Los Padres NF, Nira, 2012

After a busy few months I of course had a hankering to get back into the wild. Some friends of mine in town also had a similar itch and we got together for a long weekend outdoors. They weren't backpackers, so we car camped at Nira in the Los Padres NF, an area that has been a frequent starting point for many of our adventures.

Although beset by unexpected whiskey, cold weather, low flying airplanes, and hippes with guitars, bongos, and recorders, we had not only gourmet meals but also some wonderful day hikes in the area. I had never been on any of the junction trails, so one day we went up Lost Valley and the second day Portero Canyon. Both were wonderful, but Portero Canyon was spectacular. My memories of Hurricane Deck were being surrounded by bushes. I do not know if it was because of the fires from a few years ago or not, but whole stretches of the trail were clear of underbrush all around. For so much of the trail you could stop and just look all around and have nothing but 360 degree views to greet your eye. Stunning.

The Photographs

After my previous experience I figured I would experiment and see if I could shoot digital similar to how I use my Minolta. I tried using my old standard 58/1.2 with an adapter for the most of it. Seems to have some serious vignetting at higher F stops with this particular adapter. So maybe I'll look into some new adapter rings, but all in all for three days the battery was not bad and I had a great time experimenting and learning some new tools. Apeture export.

Click "Next" in the upper right to begin.