Conquering power of nature (Part 2)

Part 2 of the hike is when things start to get real rough. But first, the photo from weeping rocks that I promised in the last post.

This is a 5 shot HDR photo taken with my Canon EOS 50D and EF 24-105 f4L. There is also another photo of a cascade found in the Charles Darwin trail

Again, this is also a 5 shot HDR, with the same camera and lens. The HDR technique had to be used since the afternoon sun was causing havoc with exposure.

Now that we got all that out of the way, we'll get to the rough patches. From the top of the waterfall, the track turns into a narrow, rocky cliffside trail. This lack of space is further compounded with steep and even narrower staircases which lead you around these cliffs and eventually to the wentworth pass track.

The path leads to a fork, one leading to the experienced hiker trail, and the second leading to the amateur/beginners trail. Knowing us, we decided to take the quicker and more direct way down (turned out to be the experienced track). Some stair cases were as steep as ladders, and descending down those steps with a camera backpack, SLR hanging from the neck and a tripod in the left hand was a bit of a task.

Long story short, we didn't manage to ge tt othe very bottom like we initially wanted to. Mostly because the sun was abut to set, and thinking about the return trip in only the moonlight was a tad daunting. Nonetheless, I made a promise to myself that I'll go back there during summer (longer days) and earlier with one goal in mind ... get to the bottom.

After a determined and even more painful trek back up to the top and our car, we drove to Echo Point, where you can see the Three Sisters. Temperature would have been about 2 degrees, with gusts of wind battering against our jackets and tripods. Here is the best photo I could get with close to zero light, zero focusing ability, and zero body heat.

With that said, it was an awesome day, and there is great satisfaction to completing 2 out of 3 trails. Next time will be even better, photos too.