An amazing natural stairs, hiking up Steep Ravine Trail
Last weekend, my buddy Hugh swung by to visit and we went on part of the loop, going down hill. We tapped out and took a Taxi back to the Pantoll parking lot (where I originally parked). I decided at the last minute that I wanted to do the entire hike this this week.
Photo of a dried up flower, unfortunately out of focus.
This time, I wanted to snag some photos as well, and I decided to take the Go Pro because it was much lighter than my DSLR. I didn’t feel like lugging an extra 5lbs of weight, though I’m sure the photos probably would have come out better. Nonetheless, I’m pleased with the results. It was challenging to use the GoPro because the field of view is so wide. So where I could, I tried to take advantage of it.
A part of the trail that wrapped around a fold in the mountain side.
Quick story: Two older guys (in their 60’s) were hiking the opposite direction. I stopped and let them pass by, and then about 5 seconds later, I hear some dirt crumble and a guy yell. I turn around and run back immediately and saw one of the guys had nearly fallen down the side of the path. He had nothing to hold on was at the verge of tumbling down the side of the mountain, which was really steep. I managed to grab his arm and pulled him up with one giant thrust.
The poor guy was so flustered because it happened so quickly. I don’t think he knew how much danger he really was in because if he had tumbled to the bottom, we wouldn’t have been able to get him, nor call for help–I literally had no cell phone reception.
Anyway, he survived unscathed. Kind of crazy.
A trail on the side of the mountain, entering the woods.
The entire hike was about 9 or 10 miles, and by the end I was pretty tired… and my feet were spent. I was pretty relieved that I didn’t bring any heavy gear with me. As much as I love my DSLR, I think it would have sucked to carry the additional weight. I think from now on, my just carry the GoPro around on these hikes.
It’s unfortunate that I accidentally shot all the photos in JPG instead of Raw. I think that I could have gotten better results. Doh! Lesson learned.
Gorgeous afternoon weather, around 70 degrees with a tiny ocean breeze.
One of my buddies asked how I got these photos, and he was surprised that they came from the GoPro as well. he asked if I used an ND filter… but I shot everything from the hip. No filters.
More gorgeous mountain side trails with the pacific ocean as a backdrop.
I mean, I did a tiny bit of post processing to bring out some of the details, but that’s about it. My goal was to make the photos feel more like a natural photo, versus something that came out of the weird over-saturated fisheye GoPro lens.
Log stairs next to a small water runoff on Steep Ravine Trail.
This trail was a great work out, and it’s filled with different landscapes. I was able to see some giant redwoods as well, which is always a treat. I bet this place probably looks incredible after a little rain. I can imagine small streams becoming enormous, rushing down waterfalls and bending around all the rocks.
One of several small foot bridges along the trails.
I’ll be out here again in the future. There are miles of trails that I still need to explore. Hit me up if you wanna go.