High Sierra Trail trip report

“Sorry it has become such a wait to hear the rest of the story.

I'm planning on posting another installment sometime today.

There will probably be about 6 more installments on this story.”

“He's like a dealer. He just gives you enough to keep you coming back. Not that I would know.”

“Yah dayhiker what you need man?”

“Haven't had time to read this, but I'm printing it now for some reading on the plane ride to Canada. 2.5 days!!!”

“I am waiting patiently......well....sorta......well...maybe......no.....I guess not so patiently......”

“sometime today eh. I was there and I'm as anxious to read the next insallment as everyone else”

“Well, we're still waiting”

“They must be Swiss
I woke up at first light. Through to side mesh of my Tarptent I could see the legs of passing hikers as they headed up towards Mt. Whitney. I closed my eyes again and hoped for a clear view then stuck my head out of my tent, looked back at Whitney, and crawled back in my bag.

Clouded over. Crap. Two and a half years of planning, setbacks and waiting only to get a cloudy day. It looks like we are going to go with Madman’s suggestion. I spent some time stripping down my pack into daypack trim and taking care of any last minute stuff. Every now and again I would poke my head out and look at the mountain, see the cloud was still there and go back in the tent. Madman and I seemed to follow the same line of thinking, as on several occasions we would do it at the same time. I’m sure we looked like the human counterpart to ground hogs popping in and out of their burrows. All morning we saw groups filter out from Guitar Lake and head up the trail.

Eventually it got near our departure time so I crawled out and made breakfast. Madman joined me and we sat and discussed the day. I was bummed about the prospect of summiting in the clouds, as was Madman but at some point this morning we both washed our hands of it and decided that whatever the conditions we were blessed to even be sitting here. After all, we had just thru-hiked probably the most beautiful and most challenging trail either of us had ever done and we still had another week to be out in God’s country. Most folks never get the chance to be here for even a weekend to see the front country let alone hike the backcountry.

After a short time we were all ready to go.

Capt. Obvious: Did that dude ever come back down?
Me: I never saw him but he could have come by after I fell asleep.
Madman: Let’s climb this rock.

So away we went. The climb started much as any other on this trip. Sections were steep and the trail switchbacked frequently. As we climbed we could see the other lakes in the Hitchcock Lakes basin. The cloud was still there and it began to mist rain on us. We put on rain gear and continued. The little flowers the guy was telling us about were everywhere along the trail. It was interesting how amid all this rock there would be pockets of pretty flowers. I guess when conditions are harshest, life responds more vigorously. After an hour or so we began to smell things.

Madman: What the hell is THAT?
Lighnin Rod: It smells……pretty.
Me: It’s not me.
Capt. Obvious: Good God, it’s Irish Spring!
Madman: Yikes! Day hikers are near.

Sure enough trail crest was just above us. There was a continuous line of hikers heading up and down between the summit and over trail crest back to Whitney Portal. They looked like Technicolor ants. For the first time we noticed just how bad we smelled. But honestly, we smelled like humans. Society requires us to cover up our natural smell with perfumes and such. “Stink” is the smell of the human animal. I still wanted a shower pretty badly though.

At trail crest we met a guy and his buddy who turned around in sight of the summit hut. It seems that one of them was suffering from AMS. He looked like hell warmed over. We tried to see if we could do anything for him but what he really needed to do was to get off the mountain and we advised him as such.

Personally, I wasn’t feeling so great. My ear was aching and I couldn’t get any power for any length of time. I’d get going and start out with my usual long-legged swing but I couldn’t maintain it. For me the climb was more of a trudge. I expected a drop in performance at altitude but WOW, what a drop. Note to self, double my cardio training when I get home. I could continue but I was not at my best or even my average condition. Lightnin Rod seemed to be doing well and Madman and Capt. Obvious were doing fantastic. They looked great and they said they felt great. So good that they were hopping from rock to rock doing there best “Gap Troll” imitations. Freaked out few people on the trail with that too.

We lingered at trail crest a bit and then set out again. From doing about 70 miles to get to this point we were in obviously better shape than a lot of the people on the trail and we were literally zooming past a lot of them. At one point the guys blasted past a Japanese couple and I heard the man remark.

Dude: Ahhh…..They must be Swiss!
Me: No sir, we’re from Florida.
Dude: Floreeda?!?
Me: Yes sir, Mickey Mouse.
Dude: Huh??? Mickey???

The trail followed the crest of the mountain and Mt. Whitney has an overthrust build. (You geology folks feel free to correct my terminology) Those fang-like projections we saw from below seemed to tower over us and between them the wind and clouds push their way towards the west. Sometimes it felt like the wind would knock you over but I attribute that to being tired and to the dizzying view down. The cloud was still parked on the top and we were slowing ascending into it. Oh well, the Smokies come to the west. Been there, done that, didn’t get a view. We all regrouped right before the summit and we all went up to top together. I felt like crap, but I was very happy to be there. My head was hurting from my ear and I was seeing spots. Have you ever rubbed your eyes too hard and you see spots receding into the distance? I was seeing that.

The summit hut appeared out of the mist and we headed up to it and began to check out the summit area. It seems that most of the people on the trail were coming down so there was a very small amount of people on top compared to what we saw on the trail. We looked around for the benchmark and to our surprise we found about five of them. We took a few pictures and during our discussion an older fellow heard us talking and decided to illuminate us. Apparently Mt. Whitney sits on the edge of the pacific plate and as that plate slides under the north American plate Whitney gets pushed higher each year. The most current measurement is 14,497.61 feet.

Madman really wanted to get a photo for his Mom but the weather wasn’t cooperating with what he wanted to do. Basically, he wanted a shot of him standing in the clouds with a little blue sky for contrast. So we sat for a bit and hoped for a break in the clouds. We looked up and saw a brief flash of blue. Cool, that will work all we need is one more break like that and Madman can get his shot. We waited and a few more brief breaks came and went but we moved too slowly to get the shot. Then it happened a nice big one came and we got the shot. While we were congratulating ourselves on finally getting that shot the clouds broke and lifted off the summit.

Wow. Just wow.
We could see down the valley to Whitney Portal and on to Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills in the distance. The other direction we could see the Kaweah Peaks Ridge. It was stunning. We looked at each other and looked at our watches. 2pm. Madman nailed it. At exactly 2pm the clouds cleared off the peak and there was maybe a handful of people on the summit to enjoy it.

We hung around a little longer, signed the register and headed back down. The descent was a blur. Madman and Capt. Obvious were burning up trail so they headed on to pack up camp and boogie down to meet the horsepacker to collect our resupply. Lightnin Rod and I took a slower pace to get down. We took a few breaks and every time we looked Madman and the Capt. became smaller dots on the trail. Lightnin Rod and I made it back to camp right before the other guys headed on down to Crabtree. We went ahead and ate a very delayed lunch packed up our stuff and headed down. We decided to stick to a slower pace. After all, we only had to do 2.7 miles of mostly downhill. Before too long we were nearing Crabtree and the trail climbed back uphill. I looked across the creek and saw the ranger station.

Me: Say, I really don’t feel like doing anymore climbing today.
Lightnin Rod: Same here.
Me: Waddaya say we just cross the creek here and follow the meadow down?
Lightnin Rod: Lead the way.

So we boogied on over the creek and before too long we were passing the ranger station and we could clearly see hoof prints in the earth. We located the other guys and they were already set up. The box I shipped the resupply in was next to a tree and on it was sitting a FedEx package from Treebait. EAR MEDICINE!!!!! Thank God. Once again Treebait comes through. Yep, I married the right one. Love ya dear.

It was like Christmas on the trail. We all had our thermarests laid out and dumped the new food bags out and were busy comparing goodies. I displayed my Hickory Farms version of non-perishable lil’ smokies and almost got bum-rushed. Oh all right, since you guys threatened me with death so nicely I’ll share them. The horsepacker would carry out our garbage the next day so we were going over our packs and dumping things we didn’t need into the box. Capt. Obvious had told the horsepacker that it should only be a couple of Ziplocs of trash. Yeah right, we filled that box. We were even surprised how much stuff we were getting rid of. After a while it became a game.

Around dusk we headed over to the stream to pump water and on the way back a beautiful 6-point buck in velvet wandered by. We tried to get some photos but we couldn’t get to our cameras in time. It would have made a great shot against the sunset. It had been a long day so we turned in.

Tomorrow we begin the long trek back to Lodgepole.”

“photos can be found here in case anyone missed the link earlier.”

“I've really enjoyed these installments! Glad you had good weather on Whitney! One year ago today was my Whitney summit.”

“wow.....what a great pic.....awesome.......& I am soo enjoying the story....thanks for taking the time to share with us :)”

“Thank you for the fix!!”

“I did forget to mention something.

On the summit Madman presented us all with "I climbed Mt. Whitney" patches that he had been carrying all the way from Crescent Meadow. He had ordered some from the Whitney portal store. Apparently they had just recently come out with a new version that had the newest elevation reading on it.”

“I actually had goose bumbs reading that last installment! You have made the last week or so wonderful. Work has been boreing so any excitment I can get is great.

Great shot of the 4 of you on the summit. Frame that puppy!”

“I still have to write 5 more installments. The trip was 13 days long and I'm only up to day 8.”

“Throwing caution to the wind like that...standing next to a guy named Lightnin Rod on a cloudy summit is just plain foolish! :p”

“All - the archive will be complete ahead of schedule [08-10-03].

Sample Images from
MadmansArchive.com

• 
  
  Leapin\' Lizards!


• 
  
  Purple Haze


• 
  
  Awe


• 
  
  Au naturale


• 
  
  Glacial Divots


• 
  
  Say cheese Marmot


• 
  
  Colors of the wind
  
  
  I am working hard to get these in. There are some unbelievable shots of Whitney in the set. I can\'t keep up with the installments, I\'m putting in almost 12 hours a day at my day job. -I can only process about 15 photos a night into the system. Good job on the journal Mike. cool, I check as frequenty as I can. Until next time, keep \'em comin.”

“This website is jacking the links, (cross-site scripting) Look in the address bar and remove the "http://www.thebackpacker.com" reference... -not my fault.

TEST”

“sorry, madman - the links don't work.”

“tarbubble... what's up with the links? anything special you're doing? I'm doing the standard a href syntax...”

“"Cheese Marmots!"”

“awesome pics.....thanks for sharing................”

“Looks great man.
I'm looking forward to seeing the archive.

Feel free to use any of the text I've written. I do plan to post all this to my own site and do a little spiffying up. Maybe some flash work.”

“Madman Those are some great, sharp pics, can't wait till they are all up! That is some dense cloudage!”

“All I have to say madman is daaaaamn dog. Great pictures”

“Watch it Captain, your mother could be watching! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

“hey madman, this is what i'm using - < a href="website url" target="_new">Website
Title

hope i broke up the code enough to make it visible.”

“not quite, here it is again.

< a href="website url" target="_new">Website
Title

just spaced the the first < and last > out to show you”

“damn, one more time - i'm no html expert, by a LOOOOOOONG stretch

< a href="website url" target="_new" > Website
Title < /a >

OK, added spaces around all the <'s and >'s!”

“What kind of camera you using to capture these great pictures? "AWE" Great title for that one, got goosebumps looking at it. Thanks for sharing!”

“that aint right treebait,”

“that whitney picture is awesome, really awesome. wow.”

“Heh heh heh, boy! Where were you and your mother last night, hm? No shows?”

“I use a Canon EOS IX Lite (SLR) with a 28-105 wide angle USM lense. Great camera, uses APS film (!). I am upgrading to the Canon EOS 10D (SLR) soon. Have to save up MANY pennies...”

“I am upgrading to the Canon EOS 10D (SLR) soon. Have to save up MANY pennies...

Heh... be sure to budget a bunch more pennies for lenses too.

The unspoken pitfall of digital SLRs is that it is so easy to see the failings of one's existing lenses. Looking at a 3072x2048 10D image on-screen at "100%" is roughly equivalent to looking at a 20x30" print at the same distance as your screen. It shows up LOTS of details you'd never see on a regular 5x7 or 8x10... and then you see what something like a 28-70L f/2.8 lens will do...

Beware the DSLRs, the cost of the body is just the beginning... :)

Big downside though is weight -- the 10D is going to feel VERY heavy to you in comparison to the IX. Specs show 27.9 ounces for the BODY ONLY, no battery or lens.

I'm actually looking at picking up an S400 or perhaps an S45 or S50 or something else.”

“Whoops, cut a bit out. I'm very happy with my 10D, great camera. But I would like something a bit lighter to carry in the woods.”

“Dang, those are some nice pixs!
Got room for a Southern boy on next years trip? ;)
I've discovered you CAN fly with BP gear.”

“really??? great info. I just "held" one at a local camera outfitter here in Jax, and (with my lense) it was atrociously heavy. I am very happy with my current lense (with the IX) but you say that it might not marry up with the 10D huh? hmmmm... If you are looking to go lighter, perhaps the G5 will do? I have given that one some serious thought too, but since I poured about 400 into my 105mm lense, I didn't want to adondon the whole SLR thing... know what I mean? please advise... thx”

“deedawg I love my S45. Very easy to carry on the trail. I see that the new S50 is out now. Also tamron came out with a 28-300 that weighs next to nothing. It weighs less than my Canon 70-210.”

“madman,

the 10D will take any EOS lens, so your existing 105mm ought to work just fine. Only issue I've seen is some Sigma lenses don't work but Sigma will rechip 'em. Same thing happened with the Elan 7 film body and those lenses.

What I was getting at was that with film it is difficult to see the difference between lenses like the 28-105mm and something like the 28-70L professional lens. But when using a digital SLR you tend to zoom into those images and can easily see the difference and start to lust after the high-$$$ pro lenses.

the other thing to be aware of with the 10D and most other DSLR's is that the sensor isn't quite fullframe. On the 10D it's like taking a 1.6x crop of the frame. Simplest way to look at it is that a 28-105mm lens on a 10D is effectively a 44.8-168mm lens. Great deal if you like telephoto, a bit of a pain if you like wideangle. On the other hand, stitching multiple digital images together isn't very difficult and is a technique to handle the wide-angle needs.

For more info see: Focal Length Multiplier”

“additional thoughts...

Tango: I really like the fact that the S45 has a RAW mode available. Too often in the woods the whitebalance can get messed up and using RAW mode allows me to adjust the image much more easily in postprocessing. I pretty much shoot RAW mode 100% of the time with my 10D and previously with my D30 so I have a good workflow developed.

S50 seems to be an S45 with a little bigger sensor, but I'm not sure some of the CA problems are worth the add'l 14% resolution given what I'd be using the camera for.

On the other hand, the S400 is just so very tempting even though it's the epitome of a PHD camera... but that would still likely fit my primary use as I bring the big-boy camera when I'm serious about shooting and not just in a snapshot mood. :)

Thanks for the heads up on the lens. I have a Canon 28-135 IS lens that seems to really do the trick and is fairly light.

My biggest issue with the 10D on the trail though is the bulk. I've tried the chest-carry (Lowepro bag) and that isn't fun after a while. And strapping it to or in my pack makes it so I don't hardly use it at all because of the hassle of getting it out. Thus I'm thinking of something small and light enough that it can go in a small pouch either on a shoulder strap or on the hip belt. The G5 is a solid camera, but really is getting past the size/weight/price level I was hoping to get to -- it's listed at 17 ounces including battery according to dpreview.com. However, if you're considering the G5 instead of a DSLR due to price, give serious though to a used or refurb D30 or D60 before going with the G5. Sure they're a little more "dated" than the 10D but still very capable performers.”

“Into Hell
We broke camp quickly the next morning. We still needed to take our trash box over to the horsepackers camp so he could carry it out for us. The Captains original prediction of “a couple of Ziplocs” was way off the mark. We had managed to completely fill that box with trash and cast off items. Pretty amazing for us as I personally never have that much crap to get rid of. I ran the box over to his camp and the horsepacker took it and I went pack to get my pack.

We all headed down the trail over to the horsepackers camp as Madman and I wanted to get a couple of shots of the mule. When we got there the horsepacker was finishing packing up. He also had a young lady from the nearby Venturing Crew hanging around him and babbling now about everything under the sun. The horsepacker was an exercise in stereotypes. He was a kind of trucker/cowboy crossbreed. Actually that isn’t too much of a stretch. I remember all the truckers who worked for my Grandfather all fancied themselves as cowboys too. He was decked out. Cowboy boots, wranglers, a western style cowboy shirt unbuttoned to the waist, bad tattoos on his chest, battered cowboy hat, a bandanna around his neck and a thick voice. We got to talking and he mentions that he used to drive cross-country in his “hot rod truck.” I’m thinking he’s talking about a real hot rod. You know, roadsters, flatheads, flames, that sort of thing. Nope, he’s talking about trucking long haul freight. Well that was a complete surprise, not. His fan club consisted of a 16-year-old girl who was enamored with his “horse.”

Girly girl: (gushing) I love horses!
Us: That’s nice. How long are you out for.
Girly girl: We go out tomorrow. We’ve been hiking for a week. Isn’t he a pretty horse?
Me: Ummmm…yeah. Going out at Whitney Portal?
Girly girl: Yeah, we’re climbing it today. Is it steep?
Capt. Obvious: You could say that.
Girly girl: Oh, I was hoping it wasn’t. What a good horse.
Lightnin Rod edges towards the trail.
Madman: Where are y’all from?
Girly girl: Something (I can’t remember) Valley
Me: Is that in California?
Girly girl: People always ask up if we are going skiing.
Madman: In California, right?
Girly girl: But they never think that people live there.
Me: Not California?
Girly girl: I mean. Who do they think runs the place? Good Horse.
Us: K
Girly girl: Isn’t this a great horse?
Me: Well, have a great hike and that’s not a horse, he’s a mule.

We headed off down the trail.

Capt. Obvious: That was the most annoying girl I ever met.
Lightnin Rod: Ya think?
Me: Gee guys, I thought you’d be excited to meet a 16-year-old girl who backpacks. They are kind of rare. She was cute too.
Capt. Obvious: Oh no, the annoying factor removes all cuteness.
Lightnin Rod: I’m trying to get her annoying voice out of my head.
Me: That’s a shame guys. That annoying huh?
Madman, Lightnin Rod and Capt. Obvious in unison: Damn straight!
Me: LOL!

We continued talking for most of the hike. At the Wallace Creek junction we ran into a few hikers with Florida Trail hats and chatted a bit but for the most part we simply ate up trail. Before too long we were all the way down to the Kern River looking across at the section we were considering doing cross-country to shortcut the valley. We decided to go for it but first we needed to cross the Kern. We headed upstream until we found an area that was easier to cross. There really weren’t any great spots to cross, just good enough spots. We headed across and stopped for lunch.

After a long lunch we headed cross-country. The ranger at Crabtree was right. It was very brushy. From across the Kern it didn’t look so bad but when you were in the middle of it, it was bad. The bushes were over knee high on me and about thigh high on the shorter guys. Lightnin Rod and I, being the tallest two tried to lead and knock through a trail. The plan was to gain a little elevation and contour around but I was finding it very difficult to find a path through the brush when I was in the middle of it. It was frustrating and very slow going. Eventually we made it to an open spot and at the edge of it the land fell away sharply. It wasn’t a cliff but it wasn’t a slope we felt comfortable with. We discussed the options. Personally I had had enough of this crap but going back down to the valley and taking the trail would be just as much work as going onwards. Capt. Obvious and I scouted around and the Capt. saw a possible way across. We checked it out and I spotted a faint use trail through the brush and across the steep slope. We all decided to go for it.

The going was even slower as the footing was poor and shifty and we still had to contend with the brush. I was having a hard enough time dealing with the brush but at least I could step over much of it. Madman was forced to just bulldoze through and we were all getting scratched up something awful. Needless to say, our great mood evaporated. We followed the use path and sometimes it was very clear and at others we had to guess. We ended up doing a lot of backtracking and angling around obstacles. It seemed like forever but we could finally see the trail we were aiming for clearly now.

Capt. Obvious and I made it down to the trail first and we turned around to check on the other guys during the last 20 feet Madman landed on his knee wrong. Well that pretty much ended any last hope of enjoyment today. At this point all the frustrations of the trip came pouring out so we just made it a point to get to Rockslide Lake and make camp as soon as possible. A little rest would do us all good and then we can unwind and be ready for tomorrow.

Unfortunately the trail had other ideas. As soon as we hit the official trail we started a steep climb and the quality of the trail degraded. There were a couple of pointless ups and downs that didn’t do Madman’s knee a bit of good at all. Before too long we found a wide spot in the river and I made a GPS position check. It looked like we were very close to the lake. Cool, get us in camp now.

Then the mosquitoes hit. Now WindWalker had warned us about how bad the bugs were for the Sierrrapaloosa group at Big Arroyo but this was worse. Much worse. As a matter of fact this was the worst swarm of mosquitoes I have EVER seen. My God they were everywhere! They would actually dive bomb you and bounce off of your face five, six at a time.

Madman: @#$#%^%$$ing mothe##$#$#$er ##%$%%$$ing!!!!!!!
Us: GO GO GO!!!

We were tired, we were spent, we were sore, Mt. Madman was erupting. Needless to say this was become a well below average moment. We pushed up the trail as fast as we could without getting separated. For a short time I was in the lead but I was probably the slowest guy on the trip on uphills. It felt like the guys would walk up my back and down my chest to go faster that I was going. Frankly, I would have blamed them one stinking bit.

Me: Crap.
Capt. Obvious: (while walking into my back) What’s up OW! (slap) crap!
Me: Where the heck is the trail?

Yep, the trail disappeared. There is only one way up Colby Canyon so I just pushed on. At points there was no trail and then it would appear off to one side or another. Colby Canyon also held the distinction of being the most lushly green and overgrown area we had yet seen. After what felt like hours we still hadn’t reached Rockslide Lake. So I did another GPS position check. It showed us that allegedly the lake was off to our left but there was nothing there but thick trees and more clouds of mosquitoes. Looking between the trees we saw no indication of a lake and the ground was so broken and rough and we now had a member nursing a bum knee that we felt no inclination to climb down and find out. Now it is possible that the lake was obscured from sight but at the time it looked to me that the lake had either dried up or the river had radically changed the shape of the canyon floor. Looking at all the river swept debris and the watermarks I believed that to be the case. Madman was quite sure we were on the wrong trail. I would have thought so too but once again. There is only one trail up this canyon and as we came to understand while hiking it, it was not maintained at all.

At this point things were about the lowest they could be and we were about out of water. Well, guys we need to find a place to camp. We pushed on and the GPS showed us as just past the lake. The trail crested a small rise and we could look down on the area where the lake should be. Once again, nothing. The rise had some flat areas and we though maybe we could camp there but with all of us using tents that weren’t freestanding there was no place to pitch them and we didn’t have the energy to rig up deadmen or snagpiles to attach our guylines to. Plus we sure as hell weren’t going to sleep without protection in such a bug-infested area. We were also out of water so while the guys pumped I tried to assure Madman that indeed we were on the right “trail.” The term trail is now used VERY loosely in reference to this section of the trip.

We decided that we would push onwards for another twenty minutes and camp at the next decent spot we found. The guys were spent; you could see it in their eyes and the set of their shoulders. We reloaded our packs and headed up. Every spot that looked promising turned out to be a bad location. Right at fifteen minutes we entered a long climbing section and came out to a fairly level spot. It would work but it still wasn’t so hot a site. I decided that I would push for five more minutes and I find anything better I’d come get the guys. Otherwise, I’ll come back down. So up I went. I didn’t climb for long when I spotted an open section off to the left of the trail. I checked it out and thank God, a decent campsite. I dropped my pack and grabbed my storm whistle and gave it a blast and started walking back down to get the guys. They had heard the whistle and were heading up the trail towards me. Gotta love those storm whistles.

We made camp and I started a very smoky fire. Luckily this spot got a little wind and helped to knock down some of the bugs so it was much more tolerable. Capt. Obvious and Lightnin Rod went about rigging up a bear bag. We settled in reasonable well and took care of our ailments. Madman was a little more mollified and his knee seemed better but with things like that you never know until you wake up the following morning. We broke out the map and we decided that we were in no condition mentally or physically to attempt the cross-country route we had originally planned on. Instead we would climb over Colby Pass and hike through King’s Canyon National Park over to Silliman Pass and back down to Lodgepole. Once there I’d see about hitching a ride to get the jeep. We will save doing any more off trail travel until our next trip out here.

We sat around the fire for a bit and I went off to take a dip in the stream. Boy was that refreshing, I felt quite a bit better after that. The guys crawled in for the night after hanging the food bags. (We has some stuff that wouldn’t fit in the bear cans after getting resupplied) I woke up about 1am to heed the call of nature and I could clearly see the Milky Way and several shooting stars.

Well, maybe it wasn’t that bad a day.
~Pshaw~
Yeah it was.”

“This is the most colorful TR I've ever read!”

“In the short time I have been here, I have to agree. Boy, it's going to be sad when you run out of thing to say.”

“WK, in all the years I've known HPM, he has NEVER run out of things to say! Love ya dear!”

“Yikes! Can't sleep because we're flying out tomorrow. So I started reading the first part by HPM! What a nightmare with the airline and car rental! Not looking forward to the morning...which means getting up in 4 hrs.
8-(”

“I only had time to read the first part too. Wow what a story !!

See ya in the Rockies Snowy”

“deedawg the lens is only 3.3" long and 14.8 oz.
Tamron Ultra Zoom

Now I will go back to read the next installment”

“Tango, thanks for the info. Do you have links to any MTF charts for the lens? Most of the extreme zooms I've run across are pretty fuzzy, but I'm always open to the possibility that someone might have figured something out.

Truth be told though, my 28-135 image-stabilized lens is only a couple ounces heavier and pretty much fits my needs under those circumstances.

Thanks.”