National Parks are overly visited...

but I still find them the most uniques places on earth. <br>

Photographers and tourists are fighting every spots to take

pictures.<br>

In 2004, from August - November, For 4 months I travelled accross

the country visiting most [western] national parks. I just want to

share my pictures with you all.<br>

Here is the link: <br>

<a href=www.edwardng.net>Edward NG NPs</a><br>

Thank you for stopping by and not commenting I have taken shots that

many have taken.

the link is not working properly<br>

it is : <br><br>

www.edwardng.net<br>

In some of the national parks the effort to preserve them has limited vehicle access. If you are young and strong and don't have a job and responsibilities to get back to, I don't think it is much of a problem to get away from the crowds.

 

If however, you are an old broken down large format photographer with a pile of work on your desk you can't see over, this creates somewhat of a problem

The link is not working properly because you didn't put http:// in front of it :)

<p>

<a href="http://www.edwardng.net">http://www.edwardng.net</a>

Edward,

Beautiful photos! I wish my photos of the Bristlecone Pines rivaled yours. One point

though: the Bristlecones are located in Inyo National Forest. There is no Bristlecone

Pine National Forest.

Actually, the project to visit *all* of the National Parks hasn't been done that often. Besides

<a href = "http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/parks.html">myself</a> :-), there is only another photographer that I can name, who has completed the project, Jorstad. You'll find that the closer you get to completion, the more challenging it becomes to reach those "last parks" and photograph successfully in them. Some of them, by the way, receive just a few thousand visitors per year, but I suppose it could be argued that compared to the non-NP surrounding backcountry, they are still "overly visited". Good luck on your project. Considering your time constraints, I thought that you did a good job. Myself, I felt I had to return to each park several times to be satisfied with results.

My experience in Rocky Mountain National Park- I have started hiking at daybreak, and hiked until 4:00 in the afternoon before I saw a soul. So if you're seeing crowds, you're just too close to the trailheads. Or on the roads, even. The crowds thin out considerably about 2 miles from the trailheads. If you start early (at daybreak or before), you'll be ahead of most of the crowd, and if you keep moving, they won't catch up. (You'll also find parking places easier) Not many people that start at a trailhead ever make it more than 6 or 8 miles back, so if you can get back that far, you have some real solitude. Going earlier in the summer can thin the crowds out. Going in September or even October, after school has started, thins the crowds out even more, and you can still have some good hiking weather.

 

Check into "climbing" routes, also. For example, in RMNP, you normally hike on the trails. But you can hike off-trail and go up the peaks that don't have maintained trails, and when you do, fewer people are to be found. And in RMNP, most of the peaks are walk-ups, just steeper walking.

I like the Mt. Rainier NP photos. I have slides taken from many of the same places as yours, but mine don't look as good. I'll just have to go hack and practice, and practice, and practice some more, after all it get the privilege of living only an hour-plus drive from it. But then I'll focus on the non-summit photos and more backcountry areas, there's more beauty in that NP than just the mountain, as QT Luong's photos show, although it always makes a great background.

 

Good luck in your work, and thanks for sharing.

I have been to Yellowstone more times than I can count, and I really like your photos from

there. If you ever go back, try getting off the beaten path, as there are even more

spectacular thermals (which you seemed to enjoy) and other scenery within a 2 hour hike

of the road.

Speaking of the project, I have to give Quang Tuan Long credit for setting the standard high. I have taken many photographs but photography is only my secondary goal. I have gone many more places and NPs (not appeared in my website) just because the weather (affecting ligthing) is just damn ugly for my photography taste. Early in my journey I would be very frustrated. But soon I learned to enjoy them regardless the condition. It is very enjoyable to hike/walk with just a bottle of water. I wish I could go to more places and take more pics but alas time ran out. Time=money!! Again, thanks for commenting!

just a quick note about your site:<br>

<br>

I noticed you have JavaScripted out the option to right-click on an image and just wanted to point out a couple of things:<br>

<ul>

<li> Anyone using a high-speed ISP (e.g. NetZero HiSpeed), like me, will only be able to see your images in low quality - the software that makes my connection HiSpeed loads images at about 20% the quality. Usually I can right-click on any image I want to see in Full quality, but you have taken that option away.<br><br>

<li>I can still copy your image to my desktop by using the File>Save As command on my web browser

</ul>

<br>

From what I can see you have an excellent eye! Keep up the great work.

It all depends on time of year too I guess whether you find a park crowded.

 

I was in Grand Teton early september and it was rather quiet.

Friday there was hardly a soul to be seen, saturday it was busy but not extremely so (especially in the morning and late afternoon), sunday the roads out of the park were busy but the rest was quiet :)

 

Week after in Yellowstone it was a bit busier but still not bustling except in the area directly around Old Faithful (which is probably busy all year round). I too had heard the horrorstories of trafficjams all around the loop, but found hardly any traffic at all. Most we encountered was a group of 5 cars stuck behind a truck scaling one of the slopes.