More Little Lakes Valley pics

“Take me down to paradise city where the grass is green and the squirrels are pretty...



This is the trail leading into Little Lakes Valley in the John Muir Wilderness. There was a profusion of indian paintbrush and lupine and marijuana plants. If it looks like prime mosquito country, you are correct. But I bit back, which took the mosquitoes off-guard.





Here's my campsite again on the bluff overlooking Marsh Lake. Due to the crop factor on my digital camera, the 15mm fisheye lens doesn't look very fishy. This is obviously handheld becuase HEY, that's my tripod. This is bare lens because I can't put any filters over my rounded fisheye, so I was thankful for the soft, diffused lighting that morning. There were some clouds on the horizon between the rising sun behind me and the peaks. This place is so beautiful that pictures just don't do it justice and photos should be illegal and all cameras burned and photographers tossed behind bars for even trying to take a photo. Oh, the injustice.




Heidi and Sierra are perched on the outcrop scouting for squirrel movement below. Heidi is irritated at the lens in her face and Sierra absolutely hates it when I get out my camera to take her pic so she is just waiting for the shutter to click so she can get on with more important things. She has that "I know what you're up to" look.




This was at sunrise zoomed in a little closer. I wish that tree wasn't there in the foreground, it takes away a clear view of the lake. John Muir should've cut it down when he had the chance. It would've been a wee little sapling back then. I had to wait in between rising fish rings so the reflection would be glass. I'm eager to compare with my Velvia 50, I took as many film shots as digital. I was busy switching between the two formats. George W. Bush has this place slated for logging later this fall as well as exploratory oil drilling. If no oil is found it will be used as a relocation site for the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees. Enjoy it while you can.”

“Q: When I arrive there next week, will the dogs be there? I like dogs.”

“Nice sunrise shot. The others are not half bad, but the glowing peaks are gorgeous.”

“BowlderMan, you will most likely see more dogs on the trails in this area than any other place in the universe. It's doggy central. The squirrels in this area are very savvy.”

“Correction: I like well-behaved dogs.”

“Well, that's a different story. You'll see plenty of both there.”

“Nice photos again Buck. I'll have to show these to my kids, they'll kick out of seeing your dogs!”

“Gracias, Hikin Mike!



Another soft-lighting shot at sunrise taken from my campsite before the sun hit the peaks.





This is looking to the right from the same spot. The highlited ridge is right above Ruby Lake (the next lake up, towards Mono Pass) and it always catches the first light. Camping near the shore of Ruby Lake and watching the ridge turn bright pink at sunrise is an amazing experience. Especially when the coyotes are yippin' at the same time.





Zis is a fisheye lens view skyward of the wispy clouds a little later in the morning. Yes, I know, all these pics start looking the same after a while.




Every sound in the entire basin gets visually investigated by Heidi and Sierra.





This is the view looking left. Dang it, I should've just done a panorama of the whole place instead of posting separate pics of each angle. I keep forgetting to do panoramas.




I used my Sierra Designs Orion AST tent for this trip... it's a perfect 1-man 2-dog tent. Thank God for Therm-A-Rest sleeping pads because the granite wasn't soft and it keeps getting harder every year. People, do NOT attempt this hike unless you're prepared to walk at least 3/4 of a mile over relatively flat terrain. Ye be warned.”

“You should go somewhere scenic so you can get some good pictures. Granite Rocks!”