Lakes Basin, Kings Canyon (warning: phot os)

“I got a couple rolls back from my 9 day backpacking trip but I've only scanned a couple shots so far. I'll post them as I scan them, hopefully I'll get a chance to get through more tonight.




This shot is a mid-morning view from near our camp in Lakes Basin, which is a remote basin deep inside Kings Canyon National Park. If John Edwards was there, I forget. The fishing in this basin is simply amazing for rainbows to 17". It was some of the best fishing I've experienced in a looOOoong time, and I usually hit pretty sweet fishing on most of my trips. If Al Gore were a backpacker, he'd keep the location of this place in a lockbox. At the request of G.W. Bush, I looked extensively for WMDs all throughout this pristine basin and I couldn't find nuttin' more toxic than the smell of my own armpits. This was day 5 of a 9 day trip, please understand the seriousness of this statement. I also looked extensively for Osama, but other than one suspicious looking 6'2" bearded marmot wearing a turban who refused to show identification, I have nothing to report.





This was early morning in the same basin. I love it when the soft light seems to radiate from your surroundings with no apparent source. No shadows, no highlites, just a pink glow all around you. And although there is an obvious lack of trees at this elevation, it is quite apparent that it is fall in the High Sierra. The seclusion, the fishing, the remoteness, the wildlife (it's a Bigfoot stronghold) all combine to make this one of my favorite basins in the High Sierra. Of course I say that about all of them. My words hold no weight. I'll hopefully post more here as I scan them tonight.”

“Great shots as always Buck.”

“Thanks, Bison... but it's not really great shots as "always"... I don't post the crappy ones, ha ha! I make sure I have a lot to choose from. :Þ”

“well, the photos you chose to post are a pleasure to view..love it when everything around you turns to rose and your not wearing rose colored glasses;)”

“Looks like you been to heaven. Thanks for coming back to show us what it looks like! I haven't been to Lakes Basin since I was a Boy Scout, say ~33 years ago.

How'd you get in and out? Did you walk Roper's High Route? We went in over Cartridge Pass and out Cartridge Creek to the JMT (and even then it was so overgrown -- I imagine impassible now). Steve”

“Beautiful pictures Buck!

Another amazing place in the Sierra's it looks like.
Did you miss having Heidi & Sierra with you on this trip? since your not able to take them into the park.
Please let me know if you do a calendar with your beautiful pictures, that really would be neat!”

“Thanks!

stevet, we went in from Cedar Grove Roadend... up over Granite Pass, over Windy Pass, over Red Point Pass, dropped insanely down into Marion Lake and then hit Lakes Basin from there. We hit Cartridge Pass on the way out and then on to Bench Lake, and from there we were gonna go down the Muro Blanco but my buddy's boot came apart so we just cranked to the JMT and over Pinchot Pass and down the S.F. Kings River through Paradise Valley back to Road's End. It was an awesome trip!



Here's a very pretty pond we camped at on day 8. Mt. Clarence King dominates the background. We hadn't planned on staying at this pond but we lingered on top of Pinchot Pass much longer than we planned because we met a really interesting couple from the Yukon and we talked a long while. But I'm glad we stayed at this pond, it was very beautiful to camp near. No trout though, but lots of yellow-legged frogs. GO FROGS!




Here's my hiking buddy Jim the next morning reflected in the pond. He's from W. Virginia and he comes out each summer for an insane High Sierra adventure and he always brings this really bright red jacket. Since I like the human element in some of my pics, I asked him to walk to the other side of the pond and stand there acting like he's waiting for a large cigar-shaped craft to whisk him away. Jim does great modeling and rumor has it he's gonna star in Zoolander II. Until then I'm using him as much as I can while I can still afford him.

I scanned a lot of photos tonight from this trip but I haven't uploaded many yet. I'll share a few as I go. I have lots more film in the fridge needing to be developed... ka-ching.”

“nice shot Buck, the blue off the mountain and the red off the water make a nice contrast element.”

“

We camped at Marion Lake that night, a remote and difficult to reach lake. We were fairly wiped by the time we got there, taking the route we did. Whew! We found a great spot to camp and then I did some fishing (amazing fishing for beautiful rainbows, mostly around 11"-12"), then I headed a few yards down the outlet creek. It opened up into this big wild canyon, devoid of any trails whatsoever. There was a pretty pond a ways down on the right side. I got there just after the sun went down the ridge... I wish I were there 5 minutes earlier to catch the sun above the ridge, but no complaints. It was just good to be in such a wild place. No other people around and no established trails to get where we were... a couple dozen miles in the bowels of Kings Canyon National Park.”

“Wonderful photographs as usual Agent Buck Forester!!!

I picked up a new toy, 17-40mm L....
found one for $643 smackers :)
It should be a nice step up from my kit lens.”

“Cool, Wind Walker®! That's a great lens! I would say I use that same lens for 87.54% of all my shots. That's a good price, too! I'm lookin' forward to the day when we can hook up for a wild adventure!”

“Lakes Basin is one of my favorite places in the Sierra. It been about 4 years since we were there. Didn't see anyone for 3 days.”

“Thanks for the route info and the additional great pics.”

“

This is the outlet of Marion Lake. It sure was nice to finally get to this place. Earlier in the day, starting at sunrise from our camp at State Lakes, we had climbed over Windy Pass, dropped way down into another rugged canyon, and up over another huge ridge, back down the other side, climbed up and over Red Point Pass and dropped steeply into Marion Lake. I don't think we had taken one level step all day long, and the vast majority was without trails. I don't say that complaining, I like it that way. Oh yaaa. But after the final steep chute down to the shore of Marion Lake, we made our way to the outlet and found a sweet place to camp. We hadn't seen anyone all day. It felt so good to take our packs off. Being late in the season the water was typically low, but the creek was still flowing. Being late in the season, the water was getting low but the creek still flowed. The sun was giving its final bursts of the day. There were lots of nice rainbow trout even in this shallow outlet and every few steps would send one zipping frantically for cover. How do I know the trout were nice? They just seemed that way. A very friendly bunch. And that's the trout, the whole trout, and nothing but the trout... so help me cod.”

“

These are star trails over Arrow Peak from near our campsite at Bench Lake. I'm still learning star trails and I'm always mystified by the colors the film picks up. When you open up your shutter and go to bed you just never know what it's gonna look like when you get your film back. There's a vertical streak on the left side of the pick... I'm guessing it was either a shooting star or the saucer that took me for a little ride that night (don't worry, it wasn't even fun, I spent most of the time laying down on a cold steel-like table surrounded by small beings with prodding instruments, seriously, I'm not just saying that, it sucked). But most likely it was just a meotorite. Jim, my hiking partner on this trip, goes all around the world and tracks down meotorites and sells them for a living. What a way to go. His website is catchafallingstar.com.”

“Thats it. BUCK I AM MAD AT YOU. No nookie tonight :)”

“

It was a cold, crystal clear night at Bench Lake. Arrow Peak was illuminated by the rising moon. The stars were absolutely brilliant. To capture their brilliance with a short exposure I had to use my specialty f/.02 lens, which lets in lots of light in a split second. I pointed my camera towards Arrow Peak and 'click', there you have it. ;Þ”

“Buck, sparing as I am with compliments the Bench Peak/Arrow Lake picture is the most beautiful photo I've ever seen. Better even than me nekkid.”

“Wonderful shots Buck. Don't let Ashcroft and the right wing wacos see those photos, I did spot some WMD'S.

WMD'S (Wonderful - Magical - Delightful - Scenery)”

“Your photos are absolutley stunning!!! Do you sell them at all? Would you? I don't know anything about you or what you do. But your work takes my breath away.

That Bench Peak/Arrow Lake picture is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I had to study it a while to figure out if it was real or not.”

“hmmmm....something's not quite kosher about that last pic.
F/.02 that is a really fast lens...that must have cost more than your average house LOL!! ;D”

“Ha ha! Oh man, thanks for the compliments and all, but that last shot was the result of a 6-pack of Bud Light® and some really sloppy Photoshop®ing! It took me about 4.2 minutes to crank out. It's a real photo that I took of Bench Lake early in the morning, but the sky and reflection and stars are just added with some paint and some white dots! Wind Walker® was on to me, ha ha! Probably a few more of you were as well. I WISH film could capture stars like that! And yes, I suck at Photoshop! It would be fun to really take my time and do something like this right! But I can assure you, and the American people, that all my normal photos are matches to the original slide. Thank you for your support. Together we can all get through this. More photos to come shortly... I just scanned 1.2 trillion slides... yes, that's trillion with a 't'.”

“I see alot of trees in the way of you taking better pics, Buck.

I'd better get some of my buddies to go in and take them down for ya.”

“Okay. So I'm an ignorant dork. But it's still pretty.

And Buck, do you sell your prints? Are you a photographer for a living or for a hobby?”

“

Although the evergreen trees obviously don't show it, you can still see the fall colors all throughout the High Sierra. The grass was yellow, and the red stuff that coats the ground (I forget the name) was wonderfully bright red... especially when it was backlit by the sun.




This is pretty typical of the rainbows here... lots of spots all over them and quite healthy looking. This one was probably 10" or so, but I caught lots in the 14"-16" range. I just don't have those slides back yet, so allz you get now is this small guy. I tossed him back. He remembers nothing.




The sunrise really brings out the colors in the grasses. The previous evening we saw a deer feeding in this meadow, as well as the next morning. I wish it would've stayed in the meadow for my pic. As the deer started to leave I yelled, "STAY!" It's obviously not very well trained. Next time I'm gonna leash a deer out in the meadow just for the photo opp.”

“does Heidi or her friend ever try to chase a deer? Or do they just give it a nonchalant look and tell it "yeah, you better run"?”

“

Right behind Bench Lake, not far from our camp, was this other small lake. This lake was constantly filled with rising trout. It was crazy with trout. Absolutely lousy with them. This was evening at this lake and it turned the peaks weally weally wed. I think I have better pics on my other rolls, but this is all I got so far to share. No other people around whatsoever, nada, zip, zilch. It was a wild experience in such a stunning place. I'm still stunned. I can't feel my toes.





We spent a layover day at Bench Lake, it was so awesome! This was our last evening and we finally got some nice clouds to enhance the sunset. This shot was taken just a few steps from our camp, which gave us great views of Arrow Peak. The colors were great, even though a strong breeze kept the lake from glassing out. But the water still reflected the colors of the sky. Bench Lake is pretty durn big, I think it's a half mile or 3/4 of a mile long and it's much wider than this shot shows. The trees on the left are part of an island and it opens up on the other side of it. I took a lot of photos of Bench Lake but I haven't gotten those rolls back yet. I love Bench Lake. I want to marry it.”

“buck you suck enough to go on the girls only trip :) you can take the photos and we'll all turn out looking like hotties :)”

“Hi Roam Around! Heidi and Sierra couldn't join me on this trip because I was in a national park, but to answer your question, no they don't chase deer. Nor bears, nor wolves, nor coyotes, nor moose, nor elk. That was my first priority in training them to make sure they don't chase wildlife... for their sake and for the sake of the animals. I do let them chase squirrels while I'm hiking in remote areas because, well, they're still dogs and it's great fun for them. And they never get the squirrels because my dogs still haven't figured out how to climb trees! Even then I can call them off a squirrel chase if need be.”

“I am open to photographing pretty girls in the backcountry, ahem, sure. (gulp), you betcha.”

“cool dogs!”

“Buck, you suck. I wish I could take pics like that.”

“

It was early morning, well before the sun had risen over the horizon. Jim and I were camped near a large pond not far off the John Muir Trail. I got up early to catch the sunrise on the peaks. I took a few steps and came upon this mighty tree. I looked up through the barren branches and saw the tiniest sliver of moon, and I thought it looked pretty cool. Just in case rumors are true that the moon is made of vanilla ice-cream, I waited here under the moon for a while until the sun rose, hoping it would melt and drip. Jim must've thought I looked funny standing there with my mouth wide open towards the sky with my tongue hanging out. Long story short, it never melted.





Since the previous day getting into Marion Lake was so tough, Jim and I took it easy this day... fishing, lazing around, snappin' some pics. It was one of those days that reminds me of why I keep backpacking. The fall colors, though not in the evergreen trees, were just about everywhere else. None of these dozen lakes or so are named, so we referred to this one as "L" lake because, well, it was shaped like an "L". And the word 'lake' starts with L too. It has a double meaning, okay? And we "L"iked "L" "L"ake a "L"lot.”

“

How to fit a big lake into one small pic... A 15mm fisheye lens is your ticket, baby. Actually this is just one cove of the lake and not the whole lake, but if I didn't share that with you you would have never known. Knowledge is power. I share with you my knowledge so we may all be more powerful. The photo in the previous post is a zoomed in shot of those trees on the right side near the shore. I like my fisheye, it's a fun perspective, but I wish I could put filters over the glass.





I took too many fisheye shots, but hey, I lugged that thing for miles and miles through some of the wildest sections of the Sierra, I'm gonna use it, alright? Okay then. This is a small rainbow trout filled lakelet at the base of Lakes Basin. Jim hates bugs and he hates clouds. This was a dream trip for Jim... no bugs and no clouds almost the entire trip, until the end, but even then it never rained. As for me I love clouds, I like short thundershowers, and I don't mind bugs. But we still get along. He prays for clear skies, I pray for clouds... God listened to Jim more than me.”

“

This was our second to last day of our 9-day trip. Due to one of Jim's boot getting torn all the way across the sole, we abandoned our plans to go down the crazy wild, untrailed, and oft-dangerous Muro Blanco canyon. You need everything to be running at an optimal 100% to go down that rugged and remote gorge. So instead we took a high-mileage route back out, which took us on a section of the JMT. We took a good break here at the Golden Gate of the JMT. Jim and I impressed a chick there by fixing her broken trekking pole. THAT'S why we hike, folks. Yes indeed. That's why we hike.






I posted a couple shots of this pond previously, but this is wider angle view taken late in the evening. Hey, if you change the angle of the scene even just a teeny bit, it constitutes and entirely different and unique photo, okay? Those are my rules. Thank you. If anyone needs to take a bathroom break at this time, the bathrooms are down the hall to the right. Don't worry about washing your hands afterwards, no one will know either way. In fact if you wash your hands and then don't dry them completely and they are still a little wet, when you shake someone's hand they'll actually think you have residual pee on your fingers. Don't risk it. Explanations don't work. "Hey, that's not pee on my hands, it's just water." Suuuure. Okay, next pic...




This is one of the magnficent peaks that grace Lakes Basin. The entire basin is like in a giant cathedral surrounded by these majestic mountains. They guard this place with vertical walls and soaring ridges in all directions except one... which is the drainage down Cartridge Creek, which is just as formidable. If you think I'm exaggerating, well, maybe I am. But maybe not. Go see for yourself.”

“

There was a huge earthquake and Arrow Peak fell into the crystal waters of Bench Lake. I could see it there, upside down, but there was nothing I could do for it. A few last bubbles, and it was gone... for those who never got to see Arrow Peak towering proudly above Bench Lake, and to those lucky enough who have, I'm sorry to break this news.





This is a croppy shot of Bench Lake way late in the evening, so late that I had no business trying to eek a pic out of it. Shortly after I took this shot a UFO crash landed into the ridge on the left. We were there within 10 minutes, but the black choppers had already taken everything back to a remote hanger northeast of Lone Pine. Shoot. That's the 4th time the government has beaten me to a UFO crash. I still beat them to the first two though. Yes, I have an alien in my freezer at home. But you don't know where I live.”

“

Sorry, this a duplicate photo but I accidently deleted it (it was the first in this thread where the red-x is now). So I had to replace it. Carry on, nothing to see here, move along, keep it moving folks, you heard me. GET OUT OF HERE NOW! GEEZ! THANK you. Man.”

“sigh..so beautiful..not like here where we had high, wind-driven sleet..”

“I was in SeKi yesterday and the high country was already a little white and is supposed to get pounded today...time to dust off the snowshoes ;)

That's still a nice pic Buck even if it's only a duplicate :)”

“I liked it the first time, and I like it the second time, and I....next time. I got a yellow-grass shot in Desolation late September. I'll probably have it in Webshots by February or March.”

“

View from the Generals Highway on Monday.”

“WOWZA! Hey WW®, that is an absolutely INCREDIBLE shot! That's photo-contest material. That is one amazing pic! Whew!”

“my god...I love that pic WW. Even better then bucks (sorry dude...WW's is jumping out at me) the way the light is dancing off the clousds...it looks so real, like if I were right there...omg...WW you are a god!”

“The more I look at this the more amazing it is. Wind Walker, you have a masterpiece here, seriously. The lighting, drama, and composition are stunning. I hope you shot this as a high resolution file.”

“It really is a breathtaking photo. MY god, its amazing. You could sell posters!!”

“One of the best ever, WW. DO something with it, Commander Buck's correct, that one is contest material!”

“hehehe, WW scooped Buck on his own thread.

hey, that is a really nice shot WW.”

“I wasn't trying to steal Buck's thunder here...Buck and I are kindred spirits in many ways.

Buck...we need to hike and shoot together sometime dude!

I shot this in RAW mode....which is the biggest file my camera will produce.”

“I used my new Buck® approved Canon 17-40mm "L" lens for that shot! 8)

That was the whole point of Mondays road trip....to try out my new lenses.

The Sierra always presents nice surprises during it's stormy times!”