2023 A NEW YEAR

My girlfriend and I went to Hoodoo for New Year’s Eve. We enjoyed some runs under the stars, good friends, food and their epic firework show. Instead of driving back home to Bend, we stayed in a hotel in Sister’s, welcomed the New Year in our room and went to bed. The alarm was set for 5am, with plans to take my snowmobile out and enjoy the sunrise over the Cascades. Hannah had never been on an adventure like this, doubling on a snowmobile in the cold, dark, starry sky...so I made sure to do my best to have everything from clothing to route dialed in.

After stopping to cut branches from a recent fallen tree over the trail and enjoying a bump-less, fresh powder ride, we arrived at our destination to view the sunrise. I try to get to locations for sunrise early, so as not to stress if the sun is just coming up upon arrival...it allows for decompressing, acclimation to the area and a great segue into enjoying the actual rise of the sun. It was dawn and about 10 degrees, we were both warm and the sky was crystal clear! As I set up my camera gear, I pointed out bits and pieces of the landscape to Hannah and suggested she keep moving to stay warm. As the “Belt Of Venus” began to develop, we both continuously commented on how perfect and pretty everything was. A continuation of loving moments.

I shot the image you see of Seeseekqua/Mt. Jefferson with lava fields in the foreground and felt this was as good as it gets to bring in 2023! As a side note, I’ve snowboarded 200ft. from the summit of this volcano and will always remember it being one of the wildest rides of my life!

Hope 2023 is treating you well.