Spooky Serenity

Somedays, you just need to hit the hills.



Last Thursday, I skipped out of work early for a pleasant mid-week adventure. The weather was fantastic; the hottest this year probably? I wanted to head up to Lake Serene because I heard that the lake is still a bit frozen but the trail is mostly snow free. dma and I seem to have been hitting a lot of snowy trails lately, resulting in last-minute change of plans and beautiful, but incomplete hikes. I think we were both eager to finish an actual hike. Two virgos with a tendency to dawdle, while on a quest for completion, meant that we got a late start but didn't want to veer off course. It worked to our benefit to have awesome lighting at the lake, but we ended up have a spooky moonlight trek back down the mountain. It was a great hike though, and, to put it midly, I learned a lot :)



Ok folks, story time has ended... time for the pics!



Bridal Veil Falls

There is a side trail to a lookout to Bridal Veil Falls that we didn't take due to time constraints, but the main trail didn't disappoint; there was a lovely wall of falls just to the side of the main Bridal Veil Falls. It reminded me of a water feature that you might see on the side of a building somewhere in the city; except that the human touch in architecture would have been too even, too calculated. I loved the rugged steps and grooves chisled by nature. I had my bff the 50mm on my camera still from a star trail shoot the night before and didn't want to take the time to change my lens (I am slow, and we were hustling up the mountain!). I opted to compose this at an angle to capture a unique frame.

my tree

It amazes me sometimes how much the simple things in life bring me happiness. On our way up the trail there was a tree that captivated me; the leaves were a vivid lime green and were glowing in the evening sun. I had tried a new technique on this frame; however, I don't think that I applied the settings correctly. dma told me not to worry, though, because it took him awhile to master that particular style, too. I wanted to salvage the picture, in order to have something to remember the trail by, so I converted it to black and white-ish. yes, those rocks are the trail. friggin' cool, huh?

the lake
Again, my landscape skills are still not quite up to par with the beauty that my eyes see. What an amazing site; this place was even more awesome to me than Lost Lake. I felt like I was in middle earth or the scandinavian back-country. The sky at this point was a really lovely shade of blue, but I converted to black and white to emphasize the movement of the clouds.

I am very thankful that my dear friend dma was able to join me on this hike; there were beautiful views at almost every turn and he captured them with his usual classical stlye and elegance. Plus, he, too, is a warrior on the trail.