Ranger Dusty and Mount Jefferson

July 24, 1998

scanned from 3.5 x 5 print
Nikon FE
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIS

Jefferson Park is my favorite place on earth.

Unfortunately, even though getting there requires a minimum 4+ mile hike (more than 6 miles on my favorite trail) and all of the approaches require a long and significant elevation gain, FAR TOO MANY people end up here ... and it's obvious. For that reason, I restrict myself to one trip or fewer per year, and almost always at the end of the season.

This was my only pilgrimage during the wildflower bloom. I almost didn't make it, having suffered from the slept-too-late, left-too late syndrome I so often find myself repeating due to working nights, burning the candle at both ends, and then fantasizing I will somehow be able to get up early enough to actually do something. To top that off, I had allowed some d*** human to lay a guilt trip on me to return early just to make their life easier. (I no longer find this an acceptable way to be treated, but I was not then capable of identifying and defending my own boundaries.)

We spent the night about four miles in; I got some nice shots that evening. After exposing a few more frames in the morning, I reluctantly packed up and loaded Dusty to return home.

One long last look at Mt. Jefferson and I turned to go down the trail ... and almost had my arm jerked out of its socket. Dusty (who never ever did such a thing without good reason) was staring at me. He then looked pointedy UP the trail, took a step in that direction, looked back at me ... only an idiot could miss his message. I wanted to continue on to Jeff Park so badly that I was an easy mark, and I happily reveresed course to follow my friend's suggestion.

The day was idyllic; the trail unfolded before us with its best floral decorations and verdant sedges. At Park Lake, Dusty abruptly turned and gave me a big long hug. "You need this." How right he was.

I wandered around Jefferson Park for several hours, enraptured by the wildflower show that I'd never seen in person before. This photo, one of my all-time favorites, is taken from the faaaar side of a meadow in order to capture the full soaring height of Mt. Jefferson with my 50mm lens (I just HATE distorting landscapes, thus avoided shooting with the wide end of my 28-85mm, which I hadn't even brought on this trip and have since replaced with a better zoom and a couple of CRC Nikkor primes at 24mm and 28mm).

Yes, Dusty is just standing there for the photo, not tied, and yes, he has all my water, maps, wilderness permit, chow, and so on in his packs. We had the discussion about expectations for a photographer's llama when he was a mere adolescent, and as long as I didn't take forever about getting my shots so he could do something fun, too (like sample the "exotic" smorgasbord), he almost always complied with style.