I got up at 4am this morning and drove to the base of nearby Mission peak. Starting out in total overcast and the dark, we walked the trail to the summit. At 2000 feet we broke through the clouds and I took some really neato pictures. We came back down via a different trail that had nobody on it and offered many cool photo opportunities. About 6 miles round trip. Everything is hurting, but I had one hell of a good time.
Here's my photo album
here's a picture of the top 500 feet:
Looks pretty amazing. You took some really great pictures there! Do you do that kind of thing very often?
Man, thats pretty dramatic
I have only climbed one mountain in my life. That was somewhere in Colorado. It was an awesome experience. a real addrenalline rush when you are getting towards the top. And the great feeling that you get once you reach the peak. When I went up the mountain in CO, i biked halfway up, and then hiked the rest from the outpost there.
Being up mountains, as far as technically wise, I have been up a lot when going on vacation trips (especially going thru Alabama on my way to Louisiana) and it is an Awesome experience.
Mountains are one of the few places where you can get away from the polution of the city, and makes a great meditation spot to think about the wonderful earth we live on.
Congrats.
I have never climbed a mountain but it is definitely on my list of things "to-do" before I die. The closest I ever got to climbing a mountain was the Niagra escarpment when I hiked that portion of the Bruce Trail. Although, not really a mountain, it was the closest i ever got to climbing a mountain, and looking down over Georgian Bay was rather breathtaking.
I am in total awe of mother nature and I believe that she holds many secrets just waiting for the motivated adventurer to discover. It's amazing, I think, that so few people take the time to discover the splendour that mother nature makes absolutely no attempt at hiding. Like climbing a mountain, for instance.
My hat's off to you and your conquering of nature. Although I have never climbed a mountain, I can certainly appreciate the pain and sacrifices you endured and are enduring for having taken that mission to the peak. I felt the same way when hiking the Bruce Trail; my feet were covered with blisters, every muscle in my body was sore, and I questioned my motives at every turn. In the end though, it was worth every ounce of ache and I'd do it again in a minute.
Yes, I definitely want to climb a mountain in this lifetime, if for no other reason, just to see what's on the other side.
No not very often. Just whenever I get a chance to do it.
I actually went up a commonly used trail (because it was dark) and went down a barely used 1 foot wide overgrown with weeds trail. The picture above is actually on the way down. If you look over at the little flat spot farthest form the camera you'll notice another trail there (there's another that goes in front of an outcrappin too but that's not it). Anyway, I was standing over there when I took the first couple pictures in the album that are in the dark. The antenna's you see in those pictures where behind me in the picture above.
I'm curious as to the story behind the climb. Was it something that you decided to do on your own or were you dragged into a group thing? Were there any moments where you had felt that you'd gone far enough and entertained thoughts of turning back? The pictures are very nice but I'd like to get a sense of how you felt as you made your ascent up the mountain; there are some things that pictures just can't convey and imaginations can't replicate. Care to share the story? I, for one, would be very interested.
Some great shots in that album -- thanks for putting the full-res versions online too; now I have some cool new wallpaper!
BTW, did you know your camera has a hot pixel? If you look at some of the shots towards the upper left hand corner, there's a solid, bright green pixel.
yes it's very annoying.
The older guy in the pictures is my buddy Jurek whom I worked with at Apple. Actually Jurek worked at Apple a lot longer than I did and left Oh I dunno, about a year before I did. I didn't talk to him much for a couple years because my (now ex) girlfriend considered him a mortal enemy. But now that I don't talk to her *at all* anymore, he and I have been able to catch up on old times. Jurek climbs that mountain at least once a week (he lives very nearby and is esstially retired), and it was his suggestion that we go up some time.
It's not hard to talk me into doing such things (which reminds me, I really should post my bull riding story) and so we set up a time. The plan was to get up before sunrise, take pictures, and get down before it got too hot or crowded. So we met at 4:45am when it was still very dark indeed and set out on the hidden valley trail from the Stanford Ave parking lot (OT1).
Here's a map so these trail names will make sense:
www.ebparks.org/resources/pdf/trails/mission_peak_map.pdf
This trail is gravel, 12 feet wide and very well maintained. Being dark, we wanted the easy to see path so we took the most commonly used route on the way up. This trail is also the most boring and quickly fills up with people. Anyway we hooked up with the wilderness trail and veered around to the left onto the peak trail. I thought I was doing pretty good until at roughly OT2 a 75 year old man with ski poles passed us. Jurek belted out "Hey, you're makingus look bad!" There were a couple times ont he way up when I had to slow down and take smaller steps and I also stopped to rest a couple minutes twice.
Once at the top we set up my tripod and camera and I began taking pictures of all sorts of stuff. Eventually 10-15 people congregated up there to watch the sunrise and BS. Some people actually left to go back down without staying for the sunrise. It got warm quickly and se we headed back down, this time on the right side of the peak down the Horse Heaven trail. This trail is about a foot wide and heavily overgrown with weeds and poison oak. However it's much more interesting with more stuff to see and NO PEOPLE. We could see the other trail was really filling up with people until we got back down to the fog bank at 2000 feet (just before MP19 where there is a natual spring). This is where I took the picture I posted above. It got about 20°F cooler when we entered the fog plus EVERYTHING was wet.
Then we followed the peak meadow trail back to the parking lot. At about 1000 feet we came out of the fog and I took the last picture posted on the archive. I was back in my car at 9AM. It was about 6 miles round trip and roughly half a mile vertical.
At no time did I feel like turning back. I was well equipped with a camel back with 1.5L of cold water, a rather deluxe first aid kit (I wear that backpack when I rollerblade), snacks, cell phone, knife, and a tripod. The pictures are in chronological order. I can provide the originals in RAW format if anybody wants them.
Hmm, interesting that you should mention this; it was an older co-worker that got me interested in hiking trails.
I met an old ex-military person at one of my former places of employment that did a lot of hiking. Nick was much older than myself, 26 versus 65, and he brought pictures of his hikes to work so that I could see them. Nick eventually quit his job because he refused to rat on a fellow employee; Nick was a very principled man and, some would argue, rather contankerous.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I mentioned that I would be interested in doing the hike thing and he just called me one day and asked if I was still interested. I did two hikes with him and his wife and had great time. They paid for most of my meals at restaurants and were very gracious.
I haven't spoken to Nick in a very long time now. Your post just made me remember him.
i love the 'pointy thingy' name description, and the indian mortor is very interesting. where exactly is this mountain? i mean, what city/state?
Fremont CA
I took my love and I took it down
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
'Till the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life
Mmm Mmm...I don't know...Mmm Mmm...Mmm Mmm
Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too
So...
(Gutiar solo)
I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I, I´ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too
I'm getting older too
So, take this love, take it down
Oh if you climb a mountain and you turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring you down, down
And If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well maybe the landslide will bring you down
Well well, the landslide will bring you down
Sorry, couldn't resist.
And I'll never forgive the Dixie Chicks.
Hmmm, that reminds me of another tune:
I find your signature quite interesting, dead_elvis. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on democracy and how important democracy is to you. I'm also intrigued by the fact that I would notice your signature in a thread about mountain climbing; pseudo-democracy tends to favour those at the top and ignores those at the bottom.
I live in a community where democracy is frowned upon. The very notion that someone would choose to exercise their rights to free speech and speak against the establishment is criminal in this town. Never one to backdown, lyrics from the song Helter Skelter seemed somehow bizarrely appropriate.
By the way Dr. Bob, those really are some beautiful shots. I've always found the getting up insanely early part of hiking to be much tougher than the actual hike. But it's usually worth it.
As for the politics, perhaps for another thread.
Though in a thread started by Dr. Bob, you mention Helter Skelter- an interesting version of which was done by a group called "The Bobs." Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not...
[quote=managed resistance]Hmmm, that reminds me of another tune:/quote]
Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain that's pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain?
If that's the case, then Mission peak should be very near you. We've got nothing but commies up here.
Thanks! Getting up that early was pretty tough, especially not sleeping well before hand from exitement. It was kinda strange to climb up there, take pictures, and be down and back at my apartment all before I normally wake up on a Saturday.
No relation.
...Very nice pics in fact. Must get myself out and about more into the fantastic countryside we've got here, no mountains tho' (unless you head down to Wales or up to the wilds of Scotland) just lots of moorland. Closest I can manage to that type of scenery, without more than a 20 minutes drive from home ;-), is this last weekend (apologies to those on dialup - it's only 80k)...
What camera are you using these days? Weren't you using a Powershot G3 a while back?
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the Motley Crue cover from the eighties. Shout at the Devil album. Seemed appropriate given that Mac users tend to think of big bad Bill as the devil.
Yea I'm still using the Powershot G3. I'm starting to feel some pain as my photographic skills are starting to exceed the capabilities of the camera. Maybe I'll save up for the Canon Rebel XT.
If while viewing any photo in the archive you click on the "photo properties" link in the upper right corner, it'll give you the EXIF data from the file. For example, here's the EXIF data for the picture at the top of the thread:
File size: 1173090 bytes
File date: 2005:08:20 11:30:34
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot G3
Resolution: 2296 x 1583
Focal length: 230.0mm
Exposure time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO equiv.: 50
Jpeg process: Baseline
Comment: AppleMark
File Upload Date: Sat Aug 20 11:30:37 2005
Item Capture Date: Sat Aug 20 11:30:33 2005
I just finished looking at all of the pics in your Mission Peak album. I'm curious about the bee in the flower. The caption reads that the bee is frozen in place in the flower and I'm curious about that. How could that happen? Are flash freezes common on Mission Peak?
I remember as a child seeing similar flowers in this neck of the woods. If you pull the pinkish little petals from the flower and taste the folicle end, it is really very sweet tasting.
The bee isn't frozen as in crystalized water, but rather frozen in place because they are too cold to move. They are cold blooded and when it gets too cold at night, they land and essentially hibernate until it warms up enough to resume normal activities.
It does snow on Mission Peak usually a couple times a year but flash freezes are virtually unheard of.
I saw the photo properties link but never thought to click on it, d'oh...
I replaced my G3 with a 350D/Rebel XT and I'm over the moon with it, I thought the Powershot was good, but the 350 takes things to a whole new level of quality and color saturation.
Only downside to the 350 is that it eats cash, a new lens here, a new filter there, it all adds up...
I've been giving the 350D XT the evil eye lately. Really seriously thinking of getting one. Please tell me more about what you like about how much better than the G3 is.
Upsides:
* Start up time - ready to shoot in less than half a second
* Fantastic resolution
* Availability of lenses - every now and again I found the range of the G3 just a bit limiting and wanted either a lot longer or much shorter focal length, problem solved with EF/EF-S fitting.
* Tweakability - lots of settings to play with!
* Adobe RGB color space
* Really bright vibrant colours
* Battery life - admittedly my G3 never seemed to need charging but the 350D is just as good if not better
* Weight, balance and feel - all just right, the G3 was good but the 350D seems to fit my hands much better and feels a lot more solid
Downsides:
* Relative cost, larger compact flash, new lenses, decent case (sounds stupid but it took me a while to find a good case that'd take the 350D and an additional lens), etc.
* Auto setting tends to use very high film speeds when ISO 100 would work fine (use it in manual mode it's not a problem, but the g/f likes to use it point and shoot)
* Opening CF door turns off the camera - no warning tone like on the G3 until it's finished writing
* Doesn't have spot metering (although the 35 zone system works well enough)
Can't think of any more for the time being. If you want a few samples I'll see what I can upload when I get home from work.
Sure I'd love to see some samples.
Bah, I'm getting a Nikon D70S. Canon makes good cameras, but the Rebel XT feels just plain cheap. I used a 10D for a couple years at work, and it was a solid camera, but there are just too many quirks about it. Nikons have always been more straightforward and, I think, more solidly built.
Having used both I really feel Canon has a superior product line with a better UI and clearly sharper images.
However, they are both fine cameras. If you want to start a Canon vs. Nikon flame war, take it to DPReview.com
I'm not going to start a Nikon vs. Canon war if the doc isn't
I'd looked at the Nikon and it's an excellent camera, but in all honesty I have a lot of brand loyalty to Canon and it just felt right.
Sorry for the delay in getting some samples put up, work's keeping me busy and tired at the moment. Any luck and I'll have some for you in the next few days...
Okay, sorry for the stupidly long delay but I've barely had chance to turn on the computer over the last couple weeks. I've uploaded a small selection of shots here:
http://staff.interactive-learning.info/matthew/350d/
I've noticed that a few of them look washed out on my monitor here at work but at home I'm running a color calibrated monitor and printer setup and the results are beautiful, bright vivid colors with good saturation.
Ah stuff it, i'll get the PowerShot G5 - definatly good enough for my uses. Dang, its so tempting to blow tonnes of dosh when you read the reviews and see the great pictures, and so easy to forget that it takes skill to make them...not just great hardware.