It was probably the hardest 8 miles I’ve ever put in on a trail, and the walk back was…painful!

Way to go making it to the top, though – your pics are GORGEOUS.

Take care, -Bryan

As for photo editing, I do usually bump up the contrast and saturation a bit, but that’s mostly it. Oh, and I often add a little vignetting if I feel like it. I did find myself using a polarizing filter a lot in the past, but not so much lately, as it made my skies too blue. Actually, same goes for post-processing–It doesn’t seem like I have to do as much with the D90; stuff seems a bit more vibrant than it did with the D40, and much closer to how it looked “in real life.”

I’ve been to Lake Serene, Rattlesnake Ledge, Sunrise, Paradise and Mt Burroughs (inspired by you) in Mt Rainier NP. I’ve also been to Hurricane Ridge but I truly enjoyed the Grand Lake trail there, simply beautiful. I’ve just started hiking, so I usually picked trails with <2000ft elevation. But for this weekend, I'm gonna try Skyline Divide (again, inspired by you) – new challenge! I hope to be able to do backpacking someday.

D40 is pretty lightweight, easy to carry around. I'm amazed you could capture such awesome pictures with your D40. Did you do any photo editing (no offense)? Any tips you could share? Its a shame when Mother Nature is at her best, yet I couldn't capture her beauty in my shots. Yes, I am using 18-200mm VR, very versatile lens, I bring it everywhere I go.

Btw, there's this camera shop called Glazers where they rent out lenses. So you could play with different lenses, before committing one of your own. Here's their website: http://www.glazerscamera.com/

Keep it going! I'll be looking forward to more of your adventures!

As for my camera:

Last year, as for Skyline Divide, I was using a Nikon D40, just with the 18-55mm kit lens. That just happened to be a very pretty night.

All of my photos last year and many of this year were taken with the D40. Pretty recently I upgraded to a D90, though.

Are you using the 18-200mm VR? I hear that’s a really good lens, and you don’t have to swap lenses often to get some nice zoom shots…

Enjoy the rest of summer and fall!

Jeremy

I was looking at your blog on Skyline Divide, and wonder what type of camera you were using. I’ve been taking pictures of my hike too, using a Nikon D70 camera, with 18-200mm telephoto lens. No way are my pictures comparable to yours. I figure I could do with some brushing up on my SLR skills. Pray tell, will ya?

Thanks in advance,
Bee

Bobby

I’d love to get back to this area and do some of the semi-famous loops, too.