Shelley, over at Travel-Stained, recently posted about the Black’s Epic Adventures Photo Contest and nominated some other bloggers to join her in entering. I may be too late for the competition, but I still think it’s fun to share the photos I would have entered.
Also, I decided not to use any of my South America photos.
Here goes…
WILD: Mongolia
Mongolia is absolutely the wildest place I’ve ever been. We would drive for days through landscapes devoid of any human features except occasionally a ger or a herd of domesticated camels. Even the towns (and there weren’t many of them) had a strange Wild West quality to them, with make-shift compounds of gers alongside concrete blocks of buildings.
PANORAMIC: the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
I’d wanted to visit the Giant’s Causeway since I first learned of it’s existance as a chid. It was a blustery, cold January when we visited a friend we’d met in Seoul, back in his hometown of Strabane. Despite living most of his life in Northern Ireland, he’d never visited the Causeway! Everyone told him he had to take us to see it while we were there, and so we set off on a road trip along the coast. The whole landscape was littered with variations of the unusual rock formations and it was much bigger than I had anticipated. Of course, we had to take a shot of them ‘stealing’ a stone.
EPIC: trekking up Rinjani volcano, Indonesia
I’ve got a bit of a problem with this category. You see, I really don’t like the word ‘epic’. It just sounds so American! 😛 And yeah, I’m well aware that this word is now used world-wide, but I just can’t get behind it. I’d rather just use the word ‘wow’.
So, WOW for me was the first time I went trekking and camping on a three day trip up a volcano crater, down into the centre, and up and out again on the other side. The views were amazing, the physical feat like nothing I’d done before, and the fun of travelling with one of my best friends topped it off as a truly epic experience.
FAST: water at Taroko Gorge, Taiwan
Whilst the river in Taroko Gorge is known for being a beautiful crystal-clear, blue-green hue, after a typhoon it turns a cement-like grey as sediment is washed down from surrounding land. Less than 24 hours after Typhoon Fanapi in September 2011, the waters were still churning. Back when I had visited in July, it was calm enough for swimming (although the fish were still too fast for this guy to catch them).
Thanks Shelley for inviting me to join in the fun!
Strolling South America 
great entries! “panoramic” is splendid!
Thanks! The weather was so dull that day that I didn’t expect any of the photos to come out well, so it was a nice surprise when I uploaded them later.
Beautiful!
Thank you.
Yo dude, your epic photo is TOTALLY epic!! 😉 haha, you’re right. Epic does sound really American. But that photo is my favourite. Along with the one in Mongolia. Gorgeous! We did a short 2 hour hike through a volcanic crater in Hawaii and I was really suffering – 2 steps forward, 1 step back, and shoes full of dust and ashes. It was tough. I can’t imagine what 3 days would’ve been like. Wow is right! 😀
On the second day we had to get up at 4am to reach the top of the crater in time for sunrise! It was no fun trying to clamber up volcanic sand in the dark and I eventually gave up, but I got far enough to make it worth it even if I didn’t reach the top. I took those photos on the way down when I went back to camp before everyone and got to eat breakfast first 🙂
I wondered how you got that perspective! You are dedicated. I was so frustrated on our volcanic sands hike, there’s no way I would’ve been able to do what you did. 😉
Giant’s Causeway is on my bucket list too. We’ve seen some columnar basalt – like Devil’s Postpile in the Sierras of California – but not on the scale of Giant’s Causeway. Enjoyed your pictures.
Yes I’ve seen some similar rock formations too, but not on the same scale. I hope you make it to the Causeway – it’s worth it even in bitter mid-winter weather!