Hassen Salum: Visual Storytelling.

A quick glimpse of the Antisana #Volcano from the #mountains of Papallacta in Ecuador.
⠀
This #FBF story is a bit long, but it was such a cool day. During the second day of Adventure Week Ecuador (#AWEcuador), our group was split in two for the #hike to the Papallacta hot springs: the short and the long hike. Since my Storytelling buddy, @filmmakermc was doing the short one, I opted for the long one.
⠀
I left most of my stuff in the van, taking with me only my water bottle, my camera, and my backpack’s rain cover to shield it from the ephemeral showers. I put on the very-common-in-Ecuador-hikes rubber boots, listened to some advice on how to proceed when hiking at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, and proceeded to follow the group, ignoring the recommendation of taking it easy several times to catch up or push a bit ahead of the groups for some photos.
⠀
Our hike took us about 4 hours of walking very carefully across the rainy, muddy, often steep mountains. Quite a challenge for someone who had lived at sea-level most of his life, was slightly out of shape, and didn’t bring the right socks so had to hike half the way with a bleeding ankle rubbing against the inside of the boot (bring long socks, people! Several of them!).
⠀
None-the-less, my experiences so far tell me that whenever you take on a challenge in adventure travel, you often get an unexpected reward that you can only understand and appreciate if you have the right mindset.
⠀
In this case, as we were approaching the end of the hike, tired and hungry, the #clouds opened up a bit in the distance for a couple of minutes, allowing me to forget about the pain and marvel at the sight of the Antisana Volcano’s summit. Seems very close, huh? But it’s actually about 10 miles away. It’s huge!
⠀
When we finally reached the van that would take us to our expected reward (the hot springs and food!), we all got rid of our rubber boots with unfathomable skill and dropped to the ground to rest for a while and, of course, to shoot an epic ‘after’ selfie that rests deep in someone’s hard drive.

View full post »

Here’s @derekloudermilk, life coach and host of The Art of Adventure podcast, enjoying a refreshing #swim after #hiking up the #canyon in Boca de la Sierra on a hot day.
⠀
This is one of my favorite canyons in the region. I’ve camped here with my best friends more times than I can count, so it has sort of become my backyard.
⠀
The best time to explore canyons around here is after the rains, so #water will be flowing more, so you’ll have many sources of fresh water to refill your bottle and there will be more pools to swim in and to jump into from high #rocks; but even now you can still find a few of these and the landscape is gorgeous.
⠀
#Baja is definitely much more than just beautiful beaches. When you’re here, don’t forget to look into the #mountains as well!

View full post »

La Lobera, an outstanding spot for sunsets.
⠀
My good friend, Marco Belmar, showed me this place a few years ago. He spent a few months living right here in his van, driving every morning to #Cabo for work and coming back here to gather wood, cook dinner, play guitar, and sleep with a million stars above his head.
⠀
Now it’s better know as La Curva thanks to a few Surfing tournaments that have taken place here.
⠀
We used to camp here very often, but I hadn’t been back in quite a while, so having a friend’s brother who is also a #photographer visiting was a perfect excuse to visit one of those magical places of Southern #Baja.
⠀
I wasn’t really expecting a great #sunset, since the sky was super clear, but as the #Sun started dropping and light dimmed, some #clouds were revealed right on the horizon that embellished the sunset perfectly. Well played, Gaia!

View full post »

A #view of Blackstone Bay, just before approaching the Beloit #glacier.
Taken while on @majormarinetours’ #PrinceWilliamSound Glacier Cruise during their Day of Adventure for the #ATWS2016 in Anchorage, #Alaska.
Needless to say, these #sights were absolutely #amazing.

View full post »

The easy way to La Poza Oscura.
Back in our #camping trip to San Dionisio, Casey was leading the way through the #canyon to the huge natural #pool that you can see in the back.
This #crack would have been the easy way there, even if it had a 60+ ft. drop if you slipped, but Casey found out that at the end of the crack there was another drop, not a trail.
So, as skillfully as he went, he came back to us and led us through the hard way, which involved #climbing up the hill a little bit, including a pretty steep and rather smooth #rock face, and navigating a narrow ledge with spiky vegetation and a small climb up and down a resting point to reach the place where I shot the previously-posted pool’s photo.
It wasn’t that hard really, it was pretty fun, as long as you’re comfortable with #heights.

View full post »