Walking Through Paradise | Day 12 on the JMT

Finding images that compel me to capture them can sometimes be challenging. Sometimes I try to force an image or take a picture that does not feel right, those images very rarely turn out to be something that I am proud of. Other times images come at me in a flood and it takes all of my concentration to make sure all of the technical aspects of image capture come together. One of the good days was August 7 when we were hiking through the Evolution Range.
I felt ill the whole day but really wanted to make it to Evolution Lake before we stopped for the day, and I am really glad we made it there. As the golden hour came the mountains were wrapped in clouds and set aglow by the setting sun. The scene felt natural and I was able to find several compelling compositions in the span of an hour. As a photographer, these are the days I live for!

8-7-2009
I don’t know what is going on but I still feel sick! I still have a sore throat and still feel low on energy. Sick or not we still gained 2800 feet and walked 12+ miles for the day. We passed 130 miles in total today and I am determined to finish this hike! I did not take many pictures today, mostly because I was focusing all of my energy on hiking. When we arrived at Evolution Lake a spectacular sunset unfolded and I quickly rattled off a hundred frames or so. We found a neat wind sheltered spot for our tent but in the process of pitching the tent I broke one of the guy lines. I fixed it with a square knot and then found someone’s discarded shoe string. That shoe string may come in handy. Just before we came over the crest to Evolution Lake we heard the “Cheeseburger Bird” for the first time. I was really starting to doubt the existence of this bird until I heard the unmistakable song.