shawn bannon's blog

Filmmaker, Hobbit, Pizza lover, Elf, Trees, Vegan, Bikes, Movies!

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Check out my latest documentary! Three Sisters Swamp: The Oldest Bald Cypress Forest on the Planet

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Big Sur at sunset with a nice assortment of vegan camp food. Beyond Burgers with Upton’s Bacon Seitan, gyoza, cast iron oven baked beans and coffee. Are gyoza the perfect camp food? Yes. So easy to make, tasty and fun. 

Lots of roads are closed in Big Sur so make sure you figure out your routes in advance and be prepared for a gorgeous sunset.

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Spring at Carrizo Plain National Monument 

Carrizo Plain is amazing all year round and quite lovely in the spring when the grasses are green and the flowers have bloomed. We went during flower season which might be the only time of year you’ll see a lot of people at this remote California location but it still wasn’t very crowded. We were still able to find an amazing campsite with a beautiful view overlooking the vast plain. The wildlife here is unbelievable. But sometimes you have to be patient and keep your eyes peeled. Carrizo Plain is one of our absolute favorite places to visit and camp. You really have to stay the night to get the full experience. One exciting bonus to this trip is that we were testing out our newly restored tent. 

THE TENT: So what is up with this cool tent? It’s a vintage brown label North Face tent called North Star. It was made in Berkeley, California between 1979-1983. Once I saw this really amazing looking geodesic dome sort of a thing way back when it was a dream to track one down and restore it. I spent a few years looking for one and realized quickly that it was very rare and hard to find. When I was lucky enough to actually find one It took a few weeks to restore the tent which was basically removing all of the old waterproofing. Not a fun process but now it’s in close to new condition and extremely fun to camp in. The tent is not intended for warm weather but is perfect for winter and cold weather camping. Even in May, plenty of areas in California are still dropping into the 30′s and 40′s at night. At Carrizo it was getting into the low 40′s. The North Star tent was practically silent all night and rock steady on a windy mountain overlook. I really look forward to using it in the high altitudes of the Sierras. I’ll definitely be posting a lot more photos of this beauty.

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Yosemite Winter

Dreamy levels of snow have hit the Sierras this winter and it’s beyond beautiful. 

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Alabama Hills California

An impressive place to make some coffee. Just moments from where they filmed Tremors and Django Unchained. 

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Elliott’s first adventure: Yosemite National Park

We took Elliott on his first camping adventure which I had been dreaming about since long before he was born. When and where would we get to go, was always the toughest, unanswerable question. I thought of dozens of locations and situations in-between Big Sur and Joshua Tree but nothing felt perfect considering the conditions. Then it dawned on me, it had to be Yosemite. It’s completely stunning and has every level of adventure one could imagine. The  million year old granite cliffs shooting up thousands of feet all around you are humbling. And I thought it would be pretty cool to do our daily baby routine in absolute grandeur.  

At the bottom of those ancient cliffs in the middle of the valley is a cool little place called Housekeeping Camp. We had a unit right on the Merced River with a beautiful view of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls. The weather was very nice, 70′s during the day, dipping into the 50′s at night. We spent a lot of our time at camp, cooking food, building a fire and roasting marshmallows. We bundled up the little guy and he did very well. He likes to look up a lot so now he was looking up at magnificent trees and a deep blue sky. At night Elliott slept in a travel bassinet and we put that inside a kids pop-up tent to keep the bugs off him and it did the trick.

In the end I realized this trip was all about the journey instead of hitting every stop and destination that we desired. Elliott’s a little over two months old and you just never know when you’re going to need to stop everything you’re doing to feed the little guy. The very first and last photos of this post are places we never would of stopped if baby Elliott wasn’t hungry, and they’re two striking scenarios that I absolutely adore. 

The trip inspired me beyond belief. A place I love dearly and experiencing it in a completely different way with a new special little guy and my wife whom I adore. These adventures aren’t just about how much fun one can have but how much we can endure, adapt and appreciate exactly where we are at any given time regardless of the circumstance. Sometimes it feels impossible but It’s always up to us to decide. 

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Redwood National Park: Camping

Completely breathtaking. Completely unreal.  I love this campsite we stumbled upon right on Prairie Creek. Sleeping at night with the sound of the water gently moving by was so peaceful and relaxing. We spent several days exploring the ancient forests and golden beaches, we can’t wait to go back. 

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Camping in Carrizo Plain National Monument

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The Great Plains: Colorado

We went exploring right where The Great Plains crash into The Rocky Mountains. The diversity in weather, wildlife and terrain in such a relatively close area is mind blowing. We were in search of wildlife and it was quite delightful to find the American bison on it’s home turf and the exceptionally cute prairie dog peeking out to say hello. We also spotted bald eagles and America’s smallest falcon, the kestrel.

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Rocky Mountain National Park: There was still snow above 9,000ft and wonderful cool weather in the meadows. I was very excited to see a huge herd of elk and a large group of male bulls. This was our first time to Rocky Mountain National Park and it was simply amazing.

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Yosemite National Park: Snowshoeing with a Bobcat

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Yosemite National Park: Full Moon Snowshoeing Video

Here’s the video footage that I shot last weekend in Yosemite National Park against the full moon. You'll see the occasional headlamp and glow from Curry Village but otherwise this was completely lit by the Moon. The conditions were cold, foggy, and beautiful. Everything is shot handheld at 1/50 of a second. I did not color correct the footage.

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Yosemite National Park: Full Moon Snowshoeing

Last weekend we went to Yosemite National Park to go snowshoeing. All of these images are from that late night hike and all of these shots are lit only by the moonlight. Instead of using a tripod and long exposures which interfere with any kind of adventure I opted to use the new Sony A7S II camera, known for it’s insane lowlight capabilities. The camera was quite impressive and I was able to shoot some amazing stills and video (the video I’ll post on a later date). most of these shots are 1/60 of a second exposures and taken at 102,400asa all the way up to the camera’s maximum 409,600asa. The shots were taken with a Canon 24mm f1.4 lens. Even though the camera is amazing it’s autofocus with Canon lenses is horrible. Yes, Sony lenses focus quickly and accurately but I’m not a fan of their lenses yet. Regardless, I had a blast using this camera.

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GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE

This year for my brother’s birthday we went to Giant Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park with a troop of friends. We got the biggest campsite we could find to host this multiple day adventure. We did all the usual stuff like tell scary stories, make delicious food, barricade my brother in his tent and hike deep into the Giant Forest. We managed to climb through a fallen giant sequoia tree which was unbelievable and very cool. 

The number one place we see bears is in the giant sequoia forests. And everyone really wanted to see bears so we went scouting for bears. It can be very rare to see them and we were all fully aware of this. With a few tricks up our sleeves (patience, locations, time of day) we trekked on with certainty that we’d see some bears. After a full day of adventuring and to our complete amazement we stumbled upon the cutest baby bear climbing a tree. She was eating some leaves and her momma was directly below in the meadow. It was a very beautiful moment, a moment I realized I was hiking in a forest that is home to thousands of creatures. 

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JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK: Perseid Meteor Shower

This is a legitimate photo from early this morning. Not Photoshopped. The meteor flew through at the perfect time while I was simply trying to take a nice photo of Alix, the tent, a huge joshua tree all against a beautiful night sky. Then a meteor flew by. Unbelievable. The 15 second exposure helped.  

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McArthur-Burney Falls: Near Lassen Volcanic National Park

We didn’t do a lot of research before we went up to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We just knew we wanted to go up there. A couple of the true gems that we happened across are the completely unreal Burney Falls and the very cool Subway Cave. The Subway Cave is a lava tube, you’re hiking in a lava tube which is creepy and beautiful. Burney Falls is kicking at high speed even in the hot dry summer which left me in amazement. The water is coming out of an underground river and it’s always flowing at rate of 100 million gallons of water per day. Too cool.

As you can see we also made vegan breakfast burritos. A new technique I’ve been using is to melt the Daiya shreds in with the Soyrizo and cook the tofu scramble separately. I also topped mine with fresh salsa and guacamole and you always want to heat up the tortillas. I’ll have some more posts from this beautiful area in the near future. Until then GO OUTSIDE. 

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Channel Islands National Park: Santa Cruz Island

We got to hang out with the cutest little Santa Cruz Island Fox on our recent adventure to the Channel Islands. The little fox was very curious and came to say hello several times during our trip. It’s hard to believe these little foxes almost went extinct just a decade ago. They’re currently making a recovery. I’m so glad people figured out a way to save them. 

Santa Cruz Island is roughly a 1-2 hour boat ride from Ventura and it’s one of the best ways to completely escape the city. It’s a beautiful, relaxing and extremely quiet place to visit. There are no services of any kind on this island. You have to bring all of your food and water. Once the boat drops you off you’re stuck there until they pick you up. This will give you some nice time to think and relax. Come prepared and you’ll have an amazing time.