When in the wild, quite often the best photo opportunities arise when you least expect them. It had been a long day on the trail, hard on my body and not too kind on my spirits. Long miles and big climbs often have these effects, specially if combined with a relentless sun and the thin air of the high altitude Sierra. By late afternoon I could only think about that little blue circle on the map where I had planned to spend the night. Far away and way higher a couple of hours before, closer but still several hundred feet higher by now. I was not too sure if I would have time to reach the lake, pitch my tent and enjoy dinner before the sun called it a day. Wishing to get there as soon as possible, drop the backpack, set camp, and relax.

And then I took notice of the stout trees by the trail. Did not recognize the species, but I did know that they were different from all others I had seen on the trail so far; thick but not tall, which translates into old age and alpine conditions, separated from each other by more than thirty feet, synonymous of low nutrient rocky terrain, and with a beautiful red bark, whose texture was accentuated by the low angle sunlight. Now came the usual dilemma. To stop or not to stop. When you are exhausted, the last thing you want is to remove your backpack, open it, take out the camera, set the tripod, only to find out when you look through the viewfinder that it is not worth the effort. And pack again and set the backpack on your shoulders to start walking again, quite upset about the lost time and energy. Not this time, though. Knew it as soon as I started looking for compositions among the trees. Ended up spending quite a bit of time shooting here and there, and then hurrying up to the lake, late but happy.

"If you are old, go by all means [to Alaska], but if you are young, stay away until you grow older. The scenery of Alaska is so much grander than anything else of the kind in the world that, once beheld, all other scenery becomes flat and insipid. It is not well to dull one′s capacity for such enjoyment by seeing the finest first." Henry Gannett

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