Walking through fields of lupine up in the high country is one of my favorite things. It’s especially nice when it’s not wet and overgrowing the trail. Then your boots get wet … and usually your socks. It can be uncomfortable the rest of the day. Fortunately, this was dry and away from the trail. Another close up “panorama”.
Most of the white flowers here are American Bistort with one or two strays mixed in.
This was taken on the High Divide trail in Olympic National Park.
This is the photo that I chose for the cover of my hiking memiors: 60 Years of Hiking in the Olympics. I haven’t been able to get a book seller to carry the hard copy yet, but it is available as an eBook on the Amazon Kindle website.
I’ve got it priced low. By the way, if/when I get it available as a hard copy, I’ll let you all know. The 5.5″ x 8.5″ size is priced at $24.99 US and the interior photos are black and white. The Kindle version is priced at $2.99 US and the images are all in color (except for early images that I took on B&W film.) It is available globally.
Here’s the link (or search for “60 Years of Hiking”):
I have been working for the last several months at putting together my hiking memiors. The title is “60 Years of Hiking in the Olympics”, and yes, that is how long I’ve been doing hikes and backpacks into the park. Since I always had a camera with me on those trips, I have spent hours going through all the images and selecting ones to include. One of the surprises was when I realized that there were several that I had taken with the idea that I might “paste them together” to create panoramas. That was difficult to do back in the film days … digital processing eventually made it as easy as pushing a button. These images are ones that I had never taken the time to paste together … so were new surprises for me. The one above is of Heart Lake on the approach to the High Divide. Below is the view of the Upper Hoh River valley from the middle of the High Divide, looking southeast. Mt Olympus is just to the right of the image … I had created the panorama of that one earlier, but missed this combination. (These were taken with an early digital camera … but before there was easy to use software to stitch them together.)
And when (if) the book is available as an eBook for easy download, I will provide the link.
These photos were taken from scans of photos that I took back years ago. Fortunately, I had shared prints with a friend and he still had them after my digital files were lost in a change to a new editing/organizing program (after which point I developed a significantly more thorough backup system). The Upper Dungeness Valley is outside of the Olympic National Park in the Buckhorn Wilderness.
This was taken a few years ago when I was more able to wander around the high country. We were on our way up to the High Divide and then down to Hoh Lake and back. (Note that the pack doesn’t have a sleeping bag or other items strapped to it … a sure give away that this is a day hike.) We were camped down in the basin (which requires a hard to secure reservation for camping) and were enjoying the scenic highcountry without having a heavy pack. The 7 Lakes Basin is a frequent camp location to those hiking the High Divide loop trail, which provides some of the most stunning views of Mt Olympus and the central Olympics.