White Mountains Hiking - taking a break!

It's good to take a break once in a while, even from doing the work you love. I had the chance to do that this week for a few days. I enjoy mountain climbing so off to the mountains I went with a hiking buddy.

Being at the top of a mountain after a long and strenuous climb is a marvelous thing especially when the weather is clear and the view magnificent. Here is a view from the top of Mt. Chocorua in the White Mountains of New Hampshire - a seven mile hike total.  Half the fun was finding I can still get to the top!

This is on a hike around White Lake at the foot of the White Mountains. The bottom of this lake is completely white sand from end to end. There are generally loons and other wildlife to be found on the water and shoreline. With the mountains in the background, it is a favorite spot for me to do sketching that I use later for paintings. Perhaps you'll see a White Mountains painting from this trip soon!

Scotland Lake Painting, Scottish Highlands - watercolor

This is such a peaceful scene from Scotland. Mountains rise in the distance and a boat is anchored on a still lake. I can imagine the soft sound of lapping waves against the shore and the cool feel of the air.

Aiea Ridge Trail, Hawaii - watercolor painting

A lush tropical scene from Oahu, Hawaii along the Aiea Ridge Trail.
I have always loved climbing mountains and would bring my sons along with me from the time they were small. It's gratifying to see that at least one of them - my Hawaii son - is still getting up into the mountains. Especially since he sends me photos to use as reference. Painting this scene made me feel as if I was there!

Sabbaday Falls, White Mountains, New Hampshire - Watercolor Painting

The White Mountain National Forest is one of my favorite places to visit. In Springtime especially, the mountain waterfalls are gushing with an abundance of water. The water over the many centuries has sculpted the rock into smooth formations that can make one think of a waterslide. In fact, the safest ones are often used that way in the hot summer months. This is a cool, refreshing scene at the very top of Sabbaday Falls where a cascade of water falls into a deep green pool among glacial rocks. Painting this scene makes me want to be there now!

Zion Canyon, Utah - Watercolor Painting

Zion Canyon National Park was Utah's first national park. The towering pink cliffs in this painting are sandstone and the only way to fully appreciate their majesty is to walk among them. In this painting, I take you for a stroll along a sandy riverbank with cliffs in the background. It's a shady retreat from the hot sun and a great place to wonder at the grandeur of the scene. Some of you will want to scale those cliffs or already have. Good for you! I like to look at them and paint them, but I'll leave that kind of mountain climbing to you.

Bryce Canyon, Utah - Watercolor Painting

Bryce Canyon in Utah is like a magical fairy world to look at it, and in fact, early geologists thought the rocky spires and arches could cast a spell on people. Here is one view of the magnificent rock formations of Bryce Canyon.

Monument Valley, Utah, Mitten Buttes - Watercolor Painting

These three enormous buttes in Utah's Monument Valley suggest mittens because of their shape and so they're called the Mitten Buttes. You can take a drive around them and enjoy the amazing view of these geologic formations. You can see part of the road in this painting. I've painted them in the very early morning when the sun is tinting the scene with a rosy pink color.

• This painting has been sold.
  

Yosemite National Park - Watercolor Painting

The grandeur of the mountain cliffs of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California are a sight to behold. This is a beautiful scene with the water in the foreground reflecting the trees and mountains.

New Hampshire Farm - Watercolor Painting

Every year on my summertime trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I pass this farm with mountains in the background. And every time, I want to just stop and paint a picture! I don't do that, but I've taken photos and painted from those. In this scene, it is sunset. The shadows are long and the sky tinged with pink. A few Hereford cows are grazing. Just look at how steep the roofs are on the barns, especially the one on the left. This will keep the heavy mountain snow from caving the roof in come winter. This scene brings me back to summer days in the mountains!

White Mountains Stream at Sabbaday Falls - Watercolor

The White Mountains of New Hampshire have many beautiful waterfalls. I love the hikes to the falls along the mountain streams. In many places the stone bedrock is worn smooth by the action of the water over many centuries.
This scene of a small stream tumbling through a crevasse into a deep blue-green pool and then on down over the smooth glacial rock is one that I've painted very large some years ago. I love the colors, the action of the water and the bits of dappled sunlight shining on the rocks. This is a place of coolness on a hot summer day and calmness, listening to the roar of the water as it rushes along. One could sit for hours in a place like this!

Zion Canyon, Utah - Watercolor

Zion Canyon in Utah's Zion National Park offers many hiking trails with spectacular views of towering sandstone cliffs. In this painting, you can see the cliffs in the distance. But the focus is a small section of the river valley with a fascinating old tree bending toward the river. It's a quiet, peaceful spot, a place to catch your breath on a long hike and marvel at the wonders around you.

Cathedral Ledge II, White Mountains, NH

This is my second painting of Cathedral Ledge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, hence the roman numeral II in the title, although it's a different view. This painting is full of the color of maple and birch trees on a bright day in autumn, the cliffs soaring behind.

• This painting has been sold.

Crypt Lake, Alberta, Canada

Perched high on a cliff, this small oval lake is located in Alberta, Canada in Waterton National Park on the very border with Glacier National Park in Montana. In fact, the cliffs with the glacier shown in this painting are in Montana as they are on the south shore of the lake. When you are standing looking across the lake at the glacier, you are in Canada. The snow is there year round and, believe it or not, people swim in the icy lake during the summer.
If you want to see this scene for yourself, put on your hiking shoes and bring plenty of water and a picnic lunch. The approach involves a ferry ride on Watertown Lake to the trail head, then several mountains to climb. When you are through with that, and hopefully haven't met up with a grizzly, you ascend the cliff to the lake along a goat trail and up a ladder to pass through a small tunnel then a short hike to the lake. The scenery is worth it, though, and if you also hike around the lake, you will have hiked in two countries and two national parks in one day!

Twin Falls, British Columbia, Canadian Rockies

There is nothing quite like the majestic roar of a waterfall as it cascades over rocks. This spectacular waterfall is double the beauty. The river above, Twin Falls Creek, is cut in two by a wedge of rock before tumbling over a great limestone cliff to a narrow gorge below.
You will have to travel to the Yoho National Park in British Coumbia to see this sight, but if you only see one waterfall in the Canadian Rockies, make it this one!

Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

A U.S. flag flies atop one of the silos at this New Hampshire farm. In the distance are the White Mountains. Along this country road on Sugar Hill is the site of Polly's Pancake Parlor which is situated right across the road from this farm. Every summer when I was a child, our family would visit the White Mountains and one of the stops that could not be missed was breakfast at that rustic little restaurant where they'd cook flapjacks as you watched, making them to order with any kind of topping from blueberries to coconut to chocolate chips. Then, they'd serve them with their own maple syrup, maple butter and maple sugar. And you could have as much as you could eat!
The pancake parlor is still there though it's been updated and enlarged to accommodate the crowds that make their way there all summer. And the view of the mountains and farms are as beautiful as ever. So, I thought I'd share this little piece of New Hampshire scenery with you.

• This painting has been sold.

Cathedral Ledge, White Mountains, NH

Near North Conway, New Hampshire, in the White Mountains this majestic-looking rock is a favorite for rock-climbers. But those who don't want to brave the cliff can take a road followed by a short hike to the top for some magnificent views. New Hampshire is stunning when the autumn foliage is at its peak as it is in this painting.

Appalachian Trail in Autumn

Here is another scene from the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. Bright red foliage enlivens the foreground. A nearby mountain is dotted with oranges and yellows and the mountains behind go on into the blue distance. What a view!

New England Covered Bridge

Covered bridges like the one in this painting are not only scenic, but their original purpose was to protect wooden bridges from deteriorating. In the nineteenth century, bridges were made of wood and would last, when exposed to the ravages of a New England winter, less than 10 years. But with a roof over them, they would stay sound for up to 80 years.
There are many covered bridges still in New England, especially in Vermont, where there are more per square mile than anywhere else. This one is in the New Hampshire White Mountain National Forest at the Covered Bridge Campground.

Appalachian Trail Vista

George Washington National Forest located in Virginia is the site of this autumn scene. The view from Mt. Pleasant encompasses mountains that seem to march on forever into the distance. I love how the oranges and yellows in the foreground complement the blues of the mountains behind.

Tunnel Mountain, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Right on the border between the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia in western Canada is Banff National Park in which this mountain is situated. What a view of snow-covered mountain ranges you have on a clear day like this one! There is nothing, in my estimation, like a hike in the mountains. The climb may be steep and difficult, but the freshness of the air, the joy of being up above the world is divine!