Behind the Shot Enchantments Edition: “Inclement Weather”
The journey to this photo started at Isolation Lake in the Upper Enchantments Core. We decided to take a jaunt up to the summit of Little Annapurna, break down camp and head down to the Perfection Lake area to set up camp. The weather had been really nice all morning through the early afternoon but as we entered the Enchantments Core the clouds started to roll in and the weather was starting to turn. Believe it or not I actually pretty stoked about it as the sun had been out in full force without a cloud in sight for two days; not the best photographic conditions for sunrise and sunset photos. After navigating some pretty ridiculous terrain we set up camp just above Perfection Lake. Our campsite was set up on a series of flat granite slabs, very exposed to the elements and to the massive amount of goats in the area.
I scouted out this prime location for what I had hoped to be an awesome sunset. I ended up waiting for a long time, a very long time for the conditions to break up enough for some nice light. I was camped out on a pretty small rock, surrounded by angry goats in the middle of this waterfall that dumps into the lake below. Okay so maybe they weren’t exactly angry but there were a couple big guys that frankly freaked me out a bit. Lucky enough for us they pretty much did their own thing. Toward the end of the sunset we finally got some really nice light which made all of the standing around, freezing our butts off well worth the wait. That night I was in my bivvy camped out on the exposed slabs when one of the most intense thunderstorms I’ve ever experienced rolled through.
Let me preface this by saying I’ve been through some pretty damn intense storms but this one genuinely freaked me out a bit. The thunder and lightning were pretty much right on top of each other and our awesome choice to set up camp was right in the middle of it. Awesome. I seriously contemplated getting out to snag some shots, but quickly realized what a horrible idea that was being that we were so exposed so I decided to hunker down. My next fear was that the stream I was next to was going to overflow and wipe me out; thankfully that didn’t happen but the amount of rain that was coming down sure as hell made me think otherwise. It was pretty epic to say the least and to this day I still don’t know how we managed to get out of it unscathed. Never a dull moment in the Enchantments.
Perfection Lake, Enchantments Core, WA
