I’ve traveled to over 35 countries and lived on 3 continents. There is nothing I love more than discovering new places. With each trip, I learn something new about myself. Over the years, I’ve discovered that I much prefer the adventures of the great outdoors than spending all day touring museums and dining at restaurants.

There is nothing more satisfying than time spent exploring the outdoors. My best nights of sleep are had in the wild, under the starry skies. This year marks 100 years of the National Park Services. In 2016, there are 16 days when you can visit National Park Service sites that normally charge admission for free. The first of these free admission days was this past Monday. While you mark your calendar for the other 15 days, I wanted to share photos of some of my favorite national parks. These are definitely worth a visit, or a long weekend stay.

Yosemite National Park, California: best for stunning views and overnight camping. Great all year round.

Truthfully, I don't have a lot of experience in rugged adventure travel - no week-long hikes or camping in the back country. (What is even the back country?) But a year in California has meant that I now know a few folks who live and breathe the adventurous outdoors. After the recent feature on Julian, I wanted to introduce Kyle Frost, another photographer whose work favors the outdoors. (Hot off the press: Kyle and Julian also recently started Hike Further.)

Words & Images by Kyle Frost

I’ve been thinking about hitting the Lost Coast trail for awhile now, so when my buddy Eric from Hipcamp shot me a text last week asking if I wanted to hit the trail, I jumped on the opportunity.

We decided to tackle the southern portion of the trail, which is less traveled than the more popular beach hiking on the northern section. The southern trail from Needle Rock to Usal beach is around 20 miles, with hiking mostly up on the ridge line and plenty of coastal views.

The typical way to hike Lost Coast is one way, so we shuttled from our car at Usal Beach up to Needle Rock visitor center in the morning. The amazing Sherri has run Lost Coast Shuttles since 1995, and provided conversation and witty banter regarding roadside attractions on the 2.5 hour drive up. If you’re headed to do some hiking on the Lost Coast, definitely give Sherri a call for your transportation needs! After reaching the Needle Rock visitor center, we finally hit the trail around 10am.

Around 8 miles in, after winding up and down along the coastline, the trail reaches Wheeler Camp. A couple of campsites dot the flats above a black sand beach and Jackass Creek. We managed to snag arguably the best campsite, with a picnic table, plenty of space and easy access to the water.
Thick fog stymied our coastal views for most of the afternoon and well into the evening. Typical northern California weather. This didn’t stop us from doing some exploring through (after a well deserved nap).

Lo and behold, the fog lifted just enough around sunset to give us a spectacular light show. We climbed a small ridge to the north of the beach for a better perspective. The fog and clouds and sunset combined for a beautiful array of color on the rocks and water.

Most people are familiar with the classic Lost Coast route up north, a 24 mile FLAT beach hike. The southern portion is not flat in any sense of the term. Where the north trail winds along the beach, the south goes up and over every ridge and back down to every stream and creek. I think we had around 5,000 ft of uphill elevation on our second day alone.

Regardless of the elevation changes, we still had a great time hiking through the varied terrain. Sometimes above the fog, sometimes in it. Sometimes on a coastal ridge, other times in thick forest. If you’re thinking about tackling the trail, beginners should know that the section of trail between Wheeler and Usal is not a cakewalk and the trail is not in the greatest condition. You also might want to wear pants, as I learned too late.

All in all, we had a fantastic time backpacking through the rugged and beautiful northern California coast.  I'll be back soon enough to tackle the northern section!

There is an energy about the Stanford campus - a sense of liveliness and excitement. I think they call it "college".

I had gone to photograph Stanford University with a fellow photographer and family friend Andrew. I had spent the previous night and all morning looking at Andrew's distinct black and white close-ups of nature and architecture, which in turn made me focus more on contrast and details on my visit to the campus. I had to photograph the location in harsh afternoon light, which casted harsh shadows and overexposed highlights. Although it is not the best light for images, I'm not always able to avoid photographing outdoors at high noon. In this case, I played up the contract of shadows and light. I also enjoy shooting against the light and spent most of the afternoon creating sun flares.

The more I visit California, the more I'm realizing that the overcast fall and winter in Toronto has made me want to photograph less. By the nature of being a travel photographer, I prefer to shoot in natural light, and the lack of it in Canadian winter is slowly eroding my creative soul. Hopefully, when we get more snow up in the true North I'll feel more inspired. Until then, I'll always have California.