I arrived at the Bridge Camp around 9PM after driving in through the dark and twisting roads through Lassen and eventually Trinity National Forests. I rolled down the windows and took in that distinct forest smell that welcomes me back to the wild. Introductions were made and we all huddled near the fire and wait for others to trickle in from all around.



I wake in the morning and talk gear with the new neighbors A slow start by most standards but it's refreshing from the normal busy work schedule. I follow the trail which appears to be an old jeep trail for the first mile or so before it narrows restricting further travel to hikers and horses. It's a bit chilly but I keep a good pace and eventually catch up with Matt and Kat P. who had stopped to look at one of the many creek crossings along our trail. I decide to slow down and enjoy the scenery by taking more photos and sitting next to the larger creek for a few minutes to catch my breath.









I made good time making it to Morris Meadow and find a place to setup my shelter before running back to the meadow to snap a few pictures. Everyone meandered about looking at all the different shelters and hammocks already setup. Ron Moak gave me a few pointers for my own SMD Wild Oasis and he and John talked about gear and the cottage industry as a whole.





Here Matt, Chris, Steven, John, and Ron chat next to the fire after everyone else decided to call it a night. IT talk seemed to clear the area pretty quick!



In the morning the dew covered meadow still had a thin layer of fog. Slowly everyone woke up beginning their morning rituals, making breakfast, and departing for the lakes at their own pace.



As I finally crest the last climb to Emerald Lake I find that most of the guys in the group thought it was a great place for a dip. I decide that I'm game, disrobe to my skivvies, and jump in as well. I've done a few polar plunges before but the clear water without signs of snow create the illusion that this calm water will be nice. I'm mistaken and struggle to catch my breath before dunking my head and swimming back to the shore to sun myself.

We met up with Jen and her dog Nancy who camped at Portugese Camp the night before. Some of the crew decided to go up to Sapphire Lake while the rest of us decide to head back to camp for some relaxing.



Here Jay captures a few photos in each direction.









Back at camp the sun goes behind the surrounding mountains and it starts to get cold again. We decide to start the fire which Ken kept feeding thought the evening.
Two new arrivals, Details aka Tequila and +1, arrive at camp. They later joint the group around the fire and start telling stories.





In the morning we grudgingly break camp and the walk out is quiet. I'm thinking of coming back some other time as I'm sure others are as well. I finally catch up with most of the group and we hike together for a bit. I talk photography with Jacob D. and Adam who brought a full fledged tripod. Eventually the pace (3mi/hr) starts to take it's toll and I decide to slow it down and take my time to snap a few more photos on the way out.

Edited by cobberman on 10/24/2011 22:43:44 MDT.

What a great trip! Nice to meet up with you all. I am really enjoying the great photos being posted. I will try to add a few from a different perspective.

There were so many cool mushrooms I have to post a couple







Landscapes









Random bits







People













And finally some night shots





One more for Jacob. I wasn't really happy with this shot but here is the best of the two long exposures.



Thanks for a great weekend!

Edited by macrophyllum on 10/25/2011 21:18:13 MDT.

@ David W.....Sooooooo, you're the one that stole the money!!!

@ Steve.......hey, you speak my lingo.

@ Eli....thanks for watching my back. :)

What ever happened to "What happens in the Trinities, stays in the Trinities??

The Trinities is more a state of mind than a place. I suppose most of our minds are still there;)

"Repeat in October 2012?"
For me, definitely YES. The scramble to Caribou looks like it would be gnarly fun, I think that's on my to-do list next time around.

@Eric, Adam, Cameron, and James
I had a good time talking photography with you guys. It's always interesting to see some "alt" cameras and glass being used.

@Everyone else
Thanks for making it a great trip! Keep those photos and reports coming :)

Jacob,

So how did the new camera, Sony Nex-5, work out for you.

What cameras did people use to shot their photos?

By the way, great looking photos posted....having been talking to Jacob recently, he has me seriously thinking of moving away from my pocket camera to something a little bigger, with better photo images.

-Tony

Tony,

I think we had a total of three Sony Nex's on the trip (Jacob D., Kat P., and mine)

Jacob was rockin' a pretty sweet Voigtlander manual lens, I had my 16mm pancake and a Pentax-M 50mm/f2, and Kat had the 16mm pancake with her. Adam had a Pentax DSLR with a 90mm macro lens and a kit zoom? along with a very nice tripod for those night shots.

Edited for correctness

Edited by cobberman on 10/25/2011 11:59:11 MDT.

I only brought the kit pancake lens on the hike. Left the 18-55 in the car.

Kat needed a wide angle to get my entire gut in the pics she took of me......

Eric, I think you're right on for the most part. I believe Adam's zoom was an older Pentax lens. By the way, I really liked some of those shots you took with the 50/2. Very pleasant rendering from that lens (and of course, nicely composed photos!).

I was hoping at least one of Adam's star trail photos would make it on here (holding out hope, hint hint, Adam) but the other night shots were really cool.



Tony, I'm sold on the NEX. The 5N is the latest and greatest in the "5" line, and to be fully honest it keeps up with my Canon 5D SLR as far as sensor performance, in some respects it surpasses it (and even the new 5D Mark II) - which is saying a lot IMO. Walking into camp and seeing 2 other NEX's right away, I knew I must have made a good choice if it was approved by other BPL'ers :) I was honestly a little surprised that I got as many keeper shots as I did since I only had the camera and lens a few days prior to the trip and was not working at my preferred focal length (35mm, I was shooting at 60mm most of the time). The 18-55 kit lens is also quite good as far as I'm concerned, and not heavy. With the strap that I made, the camera was always right there ready to go and never bothered me while walking.

I will post a full report on it later (not on this thread).

@Tony:

I used what is a pretty good point-and-shoot in the Panasonic DMC-ZS7 (on auto the whole time) but the photos from the NEX users above are dramatically better! Aside from the fact that Kat, Eric and Jacob are just plain good photographers, the mirrorless cameras seem like amazing tools. I have to think about upgrading too.

Edited by saparisor on 10/25/2011 12:22:36 MDT.

Eric, Kat, & Jacob,

Jacob, I know you have given me some feed back on the reviews of the 16mm pancake lens, but I wanted to find out from the others of what they think of it.

(Glad that your strap setup worked out well for you....you should post a photo of it on BPL so others can see what you did...was it comfortable on hikes?)

I saw your shots too....those were with another lens, not the "stock" 18-55mm?

Kat & Eric,

Do you find that the 16mm pancake is a good enough "do all" lens for your outdoor needs?

Kat, you mentioned that you left the 18-55mm standard lens for the NEX-5 in the car....did you find any situations where you regretted that?

Saw your photos...how did you manage to have color in your black and white shots? Did you do that with the camera's built in software or did you do that after the trip on your computer via software like Photoshop?

Love the size of the NEX-5 with the pancake lens, which really makes it very nice and compact, but I am concerned that images closer up for shots around camp would be distorted.

You are all making the decision to get this camera sometime next year very EASY. :)

Steven...maybe you are like me and suffering from camera envy?

I see the clarity and vibrant colors in their shots and it makes me feel sad when I look at my old and faithful pocket camera....

-Tony

Edited by Valshar on 10/25/2011 13:40:16 MDT.

@Tony and others, photography talk can continue at a new thread.

@Tony
I missed the 18-55 a couple of times only. Low light shots and close ups on leaves. So no, the 16mm does not cover all my needs as far as outdoor photography, but if I had to choose one over the other, I would choose the 16mm.

Kat,

Thanks for the feedback....helps alot.

Moving this discussion to the other thread.

Sorry for the highjack and going off topic.

-Tony

Steve, Doug and David on their way in.



Trail Scenery



Fall Colors



Again with the Falls



More Color



Morris Meadow



Kat and Chris Hanging Out (shoot me)



John and Ron Talk Tents




Cameron's DuoMid



Jay and Jacob



Steve and Adam above Sapphire Lake



Clean, Cold Water



Sheila, Marsha and Oatmeal

Edited by Feileung on 10/25/2011 20:14:56 MDT.

Great pics everybody, thanks for the eye candy.

Just a few quick shout-outs on my part:

First off I would like to thank Ken for putting together this trip. It meant a great deal to a lot of people - myself included. Without a doubt the most wonderful hike I have been on in 2011. It truly was one of those amazing hiking trips. Owe you big time!

To Ron Moakl, thanks for the surprise show-up, lively discussions, thumb-ride back to the road, 2 diet rootbeers, and a whole lot of things that will be dwelling in the back of my mind for a long time to come. It was an honor to meet you Sir.

To Humboldt Jim. Thank you for the hike in and conversations and stopping for me. Yes, I still hate hills and blackberry bushes, and on the way out, I discovered I hate a few other things as well. But on a serious note, it really was great getting to know you.

To the individual who brought the MLD Trailstar, thank you for lugging it up there and letting me have a chance to check it out. Seems way to big to be a solo tarp but man was it sweet!

To the individual who has my Halloween bandanna... the ghouls are going to haunt you until I get it back :-p

To the individual who hiked back to check up on Humbodlt Jim and myself - once again, thank you!!

To the individuals who I told I would give some gear too, contact me with whatever it was I said I would give you and I will get it into the mail for you.

Always good to see you, John.
It was great seeing the little UL tent city appear in that meadow and meeting everyone. I already have a bottle of Redbreast up on the shelf waiting for February.
Thanks always to Ken for putting these together.

@ John Abela...
Hey...sorry we didn't get to hang out. Thought you looked a little familiar when you took a pic for us heading out onto the trail.....next time. :)

Edited by bumpass on 11/07/2011 15:45:14 MST.