Newsletter Listings by Month - When and Where

January 
January is a good time to photograph herds of bison in Yellowstone’s Old Faithful thermal basins. Moose and elk are easy to find in the Tetons. If you want to escape cold weather, Death Valley National Park plus Red Rock Canyon, and Valley of Fire in southern Nevada are great locations for mid-winter explorations with no crowds. Snow covers red rock formations on the high desert across the Colorado Plateau. Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, and Bryce are great winter destinations. January sees the peak of the migratory bird population in refuges along the Louisiana Coast.
February
The Everglades, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, plus Big Cypress and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary are best visited in the winter. Migratory birds can be photographed from December through February in south Florida. Northern Florida's best weather arrives in mid-winter along the coastline from Tallahassee to Pensacola. Hundreds of new elephant seal pups can be photographed each February at Ano Nuevo, 50 miles south of San Francisco.
March
Anza-Borrego State Park and Joshua Tree National Park in southern California are often covered with wildflowers that may start blooming in late February and arrive in waves through mid-April. Desert wildflower color in the Phoenix and Tucson area usually peaks during the third week of March. Big Bend National Park sees the best wildflowers and cactus blossoms in March and April.
April
April brings the best weather to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Loggerhead turtles arrive in the summer, during mosquito and hurricane season. Poppies cover Antelope Valley between Lancaster and Gorman, California, during the second week of April. Austin is the center of Texas wildflower country. The peak of the season is usually in mid-April. Late April is wildflower season in the Smokies.
May
Snow has melted and the waterfalls at Ricketts Glen, PA, are at their fullest in early May. Skies over Monument Valley are best in May. The dirt roads are dry and summer heat has not yet arrived. Slot canyons along the Colorado River are usually dry and free of mud by late May. Hills along northern California's Coastal Range are still green and the rhododendrons are blooming in the redwood groves. Waterfalls are at their fullest in Yosemite Valley. Hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs arrive in late May onto the beaches of Delaware Bay to spawn. Huge flocks of migratory birds heading north arrive to feast on the eggs in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Late May and early June are the best times to photograph streams and waterfalls in deep canyons eroded through Indiana's Turkey Run and Shades State Park, it's cooler, fewer bugs and no summer crowds in a countryside filled with covered bridges.
June
There may be some rain showers still falling in the Olympic rain forests, but if you wait until mid-summer, the place looks too dry. There is lots of water in the Columbia River waterfalls, east of Portland and Silver Falls State Park, east of Salem, Oregon. Desert slot canyons may still be cool although the temperature is over 100'F up on the surface.
July
Snows have melted and the Going-To-The-Sun Highway over Logan Pass is usually open by late June or early July. Alpine wildflowers are seen on the peaks of Glacier National Park in northern Montana. The last week of July brings the peak of alpine wildflower color to the Yankee Boy Basin in the San Juan Mountains near Ouray, Colorado. Oklahoma's Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is at it’s best in mid-summer. The wheat harvest across the Palouse continues through July and August. Mid-summer is the peak of the tourist season in Jasper and Banff National Parks in the Canadian Rockies.
​August
Early August usually brings alpine wildflowers and good weather to Mount Rainier and Mount Baker in Washington State. There are fewer mosquitoes in Alaska and the bears are out in the rivers eating the spawning salmon. Drive up the Cassiar Highway to Hyder, Alaska, in August for the peak of the salmon run and lots of bears on Fish Creek. Dall sheep and herds of caribou can be seen in Stone Mountain Provincial Park, west of Fort Nelson, along the Alaska Highway. August is the best time to photograph Lake Tahoe's Classic Wooden Speedboat Concours de Elegance is held in mid-August every year Orcas in the Johnstone Straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Santa Fe's Indian Market, in the Plaza, is always held on the third weekend of August. Swan Island Dahlia Farm, south of Portland, holds its open house the last week of August.
September
Early September in Washington’s North Cascades can offer the start of autumn color and snow on higher peaks Larch Valley near Moraine Lake in Banff National Park is filled with yellow larch, a deciduous conifer. Aspen covering the San Juan Mountains of Colorado are all yellow by the last week of September. You can find autumn color in Utah around Park City, Mt. Nebo, along the Aquarius Plateau between Boulder and Torrey, and over the Cedar Pass, near Cedar Breaks National Monument. The east side of California's Sierra Nevada Range is bright yellow above Mono Lake. Michigan's Upper Peninsula reaches the peak of color across the Porcupine Mountains State Park in late September and early October. The last ranger-led hikes of the year are available into the Anasazi ruins called Betatakin in northern Arizona's Navajo National Monument. There is a large grove of aspen along the trail. Autumn color on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a great reason to visit Arizona in late September. Late September is usually the peak of the autumn color in Upstate New York, northern Vermont, and northern New Hampshire.
October
Autumn color moves into southern Vermont, New Hampshire, and along the coast of Maine during the first two weeks of October, a good time for lighthouse photography. Fly in and out of Rochester, NY to photograph New York's Finger Lakes District from October 5 to October 20. Allow several days to photograph autumn color in Letchworth State Park, not far from the Rochester Airport. Acadia National Park usually sees the peak of fall color by October 10, about the same time New York's Lake District and Nova Scotia's Cape Breton reaches the peak of color. Mid-October is the best time to drive the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. State Parks, like Macedonia Brook, in northern Connecticut see their peak color during the third week of October. Autumn color spreads south, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the color peaks in late October. Nevada has four great autumn color locations: Rainbow Canyon, Mt. Charleston, Lamoile Canyon, and Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park. Cottonwoods in Arizona's Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly are bright yellow during the last week of October. Most of the cottonwoods along the Virgin River through Zion National Park are bright yellow in late October. The river level is usually low enough to safely wade up the Zion Narrows.
November
Most of the cottonwoods along the Virgin River through Zion National Park are bright yellow in early November when you can drive your own car into the park. The river level is usually low enough to safely wade up the Zion Narrows. Napa and Sonoma Valley vineyards turn red in early November. Drive to the high overlook at Artesa Winery for a panoramic view of red and yellow vineyards. The deep canyon at Georgia's Cloudland State is full of autumn color--reserve a cabin on the rim. It's the best month for bald eagle photography on the Chilkat River near Haines, Alaska. Indian summer brings great weather to the San Francisco Bay Area and Point Lobos/Big Sur on the California coast. November is the mating season for bighorn sheep along the Shoshone River, west of Cody, Wyoming. Millions of monarch butterflies arrive at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz, California. Most of the sandhill cranes, snow geese, ducks arrive in New Mexico to spend the winter in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge by late November and leave in mid-February.
December
Weather in the Hawaiian Islands is best through the winter. Late spring is the rainy season and summer gets warm in Hawaii. Santa Fe and Taos are decorated with luminarias and winter snow blankets the Taos Pueblo. The North Rim is closed but you will find great snow-covered scenes of the Grand Canyon through the winter. Trails through Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park are very quiet, a good time to explore the backcountry and photograph remote red rock formations. Carlsbad Caverns, in southern New Mexico, is always 56'F, all year.