Visit National Parks in the Winter

-


Subscribe by email to Shooting Outside Blog

 

When we need inspiration as photographers, we can always turn to our National Parks. Here's an article written by Katie Eucker I found at the National Parks Conservation Association.

5 Tips for Visiting National Parks in Winter

Posted on: December 2 2013

5 Tips for Visiting National Parks in Winter

By Katie Eucker, Senior Manager of Travel & Corporate Marketing
Visitors bundle up to watch wildlife in Yellowstone's Lamar ValleyAs the manager of NPCA’s ParkScapes travel program for the last seven years, I’ve planned national park trips for hundreds of park lovers all across the country and in all seasons—Texas’ Big Bend in the spring, California’s Yosemite in the autumn, Montana’s Glacier in the summer, and even Alaska’s Denali in the winter. Winter adventures are some of my favorite trips.
If you’re thinking about a national park trip this winter, here are a few tricks I’ve learned over the years.

1. Plan for an extra day at the start of your trip. If traveling by plane, consider planning to arrive at least one day in advance of your park visit. While this advice will help travelers feel refreshed at the start of a trip during any season, I find this suggestion especially beneficial in the winter. Arranging an extra day at the front end of the trip means you have built-in flexibility for weather delays in your hometown, connecting airport, or destination, and helps account for adverse road conditions for visitors traveling by car.

Bison in winter at Yellowstone National Park

2. Get to know the gateway community. Whether traveling through a town before entering a national park, filling up at the local gas station, or staying at a hotel in the neighboring community, I love striking up conversations with the people who live and work in these gateways to our national parks. Not only might locals know the best place for a slice of pizza or the best deal on a good cup of hot chocolate, but they also often know little-known facts (read: fascinating stories) about the park in their backyard. These conversations are particularly useful in winter because area residents will know of adjusted hours or seasonal closures during the “quiet season.”

Mammoth Terraces in winter at Yellowstone National Park

3. Don’t be afraid to try something new. You may be planning a trip to a national park around a favorite cold-weather activity, like cross-country skiing in Acadia, snowshoeing in Yellowstone, or downhill skiing in Yosemite. You can make it a multi-sport vacation by renting equipment from a local gear shop or even from concessioners inside the park. Now there’s no need to lug bulky equipment on your next park holiday, and no more “lack of equipment” excuses holding you back. So pack your winter layers and get out there to give it a shot.

Visitors at Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park

4. Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated is just as important in the wintertime as in the summer, but our bodies don’t let us know we are dehydrated in quite the same way, and we may not always recognize we’re thirsty during cold-weather activities. My favorite winter trick is to drink warm water from an insulated thermos. I’m channeling my mother here when I remind us all to, “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!”

A coyote in winter at Yellowstone National Park

5. Don’t get caught in the dark. We all know that winter brings shorter days. These precious daylight hours can be even more compressed when traveling, especially closer to the poles. Another important factor is where a park is located within a given time zone. Visiting a park in the eastern part of a specific time zone will mean earlier sunrise and sunset times than other parks in the same zone. For example, the sunrise and sunset will be much earlier tomorrow at Acadia National Park (6:51 a.m. and 3:54 p.m., respectively) than Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore (8:01 a.m. and 5:03 p.m., respectively) because Acadia is located much farther east in the time zone. Checking daylight hours ahead of time can help ensure you will have enough daylight hours for your intended daily activities, and that you won’t get surprised as darkness falls.

These are just a few things to keep in mind during a cold-weather journey. Got your own tips? Share them with us below!
If you are thinking about a winter adventure but prefer the ease and other benefits of a small group tour, consider joining an NPCA ParkScapes trip to ring in the New Year. We offer special holiday trips to Yellowstone and Yosemite
 that feature these snow-covered landscapes.

  And they can use our help, consider making a tax deductible donation

Remember the National Parks Conservation Association's Mission Statement

To protect and enhance America's National Parks for present and future generations.

Subscribe by email to Shooting Outside Blog

 

Add a Comment Below

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Dull to Dramatic Photography

-
Image
While this may not be dramatic in a bright happy colorful sense it is so, if in a dark and foreboding way. With this subject I will admit it was easier than if I had chosen an image which was bright and colorful with lots of sunlight, still even then one can cause an ordinary image to appear near HDR without all the added work and in many cases the use of software to produce the tonal mapping needed. Take this original image of a door within an abandoned barn, with the use of flash. From Drop Box As you can see the amount of light hitting this well defines all of the aspects of the term abandoned, the failing paint, the rust on the handle, the cobweb within the latch opening and generally the decadent condition overall. This much light reflects really more than I want in this photo, so rather than lowering the exposure and losing too much information (btw this works well in most well-lit sunjects, i.e. lowering exposure, I am not the best at flash adjustments, so I use PP or post
Read more

Shooting Christmas Can be Fun.......or........

-
Image
Shooting can be a lot of fun. Formal shots seem to take a lot of prep work if one wants to get everything perfect, like making sure nothing in the background conflicts with the subject which is your critical Aunt saying she doesn't like it that Bernie's coat is so ugly hanging on the wall behind me. Or just the usual clutter which can easily invade a nice grouping of the family. It pays to take the time to pick out a bare wall or large window so long as the flash will not bounce back at you. In the other hand if you are going for the candid approach, and want to avoid the background clutter which is unavoidable in most cases, try placing a lens of portrait class, say a Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras which when opened wide you'll produce enough bokeh, or background blur to avoid most of the stuff and leave you with a wonderful clear shot of your Aunt who won't be able to critique your photo without using a compliment. What I hear most often from re
Read more

Consciousness Coupled with Photography Art

-
Image
  Ever considered how Art affects our Consciousness? Sit down sometime, maybe now, eyes off your screen(s), awareness on your wall art, and feel the art change your mood. We are capable of launching our consciousness back from the brink of overstimulation and it should gift us with a pleasurable sense. Do not glance, but take it in. This is not meant to be family pictures, but art we have invested in. We chose it, we purchased it for a very special reason.  Much has been written about time on our screens, little about the sense we absorb, ingest and assimilate as we commingle with our wall art. There ought to be a lifting of sorts, an uncommon ground with which we find solace, peace, or energy and spirit, with our art. The very reason the art was hung, is to bring to us a feeling that nothing else in our homes, or offices can.  If you're feeling it, then you should find it more often. Screens are great for learning, and not so great for feeling it. There are too many distractions.
Read more

Soft Proofing in Photoshop

-
Image
Soft Proofing an image is the most accurate way to achieve the look of how the print will appear on paper. Ever noticed that your print doesn't come out quite as vibrant as it looked in Photoshop? Surely there are a host of reasons outside the scope of this article, but I'll make the assumption you already are familiar with image preparation and color profiling, paper selection and the how of printing basics. Once you have these down the next step is to get your image to the very closest that your camera's image sensor captured. Open your file in Photoshop. Next choose View, Proof Setup, Custom. The window reads Customize Proof Condition. Select Device to Simulate, then proceed to choose the paper profile you will be printing on. There will come associated with the imbedded profiles Photoshop and your printer software has already configured. You may also have added a few for certain papers or profiles from your print shop.  Select the one you wish to print to, for exa
Read more

Do you ever shoot for free?

-
Give your opinion in the Comments section below after signing up. Our readers want to know how you feel. For those of you who'd rather not sign up answer the poll in the column to the right. I've created a typical scenario which I've discussed with many photographers over time who've shared their talent alongside starving artist status. The discussion is almost always the same, ENP (Every New Photographer) seems to feel the need to give freely of their skills in order to gain business. After all how do you get business without giving a little? The discussion usually goes something like this. RCPhotos: So when does one start charging for your photography skills? Do you? ENP: Oh I'm new at this so when a friend asked if I'd take a few shots of their new baby I said sure, no problem. My idea was that they'd see some really good results and maybe pass my name around. RCphotos: How did it go? ENP: Well they said they'd tell everyone they knew but af
Read more

Happy Mother's Day Mom

-
Image
Happy Mother's Day. This is in honor of my Mother, whom most of her friends call Dot. I caught her in the midst of preparing the kitchen for dinner.     I should say that Mom, Dot, is much more than a Mom to me, she is an Angel. She has been my inspiration for positive thinking for a lifetime and continues to inspire me. Why? I can recall when I was very young and was tied to the farm, milking cows, slopping hogs, feeding horses and chickens, gathering eggs, all of this twice a day, that I used to complain about not having enough time to spend with my friends who were all free of these (work duties - ahem) activities, and she'd say, "Well what would the animals do without you?" How could I argue with that? Or when I'd come in with near frozen fingers from winter's chill and she'd have a warm steaming wash towel for my hands. "Here", she'd say, "this will warm you in no time". Why else? She has spent many, many years helping
Read more

Not Having Much Fun With Photoshop?

-
I am guilty of this too. I am constantly learning about using tools in PS and learning new ways of using them. Time goes by and we just keep doing the same stuff, or variations over and over to increase our skills. But then we see someone else's work and we are awed by it. I recently saw some digital art from a photograph converted to a near painting and found out that it was done with brushes I don't have. Fortunately the link was included in the post. Jump to the link above or below, and you'll see more brushes that you'll ever use in your lifetime. Well I guess that depends on your age, but it's certainly true for me. If you like a particular set, check back in and share them with us. Also if you like your work, link us to something you've done. Have fun at Get Brushes .com
Read more

Soft Focus your Photos

-
Image
Let's take a photo I shot of our cat Rayden. He's slightly large and rather soft looking anyway but we thought we'd like to see an even softer version. So as you can see the original shows quite a lot of the photo in focus save some to the right rear. Understand that for this purpose I am pushing the results to demonstrate how far one can go to get maximum effect. You won't probably go this far, nor would I. Open your photo in PS, make a background copy, by dragging the background image in the layers pallet down to the create a new layer icon, just to the left of the garbage can, and release. You now see a background copy of your original image. Make sure that copy is still highlighted. Go up to Layer> Layer Mask> Reveal All. Next click on the photo so the mask is not highlighted, but the photo to its left, is highlighted. Then to Filters> Blur> Gaussian Blur and choose a rather high blur so that your brushing out the blur will be obvious. Of course this d
Read more

Photo Use Acronyms Explained

-
Ever wonder what exactly all those acronyms mean? You know the ones we use daily,such as PDF, GIF, JPEG and so on. Well here are a few most of us run across occasionally. * BMP – Windows Bitmap files * DNG – Digital Negative files * EPS – Encapsulated PostScript files * FAX – faxes * FPX – FlashPix files * GIF – Graphics Interchange Format files * HDR – High Dynamic Range Image files * ICNS - Apple Icon Image Files * ICO – Windows icon files * JPEG 2000 – JPEG 2000 files * JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group files * OpenEXR – OpenEXR files * PS – Adobe PostScript files (after an automatic conversion to PDF) * PSD – Adobe Photoshop files * PICT – QuickTime image files * PDF – Portable Document Format files * PNG – Portable Network Graphics files * PNTG – MacPaint Bitmap Graphic files * QTIF – QuickTime image files * RAD – Radience Scene Description files * RAW – Raw image files
Read more

Two very special prints at Fort Vancouver NHS a National Park

-
Image
I wanted to profile my 2 latest works at Imagekind. These both are within my Gallery called Fort Vancouver, and are titled 'Oregon White Oak' and 'Icy Fort'. I am building a collection of images from Fort Vancouver but slowly and partly becasue I am very fussy about the images I rate 5 stars, and even fussier about how I process the RAW files once converted to TIF format. Oregon White Oak by Rich Collins This image Oregon White Oak is very special not only to myself, but to the entire Clark County community. And that's partly why I have it for sale in 8x10" matted, at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Visitor Center in Vancouver, WA. But soon, perhaps within another week or 2 at most, I'll have it for sale and on display, along with Icy Fort, in 20x30" matted size at the Visitor Center. These are such special prints to me and the community that I have built a unique frame for them. Once the frame is finished I'll add a photo of it to t
Read more