Since I didn't make it to the top of Naomi on Thursday, Kim came with me to give it another try on Friday. We got a later start than we would have liked. Joe got home a little later than I had planned, the Thai food place was slow, and we didn't know the Bear 100 was going on that night so parking was a little tricky. We got to the parking lot and considered for a brief moment coming back the following night. We decided we would just hurry, it was only 3.5 miles and a 1,900 feet elevation gain so we just decided to hike fast. It was a great hike! I don't get to see Kim too often so we had plenty to discuss.
The mountains were too big to the west, so I watched the eastern sky so assess where the sun was. When I saw the eastern sky start to turn pink I knew we would really need to push it if we were going to see the sunset. I started jogging, that didn't last long, so we started speed hiking. Here is Kim as the saddle came into view.
We got to the saddle just as the sun was setting. Here it is blasting Kim in the eyes as she approaches the saddle. And another shot of it engulfing Kim and K-So from behind. Bummer we didn't get to see it from the top, but SO glad we got to see it from the saddle.
After we had gotten our fill of photos and sufficiently burned our eyeballs staring at the sunset we took off for the summit. I ran, I'm pretty motivated by lighting so even at 9,980 feet elevation I kept going; stopping only to take this photo of Kim and the sky behind me.
When we finally reached the summit the sunset looked like this.
When we first got there we were so distracted with the sunset and lighting we didn't notice the moon coming up in the east. I looked at it and immediately shrieked "it's a harvest moon!" And guess what. It was a harvest moon, in fact Kim tells me it was a super harvest moon.
We hiked down in the light of the moon. We were hiking east so mostly the moon blinded us, but we still never needed our headlamps. I only almost whipped it out once when Kim thought the log in front of her was a skunk, thankfully it was a false alarm. Still, she almost gave me a heart attack.
Words and photos can't describe how beautiful the world looked that evening. I've got to get Joe and the gang up on a peak one of these full moons. When it's warmer. Next summer. Sierras. All are invited.
3 comments:
I've got to stop carrying my cell phone as my sole camera. I have a few pictures but nothing to compare with your shots. I will post mine soon. Promise.
Lins, you have such an eye for framing in photos. I love these photos, and the very evident fun you were having. I'm coming next year with Joe and the kids.
Oooh, I wish I could do a hike like this with you (never mind that you would quickly leave me in the dust!).
When is departure time?
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