Coast Camp Sightems (Black and White)

Pine Tree, Fog - Point Reyes  2025

Pond, Fog - Point Reyes  2025

Taking advantage of the fog: a few last shots taken during my 2025 Point Reyes backpack.

Coast Camp Hike Out - 2025

Spider Web - Point Reyes  2025

Western Swordfern - Point Reyes  2025

Hiking out, grateful for the fog. Trail erosion was more difficult to negotiate going downhill!

Erosion - Point Reyes  2025

Coast Camp - Early Morning

Coyote Bush, Moon - Point Reyes  2025

Tent (without tent fly) - Point Reyes  2025

Pre-sunrise photos taken with an iPhone using a headlamp. Once there was enough light I started to pack up. It was supposed to be another hot day, but the fog started rolling in to cool things off.

Backpack, Fog - Point Reyes  2025

Coast Camp 2025 - Camp Site

Tent - Point Reyes  2025

Fritos and Beer - Point Reyes  2025

A Big Agnes two-person tent. I've used it for some years now! (Since 2018.) Very light weight and roomy enough for one person. Two people in there? Would have to be pretty friendly, I'd think. 

Site #2 at Coast Camp. There's an upper section meant for the tent I guess, but it's way too uneven and non-level. I had to put the tent next to the food box.

Tent and Food Storage Box from Camp Chair - Point Reyes  2025

Coast Camp Trail Sightems

Bracken - Point Reyes  2025

Vetch - Point Reyes  2025

I posted a video of this hike back in 2017 (which involved me setting up the camera on a tripod and running back and forth for the various shots.)

I'm a little surprised that the video can still be viewed!

Coast Camp Trailhead

Trailhead View - Point Reyes  2025

The forecast called for above-average heat, but when I parked at the trailhead parking lot the temperature was quite tolerable, probably due to some coastal clouds drifting in.

Backpack items were in the back of the Toyota, needing some sorting out and cramming into the Gregory backpack.

Backpack Gear - Point Reyes  2025

Backpack Prep

Stove Test (Fairfax) - Marin County  2025

Backpack Equipment (Fairfax) - Marin County  2025

So, I was planning on driving over to my regular Bishop campgrounds in September, but smoke from the Garnet Fire was rendering the air quality in Bishop quite bad. Really quite bad.

So I had a change in plans: try to get a reservation at Coast Camp in Point Reyes for one of my regular backpacks there. It worked! I hadn't backpacked since 2023, so I had to go through all of my equipment to make sure I had what I needed.

(By the way, the MSR propane canister shown above was purchased in August, 2019 . . . I wrote the date on the bottom with a Sharpie.)

Clyde Minaret / Cecile Lake - 1989

Clyde Minaret - Sierra Nevada  1989

Cecile Lake - Sierra Nevada  1989

For the main event of the trip Kay, Laura and I hiked up to  Cecile Lake at the base of the Clyde Minaret, passing by Lake Ediza and Iceberg Lake. 

Trail Details (2) - 1989

Pine Trees, Granite - Sierra Nevada  1989

Trees, Fallen & Standing - Sierra Nevada  1989

At some point I'll go through the 1989 images to see if any of them should be printed.

Trail Details (1) - 1989

Pine Trunk, Branches - Sierra Nevada  1989

Granite Wall - Sierra Nevada  1989

The trail to Lake Ediza had lots of interesting visual details!

Sierra Plants - 1989

False Hellebore - Sierra Nevada  1989

Ranger's Buttons - Sierra Nevada  1989

Plants seen during the backpack. Are those Ranger's Buttons? Maybe.

False Hellebore! A favorite subject of Edward Weston's and me. Below, a 2007 image taken on the Kings River.

False Hellebore, Kings River - Sierra Nevada  2007

Storm Clouds - 1989

Granite, Mountains - Sierra Nevada  1989

Storm Clouds - Sierra Nevada  1989

All backpacking photos taken using 35mm film (Panatomic-X) developed using fine grain developer. Negatives are slightly "flat." Turns out there's a limit as to how much one can boost the contrast using Photoshop.

Shadow Lake - 1989

Shadow Lake, Storm Clouds - Sierra Nevada  1989

Shadow Lake, Rain - Sierra Nevada  1989

The storm didn't last that long. Just long enough for me to get some photos of some threatening clouds and rain on the lake.

I last visited Shadow Lake in 2019.

Fellow Backpackers - 1989

Kay and Laura, Lake Ediza - Sierra Nevada  1989

Laura, Kay, Hail - Sierra Nevada  1989

My brother Joe had been scheduled to go on the trip, but had to back out due to his old foot injury flaring up. That left his wife Kay, her friend Laura and myself as the remaining backpackers.

We left El Portal, drove through Yosemite and then down highway 395 to Mammoth Lakes. We started hiking at the Agnew Meadows trailhead and had reached Shadow Lake when one of those Sierra cloudburst storm thingies occurred. 

So, this was the pre-digital era: there are gaps in the timeline where there's no photo documentation. No photos in El Portal, the drive through Yosemite and so on. Oh well. 

Sierra Nevada Backpack - 1989

Granite, Minarets - Sierra Nevada  1989

Pines, Granite, Sky - Sierra Nevada  1989

In the olden times I had to be very selective in choosing what negatives to print. The whole process was very time-consuming, so a lot of images never really got looked at. This was the case with the photos that I took during a 1989 backpack in the Devils Postpile area: I printed some of the negatives but had to ignore most of the photos. 

Anyway, I recently got out my old 1989 negatives - still perfectly usable - and, using my Epson V700 flatbed scanner, tried to scan more images than I could have printed in 1989.

Mount Agassiz Climb (1974) - 6 (Summit)

Summit View (Mt. Agassiz) - Sierra Nevada  1974

Summit View (Mt. Agassiz) - Sierra Nevada  1974

Summit is 13,899 feet elevation. Luckily I was able to overcome the altitude-induced brain fog and take a few photos. For these 1974 shots I used a Nikon F SLR and Panatomic-X film.

The return trip was exhausting! (Our car got stuck on the side of the road: we had to get a ride into Mojave, then ride back in a Triple-A tow truck. Got back to Los Angeles super late!)

Mike, Summit (Mt. Agassiz) - Sierra Nevada  1974

Mount Agassiz Climb (1974) - 5 (Approach)

Mt. Agassiz from Bishop Pass - Sierra Nevada  2007

Once Bishop Pass has been attained, the mountain looms above. This trip was led by an experienced guide, but on a later trip we just picked one of the chutes at random, and that worked out OK.

None of my 1974 photos had this view, so I'm using one that I took in 2007 using an Olympus DSLR.

Mount Agassiz Climb (1974) - 4 (Timberline)

Mountains, Clouds - Sierra Nevada  1974

Austere and somewhat eerie, the landscape above timberline.

Mount Agassiz Climb (1974) - 3 (Bishop Pass)

View from Bishop Pass - Sierra Nevada  1974

The trek up to Bishop Pass from the overnight camp below is quite strenuous! Then there's a left turn into a boulder field for the scramble to the top.

I've posted a 2007 photo of the Bishop Pass view. 

Also, I've camped up there in the past.

Mount Agassiz Climb (1974) - 2

Columbine - Sierra Nevada  1974

Pool - Sierra Nevada  1974

I would have been using a Nikon F SLR for the photos. Film was expensive! So there's not as many photos of the hike as I'd like.