R04/R01 TR: 8 days in Blackcap Basin, Goddard Canyon, and Bench Valley - Sep. 10-18, 2024

[Harlen]

Gawd! Revisiting this classic of yours is both wonderful, and depressing. Are there are any great big fish left for us? I hope that by packing in beer, and fine foods, you haven't the appetite to wolf down the all the big fish in the lakes.* Now I hope that purple findernail of yours came from missing one of the fish, and smashing your finger with a rock--that must've hurt.
*[We wonder why you bother to pack dinners at all?]

We were so awed by your fish that we didn't remember to comment on your photography skills windknot. Your photos are all so clean and well composed. My favorite is from Cathedral Lake, the one with the big curved lake water in the foreground, with Finger Col and the moon in the center. And the one of you camp there is a great composition! Are you first a photographer, and second a fish killer? You've also managed to capture Crown Lake really well, which is hard work, and the blue water Martha Lake shots are also stunningly beautiful! What a great trip report this is. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Harlens.

[windknot]

Ian, your comment prompted me to re-read this report. Thanks for the opportunity to savor the memory of this trip again.

I am a catch and release fisherman 95% of the time (which has its own ethical and moral implications that I have been contemplating for years), so rest assured these fish should all still be swimming around in these waters for others to experience!

And I greatly envy the photography skills of the actual professional and amateur photogs on this forum. Many of you are masters of your craft. Myself, I'm just a guy who clicks a button a bunch of times with his smartphone and then tries to choose the best ones later to include in trip reports. It's hard to take a bad photo in the Sierra! But I will cop to putting effort into my composition, so I appreciate the kind words. Especially coming from someone as well-traveled as yourself who knows how these places actually look in real life, I will happily accept this praise for the compliment that it is.