I love exploring and experiencing the feeling of wonder - almost certainly instilled in me by all the fantasy novels I devoured as a teenager. It provides fuel for my creativity, helping me to push my comfort zones and grow as a human. Even just following a creek upstream or downstream can lead you to something beautiful and surprising. Every day I’m grateful that photography has helped me overcome my fears and anxiety, allowing me to visit places and do things I couldn’t have imagined a decade ago.

One particular trip this past summer was the best trip I’ve ever done in BC, and was a huge turning point for me. Ever since my trip in summer 2020 to a mountain range that I found with satellite imagery, I had been itching to repeat it, but on a bigger scale. So I set out to do just that and spent hours and hours pouring over maps of British Columbia. Doing this is not an easy task! Due to BC’s huge size it’s very easy to miss things and it can be difficult to tell what has nice views, even with the help of Google Earth. There are other factors to consider as well, such as hikeability and access. If driving, there are often unknowns when it comes to remote forest service roads. If flying in with a helicopter, you need terrain that can at minimum allow for a toe-in landing, and you need a plan B in case you arrive and it’s socked in. For me, the challenge of finding a place and planning my way around any logistical problems is a fun, crucial part of the journey and makes the experience that much more rewarding.

In the end I found several trip candidates and got in touch with the friends who came on last year’s adventure, as well as a helicopter company. But one of those friends messaged me, saying he had chatted with the pilot some more and simply asked him for recommendations. In my determination to find new places, I never even considered that asking a pilot with decades of flying experience in that area would be a good idea. Oops! The pilot responded with a beautiful place that I had somehow overlooked while pouring over maps of that area, and my mind was blown. I don’t know how I missed it, but it looked like the ideal mountain getaway.

Months later, we drove ten hours north of Vancouver and hopped in a helicopter the next morning. It is hard to describe the feeling after we were dropped off and left to be. Boundless solitude, nearly unphotographed, ideal for exploration and seen by few. It was indeed the perfect place. Hummingbirds roamed the meadows and mountain goats braved the mountain tops. There were towering mountains, blue lakes, jagged glaciers, colorful wildflowers and some of the grandest vistas I’ve ever seen in my entire life. There was one particular view that was so huge and beautiful that it felt like I was dreaming. The scale was such that my brain couldn’t properly make sense of the view. It filled me with wonder.

We spent 7 days camping here, and I cannot wait to do it again!