Are you done with your granola bar yet?

[Blue_In_AK]

As our good friend John Murtha would say, "Get off your fat backsides and out of your air-conditioned offices," and let's get on with this hike. :)

After we left the cairn in my last picture last night, we went along on a fairly level ridge for a while so we could catch our breath. The wind picked up, which was good because it drove away the mosquitoes and kept us cool. Soon, however, we were climbing again. Here are some more of the weird trees. And there's our quarry.



Here's HullBoss taking a break in the rocky area which we soon encountered. By this time, the wind had picked up probably to 35 or 40 miles an hour (no joke) and the quality of my photos pretty rapidly deteriorated because it was so hard to hold the camera still. Not to mention that it was getting hazier by the minute. I had the good sense to leave the tripod behind; it probably would have blown away anyway. The yellow ribbon in the bush marked the trail here - at this point we had to watch for yellow ribbons and rock cairns to be sure where the trail went.



More rocky trail in the next three pictures. There were a couple of marmots through here that were taunting us with their low human-sounding whistles. We could hear them loud and clear, but couldn't see them anywhere. Finally, HullBoss spotted one standing atop one of the trail marker cairns ahead of us, but, of course, as usual, by the time I could switch out my lens he darted off. Lens changing up here was a real challenge with the wind, and I got all kinds of crap all over my sensor and lenses. I've spent hours cleaning these photos up.







Are these damn tors getting any closer??



Oh, yes, I believe they are. FINALLY, we stopped climbing and came to the "plain of monuments," which was a big arctic meadow with these gigantic rocks sticking right out of the middle of it. The plain was broad, and we certainly didn't feel like walking up to each outcropping at this point, so I was satisfied to take rather out-of-focus long-distance shots with my 70-300 lens. Suffice to say we were pretty well exhausted by this point. With still 8 miles to go.



I converted a couple of shots to black and white because the color was off (me playing with the polarizer) and they were fuzzy because of the howling wind, but you still get the idea.

[JeffR]

1. Blue, are you sure that trail didn't go all the way to Middle Earth?

And did you get any elf pics?

[Blue_In_AK]

2. No elves...

...but you're going to like the little tundra flowers I'll be posting in the next batch. They're so tiny and so beautiful. The two-mile walk across the "plain of monuments" was my favorite part of the hike - walking on tundra is like walking on a sponge, every step just kind of springs you forward. Plus it was flat. :)

[CC]

3. Just finished going through

ALL the vacation pics and showing them to Terry. Now to keep him from running away and showing up at your door begging for a tour of the whole state. :rofl: Typing while the sound effects (Ter) are rescuing the dogs from the coming thunderstorm. He was making lots of wow and mmm mmm mmm and look at that and other I'm jealous those are gorgeous sounds. (I keep telling him he needs to register and type himself.) Beautiful pics and want lots more. Though after all the wind and lens change things, Canon needs to come out with a lens like the Nikon 18-200 and I am definitely getting me the Nikon ones when it is available again. It looks like it would save frustration and sensors. Your comments on the lens changes and wind damage (even if temporary) just justified the cost to Ter too. These really are very good pics and simply beautiful. Thanks for taking us along on your vacation. Now you really need to do some serious thinking about an online shop to sell photos. :evilgrin:

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Thanks so much, CC.

I'm glad Terry enjoyed the pics, and, of course, you two are welcome any time (although not for the next couple of months because HullBoss's mom is going to be here from July 17 to August 11). :) I agree, a lens like you mention would be great. I like my 17-85 for most things, but there are times that I just need to get out there further and then the 70-300 is the only thing that will work. I was having a hard time conveying the size of the tors with the little lens, but the big one was just too shaky without the tripod. Very frustrating. The other thing I had to contend with was my hair blowing in front of the lens. I finally had to just tuck it down inside the back of my shirt - itchy but effective.

ed. And, yes, I am going to get that site up, I promise. I'm just trying to get some real money-making work done right now since I was off for eight days. Being self-employed is good, but I sure could use some paid vacation now and then.