Behind the Lens: 2026 Calendar Images
Each year, putting together our calendar feels like a little time capsule. It’s a chance to comb back through the past twelve months, remember the places that surprised us, challenged us, or made us slow down, and choose the images that capture the beauty that inspires us to live life on the road.
This year’s calendar pulls scenes and memories from Baja California Sur, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Nevada. Each image carries a story, and we wanted to share a bit more about what was happening behind the lens when Brian pressed the shutter.
Cover Image | Cascade Mountains, Washington
This was one of our favorite camp spots along the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route! The road up to this spot followed a winding shelf road that cut into a double black diamond steep hillside. The expansive views of the Cascade Mountains were stunning, with Mt. Rainier just barely out of sight. This 9pm mid-July sunset was one we won’t forget!
Watch our adventure through this beautiful landscape on YouTube!
January | Sea of Cortez, Baja California Sur
Five hours from the end of pavement is hidden one of the best beaches in all of Baja, flanked by sandstone cliffs, a unique feature for the peninsula. This place is easier to reach by boat than by truck, and nearly inaccessible by car. Certainly an exciting route to drive! This particular late January sunrise greeted us over the calm Sea of Cortez with stunning colors as we sipped our coffee with toes in the sand. A moment that is hard to beat!
February | Tonto National Forest, Arizona
After a stressful few weeks dealing with our pup Greta’s mysteriously declining health, this spot offered us a chance to rest and reset. We’d raced out of Baja to a 24-hour emergency vet clinic in Phoenix, AZ, and after getting her stable, we spent a sleepless night in the vet’s parking lot. We knew that we needed to get out of the city and find a spot where we could all rest.
This beautiful overlook really delivered for us and we spent peaceful afternoons napping on the ground in the sun, snuggling Greta from this spot. The hillsides were dotted with Saguaros, Ocotillos, Yucca and numerous other desert plant species and we watched as Raptors soared and hunted along the cliffs. We can’t wait to go back to explore this area further.
March | Sierra de la Laguna, Baja California Sur
Hidden within the canyons at the edge of Sierra de la Laguna — a desert mountain range in the southern end of Baja California Sur — lay several hidden oases offering a rare and stunning break from the arid desert landscape. Date Palms often line the edges of these small bodies of water, a relic from the early Jesuit Missionaries.
To access this spot, we’d driven several kilometers up a sandy and wild arroyo and was a route that clearly wasn’t used by many people. We camped at the farthest point we could drive up it with some new Argentinian friends, sharing delicious meals cooked over an open fire. We’d make the short hike further up the arroyo, over boulders and through palm thickets, where we spent several afternoons swimming in the refreshingly cold waters of this oasis, basking in the sun on the bright white rocks, sipping and sharing mate.
April | Overlooking the Green River, Utah
Spring snow melt runoff had browned the otherwise appropriately named Green River. This area of Utah hosts a landscape whose scale is hard to imagine. Camped 1,000 feet above the river, the occasional rafters and kayakers that float by seem like small specs. Placing a person at the edge hardly does justice to the scale of this landscape.
This particular night, under very bright moonlight, we hoped to capture the grandeur and scale of the river sweeping through the sandstone canyon as Brian stood at the cliff’s edge shining his flashlight to the sky.
May | Fiddler Butte Wilderness Study Area, Utah
In the heart of canyon country sits the Fiddler Butte Wilderness Study Area, a beautiful and remote section of land with limited road access and few visitors. We were excited to explore an area of the Colorado Plateau that neither of us has been to yet and experience some real solitude.
This evening was spent wandering, observing the little details of the desert, and taking in the beautiful golden light across the sandstone buttes and clusters of sagebrush as we strolled with Greta down a wash and back up the dirt road towards camp. It was so quiet here and we enjoyed watching several Black Throated Sparrows chase each other between the Junipers.
Watch our adventure through this beautiful landscape on YouTube!
June | Capitol Peak, Colorado
Capitol Peak and the Elk Mountain Range have long served as the beautiful backdrop to many of our home base adventures and we feel incredibly lucky to have lived here for so many years.
Late this spring as we were passing through from the Utah desert towards Denver, we spent an evening camped at this spot high up on a ridge at the end of a steep 4x4 trail. We were just in awe of the 360 degree views of these snowy peaks contrasted by the blooming wildflowers of late spring/early summer in the Colorado high country.
July | Cascade Mountains, Washington
During the height of the summer, we pointed our truck north to the eastern edges of the Cascade Mountain Range, a new area for both of us. We spent roughly a month in absolute awe of the volcanoes and beautiful forest that dot this landscape. Certainly, a place that we are very much looking forward to returning to in the future.
After a long day of driving along the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route, this particular evening was spent running around with the camera and flying our drone in an attempt to capture even a fraction of the beauty in front of us!
Watch our adventure through this beautiful landscape on YouTube!
August | Overlooking the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, Wyoming
When we paint a picture in our minds of what the Western Rocky Mountains look like, it’s this place. A landscape filled with stunning, unobstructed rivers carved deeply into canyons, dividing some of the tallest mountains around the Montana and Wyoming border. It was nearly impossible to peel our eyes off this view and we spent hours here with binoculars pressed against our faces, taking it all in.
This spot is practically the definition of the kind of epic camp spots we are always searching for. After spending several weeks exploring a loop through the Beartooth Mountains, camping here with this view was quite the finale to that trip!
Watch our adventure through this beautiful landscape on YouTube!
September | Madison Valley, Montana
Our summer range, year after year, this is an area we return to spend time with family, float the beautiful Madison River, hike within the mountains, and find calm in an area appropriately named Big Sky Country, that has become one of the many places that feel like home.
This particular evening was spent camped along the Madison River, watching White Tail deer bound through the tall grasses. While we were out for an evening stroll, the sunset lit up the mountains in a way that felt significant — almost reminding us to take notice of the beauty of one of the last summer evenings in Montana for the season.
Watch our Postcard from Camp from this beautiful spot on YouTube!
October | City of Rocks, Idaho
This was another new area for us this year, and admittedly, we are shocked it took us this long to explore this area. We used to climb a lot and, had heard a lot about this area, and its stunning granite climbing — mythical area of sorts. Arriving here in the fall, just as the first shades of the yellow leaves arrived on the trees and the first traces of snow appeared in the higher elevation areas, left it feeling like the most perfect way to see this place for the first time.
We only spent one night here on our way south towards the Utah desert, and it was a cold one! Bundled up in all our layers, we huddled by the campfire and watched as the light faded from the sky as the stars came out. This area is one we will absolutely be returning to to hike and explore, and possibly even climb again!
November | Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada
We only learned about this area within the last year, while talking with fellow travelers. After getting so many good recommendations, we couldn’t pass it up. Slightly off the beaten path and home to beautiful sandstone buttes, arches, Joshua Trees, and ancient rock art.
We spent a week here, doing a little work and a lot of admiring. We soaked in the short but warm hours of November sunshine each day, and explored the unique sandstone formations, some of which looked like Neapolitan ice cream!
December | Independence Pass, Colorado
These days, we do a lot of avoiding winter even though we’ve previously spent a lot of time recreating in the snow. We have skied from many of the peaks in this area, walked for many hours through snowy forests, and fully enjoyed the winter wonderland it offers. In the summer, we’d swap the skis for hiking boots and climbing shoes. One of our first dates was up here on a full moon multi-pitch climb. These peaks and valleys hold countless memories for us, and I'm sure will host many more in the future.
Although this scene looks like winter, this photo was actually taken on May 26th! We were on our way to Denver from time spent in the Utah desert, and we thought that we’d successfully avoided winter for the season but were quickly reminded as we drove over Independence Pass, that it can snow any month of the year in the Rockies!
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a little behind-the-scenes look into the stories behind these images. If you have any questions or are interested in purchasing prints of any of these images feel free to reach out!
Thanks so much for your support!
