Wilderness

So my summer challenge is to do one hike per week. In the four weeks that have passed, I've gone on two. I missed two hikes due to a frisbee tournament, and another hike due to food poisoning. I'll have to make up those two hikes in the upcoming weeks.

I've wanted to hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness for a long time, but for some reason have put it off. I made the trek up to Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest yesterday and boy, was it worth it! I'll have to visit some of the other lakes, or try to nab a permit for the Enchantment Area at some point...


Valley views from granite domes were reminiscent of Yosemite.



Colchuck Lake

^Left to Right: Aasgard Pass, Dragontail Peak, Colchuck Col, Colchuck Peak, 

SUMMER!!!

IT'S SUMMER!! and it's hot and beautiful!!!

We've gone from this!

^Tsawwassen to Nanaimo ferry.

To this! I headed out to Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest for a hike that I've been wanting to do for a while.

^Bridal Veil Falls, and some rando that got in my shot...


^Lake Serene, beneath the towering spires of Mt. Index.


^I got going after the sun passed over the cliffs.

The Leegans!

Another reason for my previous trip was to attend and shoot my friend's wedding!

Flying into OAK provided great views of the Bay Area



Libby and Chris!






Wedding photos are tiring!

The Four-Mile Trail and Camera Phones

On the third day, we hopped on a bus to Glacier Point, hiked 900-ft up to Sentinel Dome, and then hiked down 4100 (knee busting) feet on the Four-Mile Trail.

Sentinel Dome was a windy mess, but offered 360-degree views of the area, and Glacier Point provided in-your-face views of Half Dome. The highlight however, was the hike down on the Four-Mile Trail.

The sun was setting along the trail so we had to hurry a bit, but we were able to get good views of the falls and valley.

Upper Yosemite Falls

The Valley Floor

^Cathedral Rocks, the Merced River Canyon, and El Capitan.

Now during this trip, I started playing around with the not-often used camera phone, which turned out to be surprisingly decent! The photos below were taken by the phone and processed in Instagram...

The phone was able to capture quite a bit of dynamic range in the shot of the falls (especially in the rock's shadows).

For the Valley Floor shot, the phone did a better job of handling lens flare IMO.