Then the sun hit the surrounding peaks, and with them wreathed in misty clouds, and with the rock formations and jagged skyline, it looked like a scene from "The Lord of the Rings", Mordor perhaps -- or Skull Island, King Kong's home --
That last one is, to me, particularly brooding and mysterious. After taking those photos I really didn't do much, mainly puttered around Faranuf, tried a micro adjustment program on my 100-400 f/5.6 lens (it didn't work; I may try again today), went over to my friends' house to refill the hummingbird and bird feeders -- they're on a bird trip in Guyana, and I'm watching their house while they're gone -- and ended up the day by walking up South Fork road with my friend Peg and her two dogs. When we were walking back, we heard Western Screech and Pygmy Owl, quite haunting to hear in Cave Creek Canyon as dusk approached. So as there's not much to report on for October 6, 2015, I thought it would be interesting to flash back to October 6, 2014, and what I did on that day. As it turns out, it was a hike in the eastern Sierra Nevada to Treasure Lakes, and when I began hiking the trail I saw Gray-crowned Rosy Finch --
It usually flies high over the mountains, but this one was curious about me...I was carrying my 500 f/4 lens for exactly this opportunity, and made hauling it up a steep trail worthwhile. Treasure Lakes were beautiful --
And in this one there was still a thin sheen of ice covering the water --
What a change in scenery, from Sierra splendor to the high desert and mountain landscapes of SE Arizona, 800 miles to the south (I was wondering how far I was from the Sierra, now living at Faranuf -- and I calculated it to be nearly 3 times as far as when I lived in San Pedro, along coastal Los Angeles). And what a difference a year makes...
I was at Treasure Lakes about this time last year. There was fresh snow on quite a bit of the trail and I would have never found them if 2 fishermen hadn't gone in earlier and left footprints. The lakes were certainly pretty but all that elevation gain and loss was not fun. I imagine it's possible to just walk across the nearly dry lake bed to pick up the trail now but the parking lot is closed for major work and that adds another 2 miles to the hike.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue -- Yes, I remember you "doing" Treasure Lakes right after me, and saying at the time it was a tough hike. It was, especially as I was carrying the 500 f/4 lens -- but it was worthwhile as I got good photos of the Rosy-Finch. I probably wouldn't have gone up it if I'd known there was snow; my screen name is Trailhiker, not Trail-Covered-In-Snowhiker. ;o) And with the parking lot closed, well, I think I timed the hike pretty well as now it's 800 miles from Faranuf to the eastern Sierra...
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