Speaking of which, my own IG profile is available at @avdunkin.
— Alan
I don’t even know which symbol I use, but it’s not my little radar+HAL one! :D Anyway, I added you and @Alan_Dunkin though I don’t post much. More of a IG stalker! Also I exited the app already and forget my username, but I know that it has “necessary” in there somewhere. Forget what I changed it to!
So I decided that I was missing snow, as the promised snowfall over the weekend failed to materialize (was just a drizzle instead), that I would seek out the snow instead.
Which wasn’t hard, as the mountains are (normally) a 25 minute drive away. Slow today, because the roads aren’t really plowed and once I got into the range it was definitely sub par road conditions.
But I climbed Elk Mountain, and it was worth it. Like the driving the climb was notably slower than normal. And as I neared the summit the trail was more of a trench of 6-10” of snow where the sides are knee height. And it started to get real dicey, with the snow reaching near blizzard level and visibility dropping. Which at 3200” isn’t exactly where you want to be. So a quick scurry, which at times was me sitting on my butt and sliding, down was in order.
But it was a good day.
@Dave_Perkins as promised.
GAWJUS! I kinda miss the snow. Makes me want to go skiing.
I got a chance to head back to Nevada and Zion and rented a Nikon Z7 (or I guess, correctly, Z 7).
Also looking to start selling prints soon so get in line :)
— Alan
Those are gorgeous!
Awesome! I really want to go there one day. However, that will have to wait until later, Florida first, with the girls…
Specifically those photos were taken around Valley of Fire in Nevada, La Verkin, Utah, and Zion National Park.
— Alan
Very cool! prime lenses I assume?
Actually no, they are various zooms (one a mirrorless, the longer length one APS-C).
— Alan
Hey @CraigM, have you done the Timberline Trail or any portion of it? I’m doing some long hikes this spring to gear up for a Whitney day hike in August, but TT seems like something I could do over a 4-day weekend in the fall: fly up the PDX (I have relatives there) and rent a car or something. Wonderland is on my bucket list (and the PNW Trail, if I ever get to retire and have a few months handy), but Timberline seems like a good warmup.
Oh, and some recent photos for the thread:
Idyllwild, CA last weekend
Mt. Laguna, San Diego County, the weekend before
View over Lake Poway from Iron Mountain at dawn a couple of weeks ago
I have! I’ve done about half of it, across a few different hikes. Basically the entire western sweep of the trail.
It’s really cool, and quite scenic. The fourth and fifth pics are from the McNiel point area, the others from various points from Paradise Park to Sandy Creek.
I will say that the descent into Sandy Creek (and respective climb out of it) are quite the butt kickers. Timberline is fairly well along the timberline for large stretches, but once you drop out of Paradise Park it drops down quite a bit, and there are large elevation changes for the next 10 miles or so.
Now depending on your fitness and intentionality of pace? It can be done in two days. But that is setting a very aggressive pace. I did 20 miles over about 8 hours, starting from the lodge. And I was spent.
One thing to note, Sandy Creek itself is poorly marked, and during spring could be quite difficult to cross. There is no official crossing, and the spring melt could mean that you have no way to cross without fording water. So be mindful, that is going to be your most tricky/ dangerous part on the western trail.
Wow, those pictures are spectacular! I’m drooling. Those are not making me want to do it less. I’m pretty sure I could do the trail in 2 days, but I’m not sure I’d want to. (Some people day-hike the whole thing!) But, a 3 day trip does not seem unreasonable: Fly up Thursday night and stay with family, drive out to the lodge early Friday and start hiking, with an aim to finish up Sunday evening. I’m getting my backpacking setup slowly dialed in. Speaking of: is there a hiking/backpacking thread here?
Another gear picture. Finally invested in a tripod sturdy enough to work with my Mamiya. All in, with the prism viewfinder, it’s about 16lbs so I probably won’t be taking this on any long hikes, but it should work well for portraits.
Moon picture I just took. I think this is about the limit of the 300mm kit lens I have. I’m hoping to get a 600mm some time this year.
And a few macro shots I took last Summer.
Caterpiller
Bumble bee flying over some lobelia.
A katydid nymph of some sort.
And a spotted orb weaver pulling some silk from its spinnerets.
Those are all great! I like the bee particularly.
Thanks! I can’t wait for Spring to kick into gear so I can go back out and do some more macro shooting.
As I do every year, I went to the Transworld Halloween show in St. Louis this past weekend. Had a blast, as I always do, and took a bunch of pictures. Rather than make folks crawl through a million photos, I post up just a few to an online album. I’m trying Google Photos this time, since Flickr has changed their policies, and I’m unsure I want to pay for the Pro version. Hopefully these work -
Couple of my faves -
Hey, crosspost from the ASMR thread, but Ephemeral Rift uses that Cthulhu mask for relaxation: