Driving north or south on Interstate 15 you will see signs pointing out the route through Jean to the Seven Magic Mountains. The seven-mile route follows the original road from LA to Las Vegas. Visible from the freeway are seven tall stacks of very large boulders, 35-40 feet high, painted in day-glo shades of primary colors. Erected by Italian artist Ugo Rondinone in 2016, this exhibit was planned to be removed in 2018. The Bureau of Land Management has extended the removal date to the end of 2027. Close-up photos of the stone columns don’t mean much without including the surrounding expanse of desert.

I wanted to move way back with my camera to show how small and isolated these seven stone stacks really are. I found a spot for my tripod and waited for groups of tourists to get their shots. It took over an hour for all of them to leave. I didn’t want anyone in my photos. If the parking lot is filled with tour buses on a sunny day, you’ll never get a magic photo without lots of tourists with phones. Arrive here very early or very late in the day.

​The Seven Magic Mountain project cost $3.5 million in private funds. No tax money was involved. This anomaly is something different, abnormal, not easily classified and not on my list of locations I plan to photograph in the desert around Las Vegas. Leaving the Seven Magic Mountains, stay off the freeway and continue driving northeast on the frontage road, right into Las Vegas.

Most zoos open at 10:00 am, after the best morning light is gone. Arrive at the entrance before the gates open. You’ll find a better parking space, and most of the animals are more active in the morning. Summer mornings at some zoos can be foggy, providing much better lighting for photography than contrasty, mid-day lighting.

​Get your hand stamped at the gate so that you can return your heavy jacket to your car when the sun comes out. Since you’ll be walking all day, wear comfortable shoes. Wear black clothing to eliminate reflections on plexiglass enclosures. Pack a black t-shirt in the side pocket of your camera bag. This is also a must-have item for helicopter photography when you have to shoot through windows. Apply a good coat of sunscreen before you leave home – I like the 100+ SPF – more is better.

If you have not already downloaded a map of the zoo you’ll be visiting, pick up a free map of the zoo at the entrance gate. You will need it to find your way through a maze of paths and stairways connecting the Reptile Land to the African Kingdom to the Primate Compound. A map will also help you find the exit at the end of the day.

Just beyond the top of the soaring cliffs of the Na Pali coastline, is the equally incredible mountain landscape of Koke‘e. This is one of the wettest spots on earth. The large flat plateau near the summit, called the Alaka‘i Swamp, is the source of five of Kauai’s rivers. Two of them are large enough to be navigable. The Alaka‘i is the largest swamp in the Hawaiian Islands, covering almost ten square miles.

The western edge is about four thousand feet straight up on the rim of the Na Pali Cliffs. Waimea Canyon, on the southern edge of Koke‘e, is a staggering panorama of red cliffs and green foliage. Called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the 2800-foot-deep canyon was carved by the erosive power of water flowing from this mountain over the ages. The summit of Mount Wai‘ale‘ale receives an average of over five-hundred inches of rainfall each year! Some wet years bring over fifty feet of rain. So you can probably count on getting a little damp up there, especially in the afternoon.

Over eight thousand acres in the center of the Sacramento Valley were purchased and set aside in 1930 to preserve some of these wetlands that migratory birds need to survive. The Gray Lodge State Wildlife Area is sixty miles north of Sacramento. Located just north of California’s smallest range of mountains, the Sutter Buttes, twenty miles east of the town of Colusa, and five miles west of Gridley in the central valley of California, Gray Lodge is directly in the path of nature’s interstate highway, the Pacific Flyway.

​It’s impossible to predict where the great masses of arriving birds will settle. When you arrive at the front gate, roll down your window and listen for the honks, quacking, and whistling. The noise will give you a clue as to the direction of the flocks. I usually park at the nearest of the four parking areas on the western loop road, set up my camera, attach it to the tripod, and walk the rest of the way. Follow your ears. The chorus of millions of birds can be heard for a mile. Be ready for anything to happen. The distant sound of a hunter’s shotgun can startle an entire flock into flight. The sight is breathtaking when the sky fills with thousands of large white birds.

This panel is covered with hundreds of petroglyphs chipped through the dark surface on the large inclined rock panel. Ancient designs etched onto this panel have been joined with more recent designs of men on horseback. The most recent additions are a few hundred years old. Near the top, there is an image of a large circular wheel with spokes. It looks quite modern. Hunting scenes include long horned antelope and even a bison near the edge of the panel. There are human figures, with and without ceremonial dress.

Here is a work of art you can photograph and sell without worrying about releases or copyright problems. Use a polarizer to cut through the glare reflecting from the slick surface and you will increase the contrast of your photographs. In this location, my 75-300mm zoom was very useful and allowed me to frame just the images I wanted to include.

​The turn onto the Needles Highway, State Route 211, is found between mile post 86 and 87 on Highway 191. A few miles west, at the bottom of a long steep grade, the canyon narrows along Indian Creek. On your left are some campsites and on the right side of the road is Newspaper Rock – one of the finest panels of petroglyphs you will find anywhere. It is located between mile posts 8 and 7 on Route 211.

One of the least-known scenic areas in southern Kentucky is the Bad Branch State Nature Preserve. A sixty-foot waterfall in a deep hemlock forest is protected by holdings of the Nature Conservancy and the Kentucky State Nature Preserve Commission. With 1,640 acres, this is the largest nature preserve in Kentucky. Bad Branch, a tributary of the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River, drops over a thousand feet in less than three miles. A beautiful waterfall, several rare and endangered wildflowers, and a clear-flowing stream are good reasons to visit this remote preserve in the mountains of Appalachia.

Drive about seven miles south of Whitesburg, Kentucky, over Pine Mountain. Turn south on KY 932 and drive 1.7 miles to the Nature Preserve, on your left. It’s only a few miles north of the Virginia border. Several times along the trail, I climbed down to the stream to photograph the small cascades. It’s one mile from the parking area to a trail marker pointing out the right turn on the side trail to the Bad Branch Falls. Pick your way carefully across the driest rocks in the river and climb the winding trail up the other side to the base of the falls. Frame the whole waterfall from the side, a short distance away, with a 28mm lens. With a shorter focal length, move in closer and shoot straight up the stream, including the whole cascade. Spray blows down the canyon, so keep your camera and lens covered until you are ready to shoot.

​I shot this waterfall late in the afternoon on a cold and drizzly day in spring and then went back the next afternoon when the sun came out. The highlights on the wet stones were too “hot” and the details in the shadows of the woods were lost in the photos.

On your first day in Vermont, start with an overview of the Northeast Kingdom by traveling a ridge road loop from Lyndonville. Starting at the junction of Highway 5 and Highway 114, drive east on #114 just past the second bridge. Turn left on Darling Hill Road. About a mile and a half up the ridge is where the maples start. Lining both sides of the dirt road, the branches form a grand canopy of color. Try a 20mm wide-angle lens from the middle of the road.

Another mile-and-a-half north and you will pass the impressive old Darling family mansion on the right, and just beyond is the Darion Inn at Mountain View Farm (1883). After a stop to locate exactly where you are on the map, continue north through another long row of maples covering the road. Through an old fence, the maples frame the distant rolling hills, looking east to the high peak of Mt. Burke. Bear left at the first fork in the road, right at the second, then turn right over a small bridge into the village of Burke Hollow. This is only one of several hundred small villages in Vermont, but is worth a search for a good view of their white-steepled church.

Continue your journey north through the crossroads in the village center and up the hill to the left at the fork in the road. Soon you’ll come to a large grove of maples surrounding an old sugar shack where the sap drawn from the maples is boiled down to syrup each spring. Go left down a steep hill to the village of West Burke. Stop to photograph some of the old shops and buildings in the village and explore the west branch of the Passumsic River.

Continue on to Sutton, a small village about four miles west. There are several routes possible, but my favorite starts about one block north of Aldrich’s General Store where a side road heads west, just beyond an old green house. There’s a beautiful grove of bright yellow American beech along this road. In the village of Sutton, all of the rural lanes are lined with colorful trees. Check your map for the dirt road that winds to the southwest and crosses Calendar Brook. Stop for a beautiful view of the stream and then continue beneath another canopy of red maples.

​By now, you should have a pretty good feel for driving the back roads of Vermont. Some are paved and some are not. All lead to beautiful surprises in the autumn. Over a rise and around the next bend, you should see a hillside covered with blazing red foliage or a distant church steeple in a deep valley. As a photographer you will surely appreciate the complete absence of billboards on all the roads of Vermont, at least there were none in 2008.

The tall, white formations, called the “Towers of Silence” are located about five miles up Wahweap Wash, above the small town called Big Water, Utah, fifteen miles north of Page, Arizona, on Utah Highway 89. This is the spot where all the concrete was mixed for the Glen Canyon Dam, back in the 1950s. Today, their main industry is houseboat storage for Lake Powell boaters. A BLM Visitor Center is directly across the highway from the main street into Big Water.

Walking up Wahweap Wash is the most direct route to the towers. From Highway 89, drive north at the BLM Visitors’ Center and through the center of Big Water. Continue north onto the dirt road beyond the intersection of Smoky Mountain Road (that goes east). Follow the dirt road, which veers northwest. You will drive past a long row of man-made fish farm ponds and a single house sitting on a rise overlooking the ponds. When you come to the corral, turn left heading west. As you reach the wash, don’t drive across if the stream is flowing. Park and walk with your gear up the west side of the wash. If the wash is dry, drive up the center of the wash. At the barbed wire fence, about a half-mile north, pull out of the wash and park on the high spot on the left. Walk alongside the flowing wash or up the center of the dry wash for 4.7 miles. The Towers are on the west side of the wash. The tallest fluted column has a black cap rock. You can see it in the distance as you approach.

This journey is best made in the early morning for the best light on the towers and maybe a good sunrise. There are very few footprints around these formations. The off-white, fluted silt-stone columns that support black cap rocks are fragile. It is very important that visitors to this delicate area do not walk or climb on the formations or damage them in any way. A tripod leg can punch a hole in the brittle material. Once damaged, the formations can never be restored. Avoid harming the area and it may never be fenced off and “protected” from the public.

West of Gainesville, on the Gulf Coast, I headed south at Cross City, Florida, onto County Road 351 for eighteen miles to the small gulf-side community of Horseshoe Beach. The road through the town continues past the last house, crosses a small bridge, and loops around to return to the pavement. I parked near the bridge and photographed royal terns on poles standing in the surf. All the birds were facing out to sea, into the strong wind. Suspicious of me, the terns continuously turned their heads, giving me some better portraits. I had lunch at a small restaurant and watched a storm move toward the coast.

​This trip took me along the Florida Gulf Coast in Issue #78 of Photograph America Newsletter.

​The Oregon Coast is easy to explore. Highway 101 follows the shoreline most of the way. Make this trip from north to south and you will find the drive much easier. Fly into Portland, drive down the coast and then return to Portland up the Interstate. If you are driving up from California, drive both north and south on the coast. You may prefer to drive north on Highway 97, east of the Cascade Range, with a stop at Crater Lake along the way. Make a stop at the Columbia River Gorge to photograph the waterfalls, then head west into Portland, out to the coast, and then south for at least a one-week drive down the coast.

Driving north along this coast makes it more difficult to see the ocean, and you’ll always be turning left, into oncoming traffic. Quick decisions to stop and check out something you spot on the beach will be much safer if you are already heading in a southerly direction. Compare the pros and cons of renting a motor home to staying in motels and eating in restaurants. Having a kitchen in the back of your motor home means that you can buy the fresh salmon, local clams, crabs, homemade blackberry pies and all the other goodies you’ll discover along your way. In the summer, you can pick wild blackberries along the back roads.

After a long day of exploring, hiking, and photographing, you will want a good meal, a hot shower, and a comfortable bed. If you do your traveling in a motor home, you can be out there, ready for the sunrises, the sunsets, and the best light. With an RV, you can be even closer to the best photography. Oregon has some of the cleanest, best-planned campgrounds in the nation and most are located in the perfect places for photographers.