Late in August 1981, I loaded my yellow 1973 Volkswagen beetle with nearly all my worldly possessions and headed west to take a position as a postdoctoral research scientist in La Jolla, CA. I had two weeks to get from College Park, MD to my destination, and decided to take a roadtrip to see several of our National Parks. Along for the ride was my Canon FT 35mm film camera and a few dozen rolls of Ektachrome that I rolled myself.

Recently, I copied many of those slides into digital files, and will be posting several of them in the weeks to come.

My stops included Rocky Mtn, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Mt. Lassen, Yosemite, and Kings Canyon National Parks. I spent Labor Day weekend at Grand Teton (photograph above) camping, hiking, photographing, and fishing. The weather was good. The sky most clear, and the sunsets spectacular.

My trip wound through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and California. In California, I stuck to the Sierras. Yosemite was wonderful, but the season had been exceptionally dry. Many of the waterfalls were just trickles, but the dry weather produced very clear vistas, especially of El Capitan (above) and other features the park is famous for. Yes, I was trying for that Ansel Adams feel here, however cliche that may have become.

I hope you enjoy these images. Feel free to comment, and until next posting take care.

Bob

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1981 Roadtrip, pt 1