The first of many semi-illegal “wild campsites.” A true highlight of the trip: falling asleep beneath stars, with water in the background, and the occasional midnight visitor. If you think this is luxury, D-wolf went without a sleeping pad.The first true summit/col of the trip. There were many many more to come. The elevation gain was something new to me, and even though I shamelessly self-timered this shot, I was glad to be sitting. I’ll never forget looking out though, because I think I realized the memory alone would be more valuable than the current moment itself. Could be why I picked this shot.Growing up mom was always trying to grow flowers and still is. I even remember going to flower shops with her as a kid. I was more focused on Venus Fly traps and cacti at the time. On this trip though I found myself fascinated by the wildflowers. They were every color and everywhere. Reminded me of mom.Count yourself lucky as this is probably my favorite shot of the trip. It involved a long ascent, an early morning, and furry friends. When I see this picture it sums up the trip for me. A moment that felt like the culmination of so many of the things that was special about my time on the trail.This picture was taken in the town of Champex, Switzerland. D-wolf and I made the call that we would take a zero day here and during that day I snapped this shot. This picture reminds me of an old fisherman in from a time at sea: tired with his nets surrounding him. Probably has something with having just showered for the first time in 5 days.I call this one “Trail Ninja”. Fun was never far away on the trail.If you look hard enough you can see D-wolf hidden in the rocks. Fortunately D-wolf stopped me on the way up and we just listened to the absolute silence. One of those places that when a rock fell would clang and clatter and the whole valley would return the sound.The kind of picture that belongs on a post card: Mont Blanc. I liked this part of the trip because all of the hikers near us came out of the refuge and for 30 minutes enjoyed this view. With this being our last evening on the trail I knew the only thing that would be better would be the tasty bake goods at the bottom of the mountain.
This was supposed to be the “after” picture of our trip. Obviously I set the camera a little low such that all that was captured was our legs. I added this though because those two pair of legs carried two 25 lb packs 9 days for 160 km and 10 km of ascension. O and a fat cat. Come on, he’s kind of cute.
windblowncar.com 