Whenever I’m off the clock, the first thing I do is hit the road in my Jeep and drive throughout the jaw-dropping landscapes of the western United States. I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in some of our gorgeous national parks, and from classic roadside spots to fleeting moments with wildlife and dramatic weather, there is always magic to be found. Here are some of my favorite images taken in US National Parks out west — and the full scoop on how I captured them.
Glacier National Park in Montana boasts all kinds of amazing roadside spots, but as with so much in life, veering just a few miles down a trail can be well worth it. I hiked to Avalanche Lake this particular trip, and five minutes in it started dumping rain. Though we never saw the sunset we came for, we did get to the lake just in time to catch a vibrant double rainbow stretch across the sky. I nearly dropped my camera as I scrambled to get it out of my pack, and just a few minutes after I captured this photo, the color was gone.