Alexandra Super Tramp

It was a cold and blustery morning, waking up in a 1940’s Airstream on the banks of Hood Canal in Washington, USA. It was day one of our ten day wilderness adventure through the mountains and forests of the Pacific Northwest. We had planned out all the spots to visit, mountains to climb, sunsets to witness and breweries to taste. What we forgot to check, however, was the weather.

Mount Ellinor was our first stop, a short (seven miles) but intense (over 3,5000ft climb) hiking trail that leads you high into the mountains and rewards you with dazzling views of the mountains across the valley and the lake down below.

With fog below our feet and the sun to our backs, we set out with high hopes of experiencing the views and capturing the beauty of the landscape with our cameras.

However, mother nature had other ideas, that fog that was below our feet decided to follow, keeping us company the entire way. Having reached the peak, it was clear (or not so clear) that we would not be able to see the valley and the lake below. Defeated by nature, it was time for lunch on top of one of many precarious rocks that littered the landscape.

What came next was one of those jaw dropping moments, or in my case, sandwich dropping moments (no sandwich was left behind in the making of this story). Just in front of my eyes, I witnessed a surefooted female Mountain Goat and her young, hopping with ease from rock to rock as they passed through the peaks.

Introduced to the Olympics nearly a century ago, these surefooted animals are not locals in these parts and the timing of my visit proved somewhat important. For if my hike would have been just a week or two later, this goat and her young would be seen flying through the air, lifted by helicopters back to their native homes on the other side of Washington State.

With my hands now free of sandwich, I reached for my camera and patiently watched as they navigated the rocky terrain. At first, it was just the mother I saw, majestically standing on top of the rock, chest broad and nose held high to sniff her visitor. But then, with my camera held waiting, the young goat appeared from behind and peered around the side of its mother, to see what the mysterious creature that sat before them was.

I knew right away that I had captured a once in a lifetime moment, a photo that would likely remain one of my all time favorites. Shooting at 24mm allowed me to capture the size and scale of the goats and their surroundings and shooting at f8 meant I got perfect front to back sharpness with the wildlife in the foreground, and provided nice separation from the clouds and mountains in the background.

When it came to editing, I wanted to bring out the golden colors of their warm fuzzy coats, and show the harshness of the rocks where they stood. Having exposed for the goats, the sky was pretty washed out, so using a couple of earlier exposures, along with some brushes, gradual filters and pulling back the highlights, I was able to create an intense and majestic sky behind the goats, to really make them stand out. All of this was done in Lightroom and Photoshop.

This photo will remain one of my favourites for a lifetime, not just thanks to the beauty of nature I was able to capture on film, but mostly thanks to the experience that mother nature gifted me that day, it really was once in a lifetime.