Metamorphism is a harsh mistress (Vesper Peak solo)

My first attempt at rockhounding was....shall we say...a bust. I am, so far, more like a rockjackrusselterrier, running excitedly in circles and finding nothing. Actually, I found some mediocre hydrothermal quartz, but I think I may actually need to do more research before I find anything really cool.

However, the hike itself was great! I'd never done Vesper before, and it was much shorter than I expected, and just as steep as claimed. I went by myself, mostly because you all have like 7 jobs and hate free time. Also because I like going hiking alone sometimes.

This is from the road, I highly recommend coming down this road even if you want just a scenic drive.


Not much color yet....


Revenge of the Pluton.


And some of the guys that Pluton has messed up.


I camped on the edge of the lake (you can see my little yellow bivy in the bottom right corner), the climb from it is surprisingly short.


Hover the mouse over the photo.


Granite always wins in a fight between two rocks. And I have NO idea what this stuff was, all banded and foliated and.....stuff.


Same here, various metaconglomerates and metasandstones and such.


Del Campo and Gothic on the right.




This photo has been artificially brightened, but look how long that slab goes for in the bottom of the frame, I would guess at least 2000ft, maybe more.


I only ever seem to do this when I'm by myself.....


Hello I-5 corridor! You can see the olympics kinda poking out. Must have been a bit grey down in town eh?


Rainier in center frame. Rain shadow in action!




I'm not scowling, but squinting into the sun.








Way cool hike, I'd definitely go back.

Taylor vs Sepia bandwagon, Round 1

Sometime in ancient history, there was a person I spent lots of time with who insisted that a photograph could (or would) look "better" or "more artsy", simply by clicking the sepia option. If you don't know what that is, look it up, because I only have like 2 photos from weddings that I've done that to, for a specific reason. Long story short, I think it's ridiculous.

The sepia tone is what would HAPPEN (as in: NOT intentional) to old photographs during a toning process applied to make the photograph resistant to fading. Now, I'm not saying it can't look good, because sometimes it does, especially if a photo is overexposed (if you're an amateur dweeb like me), sepia can sometimes salvage an otherwise non-presentable photo. Also, if you dress up like a cowboy and want the photo to look old and crappy, you can do sepia.

Nothing in particular spawned this rant, it's something that comes up from time to time, usually when people ask why I love photos with wild colors (because the real world is colorful, why not showcase it?!).

Now I will conduct proper science, by offering evidence to support my view, from my hike to Mt Dickerman today.



Yes, the saturation here is a bit wonky, because it was really, REALLY red on its own, and the in camera color boost was enough to make it look fake, but rest assured, it really was this gorgeous.


Kim was basically a blueberry obsessed zombie.


Glacier peak is our secret volcano that no one knows about, soon, people won't see it at all. They'll say "GLACIER peak huh? is it behind that cinder cone over there?"




It was like, 95 degrees today, on the first day of fall. WTF.




Funny weather station..... or something..... [insert shifty eyes]


It's too bad we have all these damned evergreens, staying green, forever.


I think this is my favorite picture from the day.






The madness! Bushels and bushels of madness!




So, there you have it. I posit you this question, if I made the above photos sepia, would they have been better? (that's a rhetorical jab, aka: me being an ass)

Why was Taylor gone all summer?

So, lately I'm sure some of you have noticed that I have been complaining about not having any money. Actually, I don't really care about money, but when you don't work all summer, and while not working, spending lots of money....economics and physics have a lot in common, namely: conservation of energy......

Where was I you ask? If you missed the last blogs, or the rare updates while I was out and about, I'll do a quick fill in for you, with some of my favorite photos from those places.

First was Dillon, Montana, for UW field geology. 30ish students basically stomping around sagebrush smashing rocks and losing compasses, and sometimes looking for garnets.


Dillon and the surrounding area is above 5000ft elevation, so I got a pretty good tan, and by good, I mean hilarious.


We did some light painting, which is always good fun. This is one of my favorites of them.


Any geology anywhere, if you stop working for any amount of time, rocks will start being thrown. It is a basic physical law.


We WERE going to go to Glacier NP, but alas, it was not meant to be.


Because of this.


So instead we went back to Dillon, there was plenty of booze that folks had bought for the camping trip..... also there was swimming.


And we took a trip to Jellystone.




Montana has lots of lightning.


This photo still makes me giggle.


There was a Demo Derby in town. Not too exciting, the one we have in Monroe is way better.


Some of the kids thought to sleep outside. Good stars at 5000ft.....still lots of light pollution there though.


I managed to butcher my leg right proper.


The infamous 'boob rock', in probably my favorite field area (most like home?)


Love this photo.


Metamorphic geology with the finest of folks. I also took the biggest sample EVER home from this area.


All the folks in one place, minus the TA's from the first half.


Also, some photojournalism. And an excuse to post Scottie's naked, wet body all over the web. HA!



Then I came home for a day and a half (just enough time to shower and repack), and then hopped on a plane to Sweden for Andrew's wedding. Since I was the photographer I'll show proof I was there:


Yes, I drank beer in a hofbrau in Munich. Big deal, get over it.


Hiking in Germany


Stepped through a space-warp and ended up in Leavenworth.


Chased Ibex in Switzerland.


Hiking in Switzerland


More of the same....ho hum.


Hiking in Italy.




The Mediterranean. Yawn.


Rome.


I would like to point out that the Vatican is creepy.


Artistic subversion in the Sistine Chapel.


And that is all. The rest of the photos are on flickr as usual, just thought I would be thorough for anyone who was curious why I've been complaining about being broke.