The hike this morning was great. We got up while it was still dark and tossed sandwiches and granola bars in our packs before heading out. I had my bag all packed before I went to be so I wouldn’t have to fumble with it in the dark. Rob lead the way, but it was hard to stay on the trail in such low light. Once we got atop the first ridge the trail got more well defined and the light got better. Within 15 minutes we had made some good ground, but some people were struggling with the pace. I actually I thought we were going a little slow. It wasn’t a particularly cool morning, but it was so nice to be hiking before the heat of the day. In addition, we had some decent cloud cover the whole time so it never got unbearably hot. The trail continued up and up, sometimes on a sloping trail, sometimes over big boulders with large step-ups. It probably took us about 2 hours to get to the top of Tabernacle, and the view was spectacular. We took a little time to sit atop the rock, eat breakfast, and admire the view before heading back to camp.
We had a lot of good rapids today. With the water being so low, there were some extra hazards (in the form of exposed boulders). In Hance Rapids we hit a couple rocks and briefly got stuck on one. In the afternoon we took a quick side hike up Cold Creek. Rob made a pretty amazing parking job to make the hike possible: We floated down the river backwards for a little bit, maneuvering like a trout facing upstream before he hit the motor at just the right time and squeezed the raft right in the mouth of the creek. The payoff at the end of the hike was a cool waterfall often dubbed the “horizontal waterfall”. It’s called that because there is on fall of water coming down over the top and another that shoots in from the side in a horizontal fashion.
After our hike we hit a couple big rapids before finding a camp. The water through the rapids was coooold, and those of us in the front of the boat were glad to see dry ground. A few of us hung out on the boat to drink some beer and chat, and while I was off enjoying myself, a couple ravens came through camp to look for human treasures. When I walked up to my site I saw a couple of them picking through some of my stuff. They were actually pulling things out of my toiletries bag, and in the end made off with my soap.
OMG those are amazing photos. Are you sure you don't moonlight at a professional photog by night?
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed awesome photos!
ReplyDelete(not to be a whiner - but could you stack them not side by side them - you are wacking out my friends page again)
I think it's time to ditch IE and get Firefox. :P Firefox will wrap put the picture on the next line if it reaches the edge of the screen (like wrapping text). I'll probably also resize the pictures a little bit when I get home too so they at least fit 2 wide w/o scrolling on IE.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I took several shots of that last waterfall. I really wanted to use a long exposure to get some blurring on the water, but I didn't have a tripod. I just tried to brace myself pretty well and some of them came out pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a desire to ditch IE and get Firefox. But thanks.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your efforts to make viewing your beautiful pictures a pleasurable experiences for all who call you friend. :-)