Posted on July 2, 2018, 8:19 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was once thought to be the only place in North America where the synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) can be seen. Fittingly for the most visited national park in America, the event has become very popular, as described in the previous article. During my East Coast trip this spring, I observed […]
Posted on June 24, 2018, 5:12 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
One of nature’s most wondrous light shows occurs during the synchronous fireflies mating season, when the bugs flash at once in a silent symphony of sparks. Synchronous fireflies exist only in a handful of places in the world, with Great Smoky Mountains National Park being the most well known. In this article, I explain how […]
Posted on May 28, 2018, 8:29 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
North of highway 20, the character of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument changes. Elevations rise, conifer forest dominate, and roads are all unpaved. Snow Mountain, the highest point in the monument, offered an unexpected adventure that reminded me of higher and further mountain ranges. Getting to the trailhead is half the adventure Berryessa Snow Mountain […]
Posted on May 21, 2018, 11:31 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument was established in 2015 to protect more than a hundred miles at the heart of North California’s Inner Coast Range. Although its southern tip is located only one hour from the San Francisco Bay Area, for most people, Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is more mysterious than the Sierra Nevada. […]
Posted on April 29, 2018, 11:26 pm, by QT Luong, under
Esthetics.
In a previous post, I asked you for input in choosing the Gateway Arch National Park photograph to be included in the Treasured Lands exhibit. Back then, I did not comment on the images in order not to influence answers, so here are my thoughts, together with the poll results. Poll results Thank you to […]
Posted on April 15, 2018, 7:20 pm, by QT Luong, under
Recollections.
By the fall of 1993, I still didn’t own a car. Back then, the same UC Berkeley student group that I joined for my first trip to Yosemite organized a yearly outing to Death Valley during the Thanksgiving school break. I didn’t know what the place was about, but I had known its name since […]
Posted on April 1, 2018, 12:11 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Gateway Arch just became America’s 60th national park. Following my visit to photograph it, I elaborate on why it is an odd choice, try to understand why and how the name change happened, and voice my personal opinion about the new name. Why was Jefferson National Expansion Memorial renamed Gateway Arch National Park? In the […]
Posted on March 25, 2018, 12:57 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Thanks to my early visit to Gateway Arch National Park, it looks like as was the case for 58 and 59, I was the first to photograph the 60 national parks. This time it was only by a few days, as some of the people who had photographed the previous 59 national parks showed up […]
Posted on March 19, 2018, 6:50 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
On February 22, 2018, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial became Gateway Arch National Park, our 60th national park. Believing that the national park designation carries a special meaning, I greeted the news with perplexity. However, I traveled to St Louis, Missouri, that same week to try and extend my record of being the first to visit […]
Posted on March 11, 2018, 11:50 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is recent, been having designated by President Obama in October 2014. This, combined with its relatively large size (346,177 acres or 541 square miles), has made it a target for the Trump administration’s “review” of national monuments. However, the San Gabriel Mountains are long-established recreation grounds for the second largest […]
