR, but were converted from separate photos that I felt looked better merged together. The two that were actually shot as HDR/panorama are captioned as “True Panorama” or “True HDR.”

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Grand Canyon – HDR

Grand Canyon – Panorama

Cedar Breaks – Panorama

Zion – Panorama

Zion – HDR

Bryce Canyon – True HDR

Bryce Canyon – Panorama

Bryce Canyon – True Panorama

Grand Canyon – Panorama

Grand Canyon – HDR

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Canada Trip, 2016: The Ovens and Lunenberg

August 22, 2021 Michael RappaLeave a comment

In the middle of our long drive from Halifax to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, we stopped at The Ovens, a beautiful coastal national park featuring a hiking trail along a series of sea caves. We then had a nice early dinner at a little German restaurant on the side of the road before heading into the cute seaside town of Lunenburg for a walk. Lunenburg is another of those towns that made me fall in love with the Canadian Maritimes and fantasize about moving there.

Fans of Locke and Key may recognize both The Ovens and Lunenberg as filming locations for the series, though our visit was long before the show aired. I seem to have a habit of visiting places before a TV show begins filming there–years ago I visited both Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia before Game of Thrones had begun filming in those cities.

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The Ovens National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Lunenburg from a distance. Nova Scotia, Canada

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California Trip, 2014: Redwoods in Yosemite

August 9, 2021 Michael Rappa

On my way out of Yosemite National Park I stopped for a hike through the Mariposa grove of giant sequoias (aka redwoods). They don’t grow as tall as the coastal redwoods, but they grow wider–some are so massive that their branches actually look like trees themselves. It’s impossible for any photo to do these behemoths justice, but the people in some of the shots below, and the fact that many of the large surrounding trees look like sticks next to the redwoods, help to provide a sense of scale.

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Yosemite National Park – October, 2014

I thought this was a redwood pine cone because of how enormous it is, but redwoods apparently have small cones, so I’m not sure what type of tree this belongs to.

Yosemite National Park – October, 2014

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Glacier National Park, 2019: Panoramas

August 1, 2021 Michael Rappa

This is a collection of panoramas from my visit to Glacier National Park. For the most part I didn’t take any deliberate panorama shots on this trip–these were all stitched together from separate photos that I later realized would make good panoramas. The exceptions are the two night shots, which were sort of deliberate in that I aimed the camera in the dark at different angles for long exposures and hoped for the best (the Lake McDonald one, in particular, turned out pretty well).

The first four photos below feature views from the hotels where I stayed in Apgar Village and Many Glacier; the next three were taken during my hikes of the Highline and Grinnell Glacier trails, and the final photo is a view that should be familiar to fans of The Shining or Big Sky.

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Lake McDonald

Many Glacier: Swiftcurrent Lake

Highline Trail

Red pool near Grinnell Glacier.

Grinnell Glacier Trail

St. Mary Lake: Wild Goose Island

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American Southwest Trip, 2018: Bryce Canyon – Thor’s Hammer and Rim Trail

July 25, 2021 Michael Rappa

This final batch of photos from my visit to Bryce Canyon National Park consists of shots from the other leg of the Navajo Loop Trail, where I partially descended for a view of the famous Thor’s Hammer rock formation before climbing back up and starting my full descent into the canyon down the Wall Street leg. Additionally, there are photos from my walk along the Rim Trail between Sunrise and Sunset points.

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Navajo Loop

Thor’s Hammer on the Navajo Loop

Navajo Loop

Rim Trail

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American Southwest Trip, 2018: Bryce Canyon – Queen’s Garden Trail

July 7, 2021 Michael Rappa

These photos are from my ascent up the Queen’s Garden leg of my 3-mile hike down into and back out of the canyon. As I’ve mentioned before, a stroll through Bryce Canyon National Park is like a visit to another world, and there are definitely some otherworldly looking photos in this batch.

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Queen’s Garden Trail

Queen’s Garden Trail – The Clenched Fist of Truth

Queen’s Garden Trail

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American Southwest Trip, 2018: Bryce Point and Paria View

March 27, 2021 Michael Rappa

These photos are from two scenic lookouts, taken shortly after a massive rainstorm finally subsided. I had thought the entire day was going to be a washout and considered giving up, but I stuck it out and was rewarded with some beautiful scenery. The first few pics, shot at Paria View, feature multiple rainbows shooting down from the clouds, though one rainbow is most prominent.

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