Javin Elliff Photography

January 12, 2026

Favorites of 2025

2025 was a great year. I returned to some of my favorite wilderness destinations, but also explored several new areas. I went on eight backpacking trips which totalled 18 nights in the tent and nearly 300 miles. Two of those trips were over 50 miles each. There were many hundreds of miles of day hikes. When I didn't have time to go on longer trips, I spent evenings at the local wildlife refuge.

These are my favorite photos of the year, for various reasons. I have already posted some of them in other places on my website, but I figured it would be fun to put them all in one place too. Cheers and Happy New Year!

(Note: If you click the first photo to make it full-screen, you can then use the right and left keys to navigate between photos easily.)

A great blue heron portrait in warm evening light.
A beautiful spring day on the river.
Dense old growth forest of the Pacific Northwest, with large western redcedar in the foreground, and Douglas fir and western hemlock in the background.
A tiny yellow warbler brings a burst of brightness to the forest.
An old shed elk antler surrounded by oxalis.
Long exposure of a stream in the rainforest on a warm summer day.
A waterfall surrounded by lush green ferns, moss and trees.
Last light on Mount Rainier.
A dipper with an insect in its beak.
A tarn in the mountains on a beautiful summer day.
The Milky Way above mountains reflected in an alpine tarn. I counted around twenty satellites zooming around this photo, which leave little streaks of light as a result of a 13-second exposure.
A western hemlock grows from a nurse log in the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest.
A mossy big leaf maple glows in evening light.
A fawn in a small meadow of wildflowers surrounded by subalpine forest.
A bull stands in disturbed forest next to a downed tree.
A young bull elk eating breakfast in the rainforest.
Sunset reflected in a river.
Fall colors reflected in a lake.
Sunset from the subalpine.
This black bear was busy inhaling as many berries as possible in the waning days of summer.
A black bear enjoying berries near the end of summer.
Light rays penetrate the forest the morning after a heavy rain.
It rained two inches overnight while I tried to sleep in my tent, and when I emerged in the morning this was the view. I love watching the clouds dance in the mountains.
A portrait of a younger mature bull.
This bull was taking a rest from the rut.
A big Roosevelt elk bull disappearing into the forest.
A bull Roosevelt elk in old growth forest with his head obstructed by a branch.
I found this bear skull while wandering off-trail through the forest.
A vine maple showing fall colors in an old growth temperate rainforest.
I was lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis from Washington in November. The reddish sky in this image is from the Aurora, while the yellow on the horizon is light pollution from the distant Puget Sound.
A Northern Harrier hawk flying over the wetlands of a river delta.
Portrait of an alert doe in a wetland.
My last sunset of the year, as seen from Ruby Beach.