David & Karen: a brief history

In the beginning hiking was just another part-time hobby, like skiing that we would only do a couple times a year. On our first ever road trip, a week long exploration of California in 97, we devoted just one day to a trail. That one hike however was a staggering 18.5 mile, 4500ft ascent of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. On the summit we encountered our first ever hoary marmot…and promptly ran away in fear…we have learned a lot since then.

On our second road trip, this time to the canyon country of SW Utah in the spring of 98 we concentrated much more on short day hikes and much less on endless driving. Meanwhile we discovered a guidebook that was about to change the way we hiked. The "Don't Waste Your Time" series by Kathy & Craig Copeland really helped us to choose better hikes which in turn inspired us to upgrade our gear and make hiking a significant part of our lives.

The winter snowpack of 98/99 is now legendary but it took a trip thwarted by a road closure to make us aware of this unusual situation. The upside to this event was that a forest ranger directed us to a website, www.wta.org which had user submitted trip reports detailing the latest trail & road conditions. Another big development for us that year was having the use of an SLR camera on a couple of hikes. We had always videotaped our adventures however this was our first attempt at real photography.

Starting in 2000 we got serious about taking better photos. We started at the bottom, purchasing the least expensive SLR on the market a Canon EOS 3000. Each successive hike taught us another lesson about photography and many like 'what happened to our blue sky' required purchasing accessories (in this case a circular polarizer). We also made an effort to improve our wilderness skills by taking a mountaineering course. We learned about the proper use of an ice axe & crampons and went on our first (& so far last) roped ascent.  It was also the year we created this website (inspired by Jim Kuresman & Sarah Boomer)

By 2001 we had mastered the rhythm of the alpine seasons and were able to maximise our hiking experience. When ski season ended we flew down to Southern California to catch the spring bloom in Joshua Tree National Park. Back at home we photographed waterfalls swollen with spring rains. When the forest service roads opened in late May & June we climbed mountains, which featured steep snow slopes, ideal for crampon ascents followed by phenomenal glissades.  (Took a break to Get Married on a mountain pass)  Then, when the snow finally receded we frolicked through meadows bursting with flowers. When the flowers wilted in the dog days of summer we cooled off in high alpine lakes. When chilly autumn breezes blew in we headed back to the meadows for the fabulous fall colour display. Then, just before the snow fell, we tried to capture larches during their golden transformation.

In 2002 we joined the online community of nwhikers.net, a spin off from WTA's trail talk message board.  In addition to being an incredible source of information it also added a new element to online trip reports - photos!   We also purchased our first telephoto lens and later in the year added an ultra wide-angle lens too. We started the year with an amazing ski trip to the Sierras, discovered the most amazing waterfall (McArther Burney Falls) and summitted 14,162-ft Mt. Shasta.  We followed that up with a pair of stellar backpacks, first through the expansive meadows surrounding Glacier Peak and later to the remote lakes of the Stein Wildness.  We capped off the year with another fall road trip first to the Rockies highlighted by the unsurpassed splendour that is the Lake of the Hanging Glacier.

In 2003 we finally completed some major trips that had long been atop our life list. Armed with a new SLR body, a Rebel 2000, we were able to capture some amazing places. It all started with our first ever trip to the tropics where we hiked the famous Kalalau trail in Kauai. Later that spring we went on the ultimate thrill ride, the legendary glissade from the summit of Mt. Adams. We also managed to vanquish weather challenged Mt. Temple with an all day/all night driving & hiking marathon. However the ultimate experience that year was our backpacking trip to Mt. Robson Provincial Park and the sublime environs of Berg Lake.

The year started out strong with a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii then we followed that up with a spring road trip to Oregon. However the story of 2004 was about taking it easy in anticipation of starting a family. We documented our experience here: hiking while pregnant. Despite all the obstacles we still managed to hike quite a bit including a backpacking trip into Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park.

This is the year we welcomed a new baby into our lives, a Canon Digital Rebel!  Freed from the limitations of film we went from taking a few dozen of photos per hike to several hundred. Fortunately 2005 was a really special year, a combination of early melt out and heavy spring rains created a bumber crop of flowers in the alpine meadows. After the larches had turned and snow chased us from the mountains we flew to Maui to hike some more. All the while we lugged along our little bundle of joy as documented here: hiking wth an infant

While Kasey came along with us on a couple day hikes the next summer, 2006 was the year we really embraced the hiking community, meeting with new hiking partners and going places we wouldn't have attempted ourselves. Our photography also took a great leap forward, thanks to Don Geyer we were persuaded to shoot exclusively in RAW format and post process our photos with Photoshop CS2. We also began the process of upgrading to professional grade lenses purchasing an EFS 10-22 f3.5-4.5 ultra wide-angle lens to recapture some of the range we lost with the jump to digital.

Hopefully 2007 was just the nadir of our hiking lives and not a sign of things to come.