edge of the earth

As usual, we hiked yesterday (Saturday). The plan was to go to the summit of Cirque Peak at Helen Lake but that didn't happen. We hiked up to Helen Lake then up to the ridge for lunch. We looked at the trail up the the peak but couldn't sort out how to get up there. We tried one route but it clearly wasn't the way. We turned around & gave up vowing to do it next time we were there. It didn't take much to talk us out of it to be honest. We had one friend who had done the hike before & was not with us past Helen Lake. He was willing to wait for us but since we pissed around for nearly an hour up there, we didn't want him to wait that much longer for us.

This hike is easy & gorgeous. All the wild flowers are still out but some of them are near the end of their season. Most of the yellow daisies were dying back.

It was also odd that about 30 minutes from the bottom, I was done. I wanted to take my pack off & get out of the sunshine. We were exposed for at least 80% of the hike. That's a bit much. Needless to say, I got a bit of sun on my forehead & nose.

I was hoping to take this image at the top of Cirque Peak but since we didn't make it up there, I couldn't do it there. So, I modified the location & came up with this shot:

I realize now, looking at the image, that it's slightly out of focus. Dammit. Sometimes carting around a tripod is not a bad idea. Oh, I did take my Canon 7d for a change.