Western landscapes are suffering more than a glancing blow from this year’s wildfires. Many of those fires are encroaching upon National Park System units. Two years ago, a wildfire devastated 97% of the 42,000 acres of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of park staff and their partners, most of this park is once again open for recreation, including landscape and bird photography. Before heading home from her Redwood National and State Parks visit, contributing photographer Rebecca Latson took a detour over to Whiskeytown, returning with tips on what you can see and photograph within this recreation area risen from the ashes of the 2018 Carr Fire.

Every New Year, the Traveler’s Rebecca Latson keeps a tradition of showing her favorite shots captured during her national park photo travels of the previous year. In this month’s column, Rebecca reviews her 10 favorite images from 2020, telling us why she likes those particular shots and how she captured them. Maybe her favorites places are already yours, or maybe they will be new favorites for you to photograph.

There soon will be a sensory experience that more visitors to Redwood National and State Parks will be able to have safely, now that a project to build a trail to one of the world’s most magnificent groves of redwoods is well under way.

While on assignment for the Traveler, photographer Rebecca Latson visited Redwood National and State Parks in California. She returned from her trip with many photos and the realization that while Redwoods is mostly about the trees, this collaboration of national and state parks also offers prairie and coastal venues, all with enough to do and see for at least three days.