High-Country Noon - a photo on Flickriver

High-Country Noon

            The upper strands of Rock Creek coalesce into a vivid, glacial blue ribbon beneath a bowl of mountains, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Montana. There are hundreds of Rock Creeks throughout the inter-mountain West, and this is as fine a specimen as they come.

From this vantage, we are approximately ⅔ up the 1500 foot (460 m) climb from the creek to the summit of Sundance Pass, and deep amongst the lairs of the numerous and wily American Pika (Ochotona princeps). They were a joy to watch as they perched saucily atop the boulders, scolding us before taking cover amongst the smaller rocks and crannies. From left to right in the photo are Mount Lockhart, Whitetail Peak, Medicine Mountain, Castle Mountain, and Sundance Mountain, all between 11,500 ft -12,600 ft elevation (3,505 m - 3,840 m).

Shortly before pausing for this photo, we passed a group of four middle-aged gentlemen from Atlanta and Michigan who had known each other since college, probably half a decade older than us. They were descending the pass and were also the first people we had seen since hoisting our packs at the trailhead the morning of the previous day. The night before when we were camped in Quinnebaugh Meadows we witnessed a helicopter move purposefully over the pass at dusk and then disappear from view. It was puzzling to see in such a remote location. One of the men carried a small device that allowed texting via satellite, and he explained that it was they who had summoned Life Flight. Apparently they had camped near a woman who had unexpectedly passed a kidney stone the night before. She was unable to move from the pain, and the helicopter was unable to land closer than a mile to her location due to the steep topography. They carried her up a good climb to the waiting medics and she was evacuated to Bozeman for treatment.

We watched them descend out of view and contemplated the trackless days ahead in the Plateau. We carried no such device, and I was quite sure the paper map and plastic compass would fail to summon any help if either one of us slipped on a loose rock and sustained any kind of serious damage. Such is the gamble the Luddite makes.

Taken in: United States / Montana / Red Lodge (show map)

Taken on: September 3, 2019

Tags:

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

Beartooth Wilderness

Landscape

Medicine Mountain

Montana

Mount Lockhart

Northern Rockies

Rocky Mountains

September

Silt Lakes

Sundance Mountain

Sundance Pass

Whitetail Peak

alpine

basin

high country

high elevation

morning

morning light

mountains

polarizer

wilderness

Red Lodge

United States of America « less

Sets appears in: • Mountains and Sky • Northern Rockies

Groups appears in: • Mountains • Landscape photography more » • Nature Photography • Landscape Exploration • The Nature Conservancy • Rocky Mountains Landscape & Wildlife Photos • Landscape Beauty ! • Un-enhanced American West • ☯ la quinta essenza ☯ • Mountains and Forests of the U.S. and Canada • My favourite Photographers • ☆The Power of Now / Die Kraft der Gegenwart ☆ « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/11.0, 1/100 sec, 27mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Lens:	24.0-120.0 mm f/4.0
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	27mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Saturation:	High
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 9.1 (Macintosh)
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