The Road to Wonder Lake

Sept 6
Set out for Wonder Lake...yes, the place where so many pictures of Denali are taken.

We went over 4 passes today.
1st - Sable Pass
2nd - Polychrome Pass
3rd - Highway Pass
4th - Thorofare pass

My right knee exploded in pain. I'm beginning to worry about it. 3 or 4 times today, I was not able to bike because of pain. Also, my spirits are down. I know that because of the way that I am feeling. I'm wanting to sleep. I'm not writing as much. All I can think about is going back to the states & working.

I have been thinking about what I would like to do with my life. So far I have come to the conclusion that I want to be a Marine Biologist and study whales & orcas. Who doesn't want that? When I get home I would like to check into various schools & look at their programs. I'm sure that I will have to take many classes over due to my past record. But hey, if that is what I want to do, do it.

I've met quite a few photographers up here in Denali. This place is a wild life photographers mecca. The one thing I have learned from them is that it is a cut-throat business. It is really tough making a living at it. You must carry full time jobs on the side and pursue it like a passion until you get a break. I don't know if I have the "eye" yet. I definitely have the skill, but I'm still not sure on what makes a good composition. I suppose it takes a while. Also, it just takes practice, practice, practice. I'm still not comfortable with my with my camera. I really would like a new one....I'm never satisfied. No matter what I'm doing or what I have, I still want to be doing something else or want something new. Why can't I be satisfied? What is wrong with me?

Lot's of stuff here today. Not even sure which one to talk about as I could extract many life long lessons from this post. My knee blew up because I was stupid and tried not using my granny ring, that lasted until yesterday. I was a bit down because I was stressing too much about what I wanted to do. Why didn't I just enjoy the moment? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The great news though was that we got to Wonder Lake and I took some pictures along the way. Take a gander at this. I can stare at this picture all day. This is why people come here. This made the efforts worth it.



Not hard to get a good composition when the scenery is like this. Yeah, Denali is all it is cracked up to be. If you ever have a chance to see it, take it.