Crater Lake and umpqua scenic byway

Crater Lake National Park is one of the country’s crown jewels. No place else on earth combines a deep pure lake, so blue in color; sheer surrounding cliffs, almost 2,000 feet high; a picturesque island and a violent volcanic past.

I went crazy taking pictures. Zoom lens, wide lense, portrait lens,  fish-eye lens, taken in  raw, taken in HDR , Canon, Polarizer,  ND filter Sony RXIII, iPhone 6S..  600  images in  3-4 hours ! and now do not know which to pick and get  time to process it. Many are unprocessed simple  JPEG shot and so one can see the beauty captured  as captured by a point and shoot camera as well. No camera, photographer can do justice to what one can see with the eyes ! 

Just  visited  the Quilotoa  crater lake in Ecuador three months back which is  equally  beautiful. Another Lucky day to be there with sunny (but cold) day with changing Sun shades,  where the lake gives ever  changing different colors like moving a kaleidoscope.

1) Crater Lake Selected 



2)  Crater Lake  Rest -   ( last pictures: to the  Crater Lake)

3) Rogue Umpqua scenic  Byway 
Again the Journey to the Crater lake was  as beautiful as the destination, 
Two of Oregon’s nationally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers lead the way on this 172-mile/  route, an ever-changing feast of white water, waterfalls and deep gorges gouged in the deeply forested southern Cascade Mountains.  

4) Madhu-Tushar at  the Umpqua  scenic byway

5) Madhu-Tushar at the Crater lake 

6) Pictures taken by Sony camera 

Oregon Coast

You may mountain lover or you may be ocean lover, Oregon/Washington Pacific Coast will Charm you. Unspoiled in rugged beauty and unsurpassed  in  natural drama, the Oregon Coast reminds  us where the land  and water meet, scenic treasures often around.  This is like great fusion cuisine from mother nature. This  drive on Rt.101  A to B ( Astoria in North to  Brookings in South  for about 360 miles) is dotted with lookouts and lighthouses, coves and cliffs with sprout holes,  Sand dunes and and Seaport. It is  not about  getting from point A to B . Instead the route itself is a destination.  We have been several other Oceanside spectacular drives like the Dalmatian Cost in Croatia, Amalfi coast, Portofino/Caglia , Cinque Terre in Italy, Mediterranean cost  in Turkey,  route 101 in California,  however we found exciting  new vista at these  exceptional coastal  route.

The Oregon Dunes are a unique area of windswept sand that is the result of millions of years of wind and rain erosion on the Oregon Coast.These are the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America. Some dunes tower up to 500 feet above sea level, providing numerous recreational opportunities including off-road vehicle use

The photo-albums are organized  in following seven links

1)      Oregon Coast selected.

2)      Oregon  Dunes  National recreation  area

3)      Oregon Coast Rest ( > 200 pictures)

4)      Oregon on the road  ( taken form car)

5)      Oregon Coast  Madhu & Tushar

6)      Oregon  Dunes  National recreation  area Madhu &Tushar with few animation

7)      Oregon Coast Video  ( 1:29 MM:SS)


Refernces for the Orgeon Coast

1. http://visittheoregoncoast.com/ 
2. http://traveloregon.com/ 
3. http://www.southernoregon.org/

Olympic National Park , Wa

I) Olympic National Park – Selected  Pictures

It has been about a decade since Madhu and I  took  our  last  driving  sightseeing tour in USA.   It turned out to be a great trip. The Pacific Northwest is a charmer and its offbeat character and quirky comparable to other exotic and popular places on planet like New Zealand  with out  flying that  far. ( My friends has  accused me  of  not helping uS economy  by taking all  vacations abroad :-) )

We Started our driving tour of the Northwest form  the  Olympic State Park.  After attending the   great wedding and grand reunion  of the school and college  friends at Denver, on early Monday morning (6/6/'16) we flew to Seattle, Wa.  Drove to   Olympic national park directly from the airport.

Hidden away in the nation’s extreme northwest, Washington’s spectacular coastline and heavily forested interior showcases over 350 miles of wild, storm-lashed beaches along with some of the country’s most untainted and pristine rural ecosystems

First, we went to the Hurricane Ridge, named for the 100-mile-an-hour winds that can blow here in winter, in summer the Ridge is merely spectacular, offering amazing views of the Olympic Mountains and the Olympic Peninsula coastline. Two good easy hikes start near the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center: Hurricane Hill and Cirque Rim 

Next we went to the  Lake Crescent. This deep, clear, glacier-carved  but skipped the  Sol Duc Hot Springs. Visited the  Rialto  Beach across La Push for  the sunset.

Stayed overnight at the Forks,  know as the place ofr the vampires,  Next day  visited  the Hoh rain forest,  Ruby beach and  Lake Quinault.

II) Madhu and Tushar at Olympic National Park 



III ) Rest of the pictures at Olympic National Park  ( ~200 pictures)  

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain

References :

https://www.nps.gov/olym :a) Getting around map b)
http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/