Florida is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Our 21 million residents are joined by 120 million visitors who flock to the Sunshine State each year. Now Florida is best known for Disney World and beaches, yet its first draw was its natural attractions. Much of Florida’s original nature is still here but often hidden in plain sight of the amusement parks and coastal cities.

Moonrise Over Caladesi II, 2010. The full moon rises over Caladesi Island in the evening twilight just after sunset over Clearwater Beach and the Gulf of Mexico. Fringing Florida’s most densely populated county, this state park and its sisters, Honeymoon Island and Anclote Key, provide rare experiences with the region’s original nature.

As a conservation photographer, I have dedicated my career to raising awareness of Florida’s lesser-known natural treasures with the purpose of inspiring their protection. I got my start as a professional photographer working with Smithsonian scientists in the rainforests of Central Africa. But after four years of expeditions on the other side of the globe witnessing relatively pristine nature, I grew increasingly concerned about the rapid loss of wildlife habitat at home and moved back to make Florida my full-time focus.

I am an eighth-generation Floridian and fortunate to have connections to our lesser-known heartland. That is where I began my photographic quest. Through photographing Florida black bears that were relying on Everglades cattle ranches, I learned from biologists how much connected habitat bears need to survive and at the same time realized how rapidly new housing developments and roads were cutting wildlife habitat into smaller and smaller pieces. I also saw that the lands of cowboys and black bears were virtually absent from Florida’s identity and were not getting the attention they deserved.

That led me to found the Florida Wildlife Corridor project, a conservation campaign working to inspire protection of a statewide network of contiguous land, 17 million acres in total, that keeps wild Florida connected. Through two major expeditions in 2012 and 2015, I have hiked, paddled and biked more than 2,000 miles through the length and width of Florida. In addition to producing books, films and numerous media stories along the way, I also added to a lifetime shot list of amazing places I want to revisit, several of which I am going to share with you now.

Wild Florida: Favorite Places

We will start our journey along the Gulf of Mexico at Caladesi State Park, a barrier island near the city of Clearwater, where I grew up. Caladesi is one of the last wild places in the most densely populated county in the Southeast and has always been an oasis for me. I developed strong connections to nature here as a boy, and it is the first place I revisited as a photographer when I came home from college. You can reach Caladesi by a ferry boat from Dunedin or by walking two miles north along the sand from Clearwater Beach (thanks to Hurricane Elena in 1985, which filled in a land bridge between the two islands).

One of my favorite views of Caladesi is standing on the edge of Clearwater Beach looking east through the sand dunes across a shallow lagoon with layers of mash grasses, mangrove, palm and pines stacking toward the horizon. At dusk before the full moon, you can catch it rising just above the trees within moments of when the sun has melted into the Gulf behind you.

Caladesi Island is one of Florida’s 175 award-winning state parks. If you visit Caladesi, I recommend making the short trip to Honeymoon Island State Park and Anclote Key Preserve State Park on neighboring barrier islands. The afternoon light coming in low over the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s west coast is the most powerful and brilliant I’ve seen anywhere in the world. In the summertime, be on the lookout for cold, dark thunderheads marching seaward over the peninsula to provide intense contrast with the warm sunset rays. The juxtaposition will awaken your senses.

Reef at Loggerhead Key, 2014. At the far reaches of the Florida Keys, where the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet, a coral reef rises close to the surface along the west side of Loggerhead Key. Here, in Dry Tortugas National Park, the reefs host about 30 species of coral. While coral reefs are in bad shape worldwide, especially in the upper Florida Keys, where runoff from development and pollution have been leading causes of decline, the reefs in the Dry Tortugas survive in relatively good health thanks to being 65 miles from the closest human population and safeguarded within a marine-protected area.

The next stop, Dry Tortugas National Park, is also on the Gulf of Mexico. Seventy miles west of Key West, this maritime outpost is as far south and west as you can go and still be in Florida. The only way to get there is by boat or seaplane, and there are regular ferries and flights from Key West. There are fantastic subjects throughout the Florida Keys, but the remoteness of the Dry Tortugas makes it one of my favorite places in the world. You can camp on Garden Key by the old fortress at Fort Jefferson and travel by boat 3 miles to the next island, Loggerhead Key, where a 150-foot lighthouse stands over the shoals and reefs where the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. If you have a water housing, you won’t want to miss the chance to explore some of America’s most vibrant coral reefs. If you have a dome port, you can try split-level shots that show the reef and either Fort Jefferson or the Loggerhead Key lighthouse in the background.

Ten Thousand Islands, 2015. Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States and protects the largest wilderness and largest contiguous mangrove forest in the western hemisphere. The park has been declared an international Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site and one of the Wetlands of International Importance, one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists. The boundaries of the park protect about 20 percent of the original land area of the Everglades.

From the Dry Tortugas, we’ll travel back north across the Gulf to Everglades City. This frontier community is nestled between Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park. Together they contribute to the largest protected mangrove coastline in the western hemisphere. From Everglades City, you can take airboat tours into the backwater creeks and sawgrass, or powerboat tours through the labyrinth of mangrove islands between the estuary and the Gulf. Some on the mangrove islands can make iconic silhouettes at sunrise and sunset with a backdrop of watery wilderness wide open to the Florida Keys and beyond. I love to see the Ten Thousand Islands from above, where you can find intricate patterns of islands and water that put the whole region in context.

For wildlife and landscape photography in the Everglades, you can’t go wrong with the Shark Valley and Anhinga Trails. Driving east from Everglades City on U.S. Route 41—one of my favorite roads with Big Cypress National Preserve on your left and Everglades National Park on your right—the Shark Valley Visitor Center is halfway to Miami, near the Miccosukee Indian outpost and airboat tours. At Shark Valley, you can hike, bike or ride a tram down a 7-mile trail straight into Shark River Slough. On a sunny day, there will be dozens of alligators to see up close along the way. At the end of the trail, there is a tall observation tower to climb for panoramic vistas of the “River of Grass.”

For excellent bird photography, you don’t have to walk or ride quite as far. A series of ponds and boardwalks close to the visitor center is a perfect place to see iconic water birds like anhingas, cormorants, wood storks and a variety of egrets and herons. These birds are used to seeing people, so getting close enough for a full-frame photo is not difficult. My photograph of a great blue heron in this article was taken there during an Everglades assignment for Smithsonian magazine.

Everglades Blue Heron, 2006. A great blue heron forages at dusk in the Shark River Slough, the main aquatic artery of Everglades National Park. Wading bird populations have declined by 90 percent since the 1930s, primarily from loss or alteration of habitat. While some species continue to decline, Everglades restoration and continued habitat protection offer hope for partial recovery.

Closer to Miami, you can enter Everglades National Park from the east near Homestead. From there, the first stop for bird photography should be the Anhinga Trail. Bird sightings will be best in the dry season, typically from January through May, when less water elsewhere in the Everglades helps concentrate birds and the fish they eat around deeper ponds near the visitor centers.

The Everglades is the largest subtropical wetland in America and Florida’s best-known wilderness. With conservation areas such as Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park and Picayune Strand State Forest, there are 4 million acres of contiguous public land combined with Everglades National Park. But the Everglades watershed is much larger still. The headwaters of the Everglades are near Orlando within the boundaries of Disney World. The watershed encompasses nearly half of the Florida peninsula and provides water for 9 million people.

Public lands alone are not enough to protect the Everglades from suburban development that is pushing out from urban cores to accommodate 1,000 new residents moving to Florida every day. Corridors for water and wildlife are needed to keep Everglades National Park connected to its headwaters, and one important piece of the conservation puzzle is the Florida cattle ranch. America’s first cattle and horses arrived in Florida with Ponce de Leon in 1521, and ranches encompass nearly 5 million acres of Florida today. Because Florida ranches retain a lot of forest and often historic prairies, their habitat for wildlife can be as good as public parks.

Econ Cowboys, 2013. Cowboys from the Yarborough family drive a herd through Little Big Econ State Forest, which their family owned for generations before selling it to the Florida Division of Forestry. The Econlockhatchee River flows east of Orlando through the historic Yarborough Ranch to a confluence with the north-flowing St. Johns River. Cattle ranches comprise nearly 6 million acres (or one-sixth) of Florida’s land mass. Because ranches are often excellent wildlife habitat, helping ranch owners protect their properties through conservation easements and other tools is essential to keeping the Florida Wildlife Corridor connected.

Forever Florida near Kissimmee is one place to see and learn about historic ranches. Some of Florida’s best state parks and forests were formerly cattle ranches. The St. Johns River flows north from south of Orlando to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. Florida’s longest river and second-largest watershed next to the Everglades, the upper St. Johns is largely protected by a patchwork of public lands and private ranches. One of my favorite places is Little Big Econ State Forest, where picturesque palms rise above the floodplain and line the waterways at the confluence where the Econlockhatchee River meets the St. Johns. I recommend paddling and camping along this waterway that flows east from Orlando. You might see cowboys on horseback gathering herds along the banks.

Freshwater springs might be Florida’s greatest hidden treasure. North Florida is said to have the highest concentration of freshwater springs in the world. A great place to see them is along the Florida National Scenic Trail in Ocala National Forest, where they supply pure water to the St. Johns. Or, further west, the Suwannee River and its tributaries are lined with springsheds, where crystal clear water flows up from underground aquifers. The water is 72 degrees year round, refreshing in the summer and relatively warm in the winter. Many springs provide important warm-water refuges to migrating manatees.

Longleaf Pines, 2012. In a longleaf pine habitat seen here in Ocala National Forest, an open understory of sweeping wiregrass is maintained by frequent fire. The natural diversity of a healthy longleaf pine forest can be comparable to that of tropical rain forests, with more than 40 species per square meter. Protecting and restoring longleaf pine forests is important for connecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Ocala National Forest is also a fantastic place to photograph longleaf pines. This forest type once covered 90 million acres of the southeastern U.S. but was reduced by logging to just 3 million acres today. Groups like The Nature Conservancy and The Longleaf Alliance are working to restore longleaf to more of its historic range, which is critical for regional wildlife corridors. Longleaf forests and savannahs are biodiversity hotspots, with species diversity approaching that of tropical rainforests. When photographing pine forests, I enjoy using a moderate telephoto lens to compress the scene and focus on the patterns the layers of trees and grasses present. In spring when the wiregrass is seeding, the ground cover dances with texture and depth. Other great places to photograph longleaf pines are Apalachicola National Forest, Blackwater River State Forest, Eglin Air Force Base and Tall Timbers Research Center.

The Suwannee River originates in Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia and winds through historic longleaf country. I strongly recommend exploring its upper reaches, from Big Shoals State Park, where you can photograph flowing rapids, upstream toward the Georgia Florida line. On Day 96 of the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition, that’s where I photographed an Ogeechee tupelo tree in fresh spring foliage reflecting over the dark tannic waters oozing out of the Okefenokee. In the dry season, when water is low, shallow white sand bars will color the brown water orange. Carry a polarizing filter to reduce the reflection and increase saturation of vegetation and to help see through the water.

Ogeechee Tupelo, 2012. An Ogeechee Tupelo spreads its branches over a shallow sandbar colored orange by tannin-stained water flowing from the Okefenokee Swamp. The Suwannee River runs 240 miles from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia through the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge to the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key.

As the Suwannee flows southwest, blue spring water mixes with the dark tannic waters along the way. Awesome underwater photos can be made where the two waters converge, in places like Ginnie Springs or Manatee Springs State Park. After 240 miles, the Suwannee spreads out through Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge into the Gulf of Mexico north of Cedar Key, which is a great jumping off point for freshwater and saltwater adventures. People working oyster beds in the shallows can make great subjects, as will flocks of white pelicans gathering in winter months.

This region around the Suwannee is known as Florida’s Nature Coast. Nearly 1 million acres and 160 miles of coastline are protected from north of Tampa to the Big Bend south of Tallahassee. Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Homosassa Springs State Park, Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, Rainbow Springs State Park, Aucilla River Wildlife Management Area and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge are just a few of the amazing places to explore.

Aucilla River Delta, 2015. The St. Marks River meets the Gulf of Mexico at the edge of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, which protects nearly 70,000 acres, including wintering grounds for endangered whooping cranes that migrate 1,117 miles from Wisconsin.

During the cooler months, magical fog often lingers over warmer springs and creeks, making for magical light. On Day 10 of the 2015 Florida Wildlife Corridor Glades to Gulf Expedition, I set my camera on a tripod and used its intervalometer to capture a photo of myself paddling off into the misty sunrise at Chassahowitzka.

Chassahowitzka Dawn, 2015. During the Glades to Gulf Expedition, Carlton Ward paddles Crawford Creek, exploring a palm-studded tidal creek near Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, the southern reaches of Florida’s Nature Coast, which wraps the Gulf from north of Tampa toward Tallahassee and is protected by a combination of state, federal and private land.

Further west, the Nature Coast transitions to the Forgotten Coast near the town of Apalachicola. This is a charming base camp complete with seafood restaurants and cafes where the Apalachicola River flows through a million acres of protected land to meet the Gulf. Shrimp boats line the docks in a town where 80 percent of households still rely on Gulf fisheries for their livelihoods. From the pristine beaches of Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park and St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge to oyster boats tonging in the shallows of Apalachicola Bay to massive cypress trees lining the vast floodplain of the Apalachicola River, the challenge will be picking which subjects you want to explore first.

See more of Carlton Ward’s photography at www.carltonward.com.

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When you think about places for fall color in the U.S., New England probably comes to mind, and though it deserves the notoriety, it’s just one of many regions to witness the resplendent change of seasons. No matter where you live, there’s likely an excellent destination to photograph the rich, warm colors of autumn within a day’s drive.

We asked 10 photographers to share the details behind some of their top locations for fall color from coast to coast to inspire you to plan your own trip, whether it’s to an iconic place or a favorite spot near home.

Tumwater Canyon, Washington

Sony a850, Sony Zeiss Vario-Sonnar DT 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 ZA at 60mm, circular polarizer, tripod. Exposure: 1/13 sec., ƒ/20, ISO 200.

By Steve West

Traveling U.S. Route 2 across the Cascade Mountains from north of Seattle toward Spokane is always a picturesque joy. Come fall, it’s spectacular. Snow-capped peaks and mountain rivers, hillsides mixed with evergreens and now-turned-red brush accompany the journey as you approach Tumwater Canyon. The canyon is a 14-mile piece of U.S. 2 that bends and sweeps along the Wenatchee River ending at the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth. The highway is loaded with roadside pull-outs along the Wenatchee, making it easy to photograph. In addition to the river and cliffs, you’ll find ponds, a small dam, an old railroad bridge and other features to combine with the color.

I’ve photographed from the canyon for many years and regard it as Washington state’s prime spot for guaranteed fall photos you’ll show others. Each year seems different due to normal climate changes; will the yellows, oranges and reds be ripe together, or is it simply a one-color year? The reds normally come first, and the yellows linger the longest. I pick the middle of October as the best chance for both. As summer winds down, the images of past photos begin to resurface. Fall is in the air, and so is the Tumwater.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California

Nikon D850, AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR, circular polarizer. Exposure: 1/5 sec., ƒ/22, ISO 100.

By Menx Cuizon

Yosemite National Park is a popular landmark that’s located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. It’s one of the most beautiful scenic places in the United States, and millions of people visit the park each year for hiking, camping, rock climbing or simply to enjoy the beauty of the place. Yosemite is famous for grand waterfalls, majestic granite rock formations and breathtaking meadows. Among the top photo locations in the park are Tunnel View, where one can see the iconic El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall; Glacier Point; and Cook’s Meadow, to get a closer look of the upper and lower Yosemite Falls. For photographers, this place is an absolute destination.

All year long, Yosemite National Park offers the stunning beauty of nature and amazing landscapes. Each season has a different variety of beautiful displays of nature.

My last fall visit to the park had one of the most amazing sunrises I’ve ever seen. My friends and I planned to photograph Half Dome with the Merced River as the foreground. As the morning broke over Yosemite Valley, an errant beam of sunlight illuminated the vibrant colors of the autumn trees, and at that moment, I felt so excited and inspired. With the camera settings already done beforehand, I started clicking on the remote shutter without delay. The radiance of the sun, the reflection on the Merced River and the silhouette of Half Dome were glorious.

See more of Menx Cuizon’s work at menxcuizonphotography.com.

Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, Prescott, Arizona

Sony a7, Rokinon 14mm F2.8 FE. Exposure: 1/10 sec., ƒ/16, ISO 100.

By Bob Larson

Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, just off Arizona State Route 89A on the way to the main entrance of Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona, is a smorgasbord of color in the fall. Depending on how much rain the monsoons brought over the summer, there are ponds, pools and streams throughout the preserve and plenty of color-changing leaves to keep a photographer happy and very busy. Without the full foliage of summer, the thinning of the leaves on the branches allows the rays of sunset to shoot through while enough foliage remains to provide that autumn glow. Aside from the gorgeous color, the best part of shooting the Riparian Preserve in fall is no snakes—during the summer months, there are times when I’m looking through my viewfinder and I see the forest floor move!

See more of Bob Larson’s work at boblarsonphotography.zenfolio.com.

Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM at 73mm, MeFoto GlobeTrotter Tripod, Lee Filter System with a 0.9 (3-stop) soft neutral-density filter. Exposure: 1/60 sec., ƒ/13, ISO 160. This is a stitched photo panorama processed with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I cloned out the road and parking lot.

By Daryl Hunter

I was inspired to shoot this spot after seeing it in the July 1986 feature in Outdoor Photographer about Jackson Hole photographer Fred Joy. I then abruptly moved to Jackson Hole after my first visit.

Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park is one of the most recognizable, iconic landscapes of the American West. To get a new take, I climbed Lozier Hill for a different perspective, forsaking the iconic reflection of Mount Moran of the traditional perspective. This higher perch enabled a more comprehensive landscape of the autumn willow-lined banks of the river and the gold and auburn aspen forest on the east side of the Oxbow. This higher and wider vantage adds the leading line of Snake River as a substitute for the full reflection of the closer view.

See more of Daryl Hunter’s work at theholepicturesafaris.com.

Kebler Pass, Crested Butte, Colorado

Sony a7 III, Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS at 282mm. Exposure: 1/250 sec., ƒ/9, ISO 400.

By Jon Reynolds

This mountain pass in Gunnison National Forest is home to one of the largest aspen groves in the world and is only accessible to auto traffic from late spring to the end of fall. Peak color season can begin as early as mid-September, but in my most recent journeys, I’ve found the first few days of October to be the best time to capture the leaves both on the trees and also those recently fallen on the ground.

As I wound my way around Coal Creek, approaching the eastern terminus of the pass on this rainy morning, I was particularly struck by the tall, slender trees layering the northwestern slope of Mt. Axtell. Rather than use a wide-angle lens, I felt a telephoto would be more appropriate to help accentuate the vertical nature of the landscape, which reminded me of a box of freshly dipped paint brushes ready to apply their brilliant gold, green, orange and crimson colors to an otherwise gray autumn canvas.

See more of Jon Reynolds’ work at jon-reynolds.pixels.com.

UW Arboretum, Madison, Wisconsin

Canon EOS 30D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM at 280mm with a Canon 1.4x TC I, Gitzo 3531 with Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead. Settings: 1/25 sec., ƒ/5, ISO 800.

By Ravi Hirekatur

The trees in this forested area, Wingra Woods, are predominantly maple, and almost all of them turn yellow during the fall, giving a surreal sense of a yellow world. This is one of my favorite places to go for fall photography.

The UW Arboretum consists of 1,200 acres of land that has been restored to natural conditions for purposes of research, education, ecological experiments and a refuge for wildlife. It consists of the oldest restored prairies with an extensive and most varied collection of restored ecosystems, including savannas and wooded areas. It’s managed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The prairie and savanna areas are rich with wildflowers of southern Wisconsin and are great places for macro photography. There’s plenty of wildlife, including birds and mammals.

I was photographing the fall color landscape when this deer showed up. I quickly changed to a telephoto lens, and the deer didn’t move. I had just enough time to make two images before the deer bolted. It was pure luck.

See more of Ravi Hirekatur’s work at ravihirekaturimages.com.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Nikon D7200, AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR, Gitzo tripod. Exposure: 1/15 sec., ƒ/10, ISO 200.

By Marcella Raust

I found this group of trees while hiking on the Laurel Falls Trail near Fighting Gap Creek Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was there during the second week of October hoping to see the peak of the fall foliage colors. It was cloudy that day, which was an ideal condition for photographing these trees without the contrast of bright sunlight. There was also very little breeze and motion among the leaves, so I was able to take the photograph at a long enough exposure to get good depth of field. I was also able to photograph this scene so that there was no sky visible in the background. The fall colors were beautiful, but I also really liked the way there were still some green leaves mixed in with the red, yellow and orange colors.

See more of Marcella Raust’s work at marcellaraust.squarespace.com.

Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR, Gitzo tripod. Exposure: 1/4 sec., ƒ/16, ISO 200.

By Stan Bysshe

Not all photo trips go as planned. A friend and I scheduled a trip to West Virginia to photograph the fall foliage. We consulted the peak foliage maps and drew up our itinerary to include Blackwater Falls State Park and the Dolly Sods Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest. We wanted to get in a sunrise shoot at Bear Rocks Preserve, a particularly colorful site at Dolly Sods, but the weather did not cooperate. It poured rain most of the time we were out photographing. Bear Rocks was especially challenging.

As we drove the dirt fire road off the mountain, we were engulfed in a low-lying cloud, and the rain slowed to a drizzle. We came across an area of bare “winterized” trees with patches of trees that still held their yellow leaves, all shrouded in fog, splashes of light in an otherwise gloomy, wet day.

See more of Stan Bysshe’s work at sbysshe.smugmug.com.

The Great Swamp, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

Nikon D810, AF-S NIKKOR 600mm F/4G ED VR, Gitzo tripod, Wimberly gimbal head. Exposure: 1/1250 sec., ƒ/4, ISO 1000.

By Joe Gliozzo

The Great Swamp in New Jersey has been a National Wildlife Refuge since 1960. It’s home to nearly 250 different bird species, and it falls directly in the corridor of the migrating birds looking for rest and nutrition. It’s here that I like to occasionally visit in the fall, since it brings ample opportunity to photograph species of birds that I might not normally see, in addition to adding some interesting colors within the frame.

It’s also home to a pair of barred owls that seem to enjoy human presence. On many occasions, I’ve walked the trails and have surprisingly stumbled upon one or both, just relaxing on a perch directly along the path. Normally, I’d expect them to fly off to another spot when approached, but not this pair.

On this particular October day, with the leaves already changing colors, I found this beautiful owl amongst a stunning canopy of red autumn leaves. All I needed to do then was find the right angle to frame the shot and display the beautiful scene as it appeared.

Acadia National Park, Maine

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 65mm, Singh-Ray Color Combo Circular Polarizer, Really Right Stuff TVC-24L Tripod and BH-55 ballhead. Exposure: 1/13 sec., ƒ/16, ISO 100.

By Michael Swindle

Hoping to see vibrant leaf color changes and avoid the crowds, we chose to plan our visit to Acadia National Park in the very late fall. Due to rains, wind and cooler-than-normal temperatures, we weren’t able to walk as much of the park as we had hoped. On a rainy morning, we drove Duck Brook Road, which is off of Highway 233 leading out of Bar Harbor. We took advantage of a break in the cold rain to check the landscape near a carriage road bridge and surrounding pond and stream.

While walking to the bank of the pond, we caught the breathtaking sight of the bright red bush leaves against the striking greens of the fir trees. Setting up my camera in the hope of catching a shot that included the mountains, fog, storm clouds and colorful foliage, I realized the beavers had even built a lodge that could be included in the composition. A chilly drizzle turned into pouring rain, but, fortunately, I was able to protect my camera with a storm jacket covering the camera body. Even though the annoying downpour required that I wipe off the lens after every shot, the wet landscape added to the crisp brilliance of the colors.

See more of Mike Swindle’s photography at mikeswindlephotography.com.

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While Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountains are among the most visited and widely recognized, the National Park Service currently manages 419 areas, including 62 that are formally designated as national parks. Though some are more famous than others, all of them protect something special. Photographer QT Luong captured them in his award-winning book, Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America’s National Parks. Here we feature a selection of 10 unique national parks, each with a characteristic that makes it noteworthy, as Luong transports us on a virtual tour through his photographs and stories of his experiences in the field.

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

Aerial view of Alatna River, Gates of the Arctic National Park.

The northernmost national park

My friend and I took off from Bettles, Alaska, during a short weather break. Despite the double rainbows and the beautiful views over meandering rivers in vast mountain valleys, the flight was so bumpy that we were glad to reach our destination, a narrow circular band of water. The pilot helped us unload our backpacks, and after instructing us to come back to the same point one week later for pickup, he was quickly on his way. A few minutes later, the noise of the engine disappeared, leaving the place in absolute silence.

The Brooks Range is so vast that each of its mountains has a different character. The Arrigetch Peaks area, a place of gothic black granite spires and pinnacles reaching haphazardly into the clouds, is considered by many to be the most spectacular part. In eight days, we backpacked to a base camp near them.

Located north of Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is the ultimate wilderness park in the country. Absent any facilities such as trails, signs or campsites, it is often possible to feel that you are the first human ever to set foot in the park. Unless you are a guest at one of the private lodges or hire an outfitter to guide you, you must be self-sufficient. No roads lead into the park. You could trek from the Dalton Highway, but it is a long way to the more scenic areas. Most visitors charter a bush plane to fly into the park, choosing either a floatplane for landing on lakes or a plane equipped with oversized tires for landing on gravel bars. The main gateway is Bettles, which can be reached in summer only by air, usually via Fairbanks, the closest major city 200 miles south.

It is said that in Alaska, there are four seasons: June, July, August and winter. The term “arctic” evokes the idea of a white wasteland roamed by polar bears; however, the ground is generally free of snow from June to the beginning of September. Wildflowers, sunshine and mosquitoes are at their peak at the beginning of July. Beautiful fall colors that blanket the entire tundra, rainier skies and fewer mosquitoes characterize the August weather.

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Author: Text & Photography By QT Luong

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Summer brings warm weather, long days and family vacations—elements that add up to make it the busiest time of year in the national parks. That makes some folks shy away, but savvy photographers know plenty of opportunities still abound for making beautiful images in the most amazing of America’s wild places. To that end, we asked award-winning nature photographer and national parks expert QT Luong to recommend the best national parks for summer visits. He’s made more than 300 trips to the parks, and as the author of Treasured Lands—a 480-page compendium of photographs of the national parks that’s filled with useful information for his fellow photographers—Luong is uniquely qualified to highlight the best parks and special places within them to photograph wilderness unencumbered by crowds.

Here, in Luong’s own words, are his top five national parks to visit in summer.

1. Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Lassen Volcanic National Park. Butte Lake Area. Cinder Cone rim and Lassen Peak, sunrise.

A convenient and uncrowded mini-Yellowstone with more diverse volcanic terrain.

Lassen is one of my favorite national parks for summer visits because even in the middle of summer you will not be among the crowds. It’s only about five or six hours from the San Francisco Bay area, but it’s the least visited of all the national parks in California. It is the 40th most visited national park, so only 21 parks are less visited—and quite a few of those are in Alaska.

The park’s volcanic terrain is beautiful, but what really makes it unique is that it’s a dictionary of volcanic features, with more variety of volcanic features in that park than in any other. You have lava flows and the four different types of volcanoes there, and at the same time you have some of the thermal features that you see in Yellowstone, like hot springs. In addition to all the volcanic terrain, you have lakes, mountains and forests similar to the Sierras. It is the snowiest place in California, so if you go during the spring up to about May, most of the roads are closed. It’s an ideal summer park for that reason, too.

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A view of Earth from 36,000 nautical miles away as photographed from the Apollo 10 spacecraft during its trans-lunar journey toward the moon. While the Yucatan Peninsula is obscured by clouds, nearly all of Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec can be clearly delineated.

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A fjord in southern Greenland, as seen during Operation IceBridge’s last flight of the 2017 Arctic campaign, on May 12, 2017. This final full science flight, ICESat-2 South, was designed along the ground tracks of NASA’s upcoming ICESat-2, to fill in a gap in altimetry coverage of central southern Greenland.

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The towering primary mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope stands inside a cleanroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it will undergo its last cryogenic test before it is launched into space in 2018. In preparation for testing, the “wings” of the mirror (which consist of the three segments on each side) were spread open.

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The projection of Saturn’s shadow on the rings grows shorter as Saturn’s season advances toward northern summer.

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Nearly 50 student teams from middle and high schools, colleges and universities in 22 states demonstrated advanced rocketry and engineering skills in NASA’s 2017 Student Launch challenge. Teams spent eight months building and testing rockets designed to fly to an altitude of one mile, deploy an automated parachute system, and safely land for reuse.

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Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA is seen inside the International Space Station in his spacesuit during a fit check, in preparation for a spacewalk on Friday, May 12, 2017. This will be the 200th spacewalk at the station for assembly and maintenance, the ninth spacewalk for NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and the first for Fischer.

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This composite image of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the XMM-Newton Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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The shadow of NASA’s P-3 aircraft is seen over an iceberg on a May 8, 2017 flight supporting NASA’s Operation IceBridge mission. IceBridge began its final week of Arctic Spring 2017 surveys with a glacier-packed mission in Greenland, called Southeast Glaciers 01.

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Saturn’s hexagonal polar jet stream is the shining feature of almost every view of the north polar region of Saturn.

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This 360-degree mosaic from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover looks out over a portion of the Bagnold Dunes, which stretch for several miles.

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This illustration shows a hypothetical planet covered in water around the binary star system of Kepler-35A and B. With two suns in its sky, Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine in “Star Wars” looks like a parched, sandy desert world. In real life, we know that two-star systems can indeed support planets.

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In the north, Enceladus’ surface appears to be about as old as any in the solar system. The south, however, is an entirely different story.

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Machining for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, scheduled to fly on the second integrated flight with agency’s Space Launch System rocket, is well underway at Ingersoll Machine Tools in Rockford, Illinois. The new deep space spacecraft will take humans farther into the solar system than we have ever traveled before.

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Areas near the equator are frequently cloudy, obscuring the view of Earth’s surface from space. April 7, 2017, was no different. On that day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of clouds over the Gilbert Islands.

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A engine section structural qualification test article for NASA’s new rocket, the Space Launch System, is loaded onto the barge Pegasus at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The test article now will make its way from Michoud to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for structural loads testing.

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Cassini Captures Closest Images of Saturn’s Atmosphere

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On Saturday April 22, 2017, Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency photographed Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft as it approached the International Space Station. Using the station’s robotic Canadarm2, Cygnus was successfully captured by Pesquet and Commander Peggy Whitson at 6:05 a.m. EDT Saturday morning.

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It’s springtime and the deployed primary mirror of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope looks like a spring flower in full bloom. Once launched into space, the Webb telescope’s 18-segmented gold mirror is specially designed to capture infrared light from the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.

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534 days, 2 hours, 49 minutes and counting. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson flew through the standing record for cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut at 1:27 a.m. EDT on April 24, 2017, and with the recent extension of her stay at the International Space Station, she has five months to rack up a new one.

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This illustration shows NASA’s Cassini spacecraft about to make one of its dives between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission’s grand finale. Cassini will make 22 orbits that swoop between the rings and the planet before ending its mission on Sept. 15, 2017, with a final plunge into Saturn.

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A horse drawn caisson carries former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn to his final resting place during the interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, April 6, 2017, in Virginia. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962, in a five-hour flight aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft.

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This image, taken by the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft, highlights a feature on Jupiter where multiple atmospheric conditions appear to collide.

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The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Monday, April 10, 2017 (Kazakh time).

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NASA’s fleet of 18 Earth science missions in space, supported by aircraft, ships and ground observations, measure aspects of the environment that touch the lives of every person around the world. This visualization shows the NASA fleet in 2017.

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Through NASA’s Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF) program, a fresh approach to designing and manufacturing heat-thwarting thermal protection systems – or heatshields – for spacecraft is being developed and tested, offering the promise of fabricating larger tile sizes while reducing labor, cost and waste.

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NASA scientists are releasing new global maps of Earth at night, providing the clearest yet composite view of the patterns of human settlement across our planet. This composite image, one of three new full-hemisphere views, provides a view of the Americas at night.

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This illustration shows NASA’s Cassini spacecraft diving through the plume of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, in 2015. Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other “ocean worlds” in our solar system and beyond.

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The Soyuz MS-04 rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 1:13 p.m. Baikonur time carrying NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos into orbit to begin their four and a half month mission on the International Space Station.

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Starburst galaxies contain regions where stars are forming at such a breakneck rate that the galaxy is eating up its gas supply faster than it can be replenished.

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When imaged at infrared wavelengths that pierce the planet’s upper haze layer, the high-speed winds of Saturn’s atmosphere produce watercolor-like patterns.

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The Orbital ATK Cygnus pressurized cargo module is carried atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Orbital ATK’s seventh commercial resupply services mission will deliver 7,600 pounds of supplies, equipment and scientific research materials to the International Space Station.

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At the center of the Centaurus galaxy cluster, there is a large elliptical galaxy called NGC 4696. Deeper still, there is a supermassive black hole buried within the core of this galaxy. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has revealed details about this giant black hole.

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Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) photographed brightly glowing auroras from his vantage point aboard the International Space Station on March 27, 2017. Pesquet wrote, “The view at night recently has been simply magnificent: few clouds, intense auroras. I can’t look away from the windows.”

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Although only a sliver of Saturn’s sunlit face is visible in this view, the mighty gas giant planet still dominates the view.

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Dr. Nancy Grace Roman is shown with a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) in 1962. She was the first Chief of Astronomy in the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters and the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA. She had oversight for the planning and development of programs including the Hubble Space Telescope.

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The Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) is in the grip of the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm during its relocation and attachment to the station’s Harmony module on March 26,2017. A spacewalk by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, which began at 7:29 a.m., will finalize the PMA-3 cable connections on Harmony.

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The mound in the center of this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image appears to have blocked the path of the dunes as they marched south (north is to the left in this image) across the scene. Smaller dunes run perpendicular to some of the larger-scale dunes, probably indicating a shift in wind directions in this area.

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Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA is seen floating outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk. Pesquet and Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA conducted the six-hour-and-34-minute spacewalk on March 24, 2017. A second spacewalk, by Kimbrough and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, is scheduled for Thursday, March 30.

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This enhanced-color image of a mysterious dark spot on Jupiter seems to reveal a Jovian “galaxy” of swirling storms.

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Hubble spots two interacting galaxies some 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo.

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On April 15, 2002, STS-110 Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa works at the Remote Manipulator System controls on the aft flight deck of space shuttle Atlantis. Dr. Ochoa, a veteran astronaut, is currently the 11th director of Johnson Space Center. She became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on the STS-56 mission.

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The Expedition 50 crew aboard the International Space Station had a nighttime view from orbit of Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, erupting on March 19, 2017. Astronaut Thomas Pesquet of ESA captured this image, writing, “Mount Etna, in Sicily. The volcano is currently erupting and the molten ava is visible from space, at night!”

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“Armstrong Flight Research Center chief pilot Nils Larson and I were flying supersonic runs to note the handling qualities between the single seat and two seat F/A-18 aircraft for the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence, or SonicBAT program,” said Carla Thomas, one of NASA’s two female in-flight photographers.

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This view, acquired on Nov. 7, 2016, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows a portion of Canada’s Mackenzie River Delta and the town of Inuvik, home to more than 3,000 people. A frozen highway — 194 kilometers (120 miles) long — runs between the remote outposts of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk along the river’s East Channel.

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Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA shared this nighttime image of Dublin on March 17, 2017, writing, “Happy #StPatricksDay Spectacular #Dublin, Ireland captured by @thom_astro from @Space_Station. Enjoy the #StPatricksFest Parade down there!”

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Annie Easley at NASA Glenn Research Center. In 1955, Easley began her career at NASA, then the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), as a human computer performing complex mathematical calculations.

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The technicians who are inspecting the telescope and its expansive golden mirrors look like ghostly wraiths in this image as they conduct a “lights out inspection” in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of cloud streets over the Barents Sea and Mezhdusharsky Island on March 7, 2017. Such formations occur frequently in the region in late winter.

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Mimas’ gigantic crater Herschel lies near the moon’s limb in this Cassini view.

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The super star cluster Westerlund 1, only 15,000 light-years away in our Milky Way neighborhood, hosts one of the largest stars ever discovered.

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