After seeing a small group of bighorn yesterday and getting a hint from them about where else I should go, today's objective was to find more bighorn. I always want to get close enough for super sharp details, but I can't expect that type of opportunity every single day. On this day, the views of the surrounding landscape and an ultra-close-up with a dusky grouse are my top images from this hike, but the impressive rams in the distance encourage me to keep hiking in this area.
The small group of young rams yesterday went a specific direction that I wasn't able to follow (and didn't have the energy to pursue anyway). So, this morning I branched off the main trail to try and navigate toward the area where I felt they may have gone. I was seeing evidence along the way and eventually I spotted a white rear-end on the ridge! Bingo. On this day, I brought my much heavier long-lens which stays packed away until I'm sure I want to take images. The rams were nearly a mile away and at least a thousand feet higher. It is often very difficult to see them, even with a long lens.. but there are about five distinct rams in the images, four of which I believe are older than the five yesterday.
I kept the huge lens and monopod out as I slowly worked up the cliff. Little did I know that the rams had moved on elsewhere out of sight. I could tell that they noticed me, but I didn't get the sense they were alarmed or disturbed since I was so very far below. Looking closely at the images, I can see that some of these rams have huge horns.
On yesterday's hike in pursuit of bighorn, I realized that the rocky channels from avalanche debris and erosion in this area are much deeper and difficult to cross than what is obvious from below. Even though they may only be 50'ish feet across, there's no safe way to get from one side to the other unless go much further down or potentially all the way up them. I was again reminded today that these channels are something you have to keep in mind early on if you want to reach certain terrain. I thought that I'd have a good view of the bighorn from a high point towards my left, but the bighorn drifted right and I then wanted to go up to a different spot. But, because of the deep and dangerous rock debris channels, there was zero chance I was traversing over without going down ~700 feet only to go back up another ~1,400 feet. With the big camera on top of this being the third day in a row in very steep terrain, I didn't have it in me to see if I could get a closer look at the huge rams.
So, I hiked back down after waiting a while and just before I rejoined the main trail, I came across a nice dusky grouse that stayed put long enough for a few good shots. I love the clarity of the feathers and face. Seeing the grouse and getting good light was a nice consolation prize for missing out on better bighorn shots!
