On 28 May 2021, I took a day trip to Stanislaus National Forest in California traveling along SR-108 (my parents drove, as I can't drive anymore). I also visited Carson Iceberg Wilderness on my hike. Here are the photos I took with my mirrorless camera. You can see the cellphone photos I took here.
The photos in this blog post are taken on my attempted hike from St. Mary's Pass Trail Head to Sonora Peak via St. Mary's Pass Trail. I hiked in both Stanislaus National Forest and Carson Iceberg Wilderness. I didn't end up being able to make it up Sonora Peak as the last bit of the trail was too steep for my liking (I've been visually impaired since August 2018), and I figured it's beyond my hiking skills. I still hiked up to almost 11,000 ft (3353 m) above sea level.
If you do want to do this hike, note that if you head up there from the San Francisco Bay Area (sea level), you will get hit with altitude sickness! I mostly had no symptoms (until I tried to run around up there), my dad was a bit worse off than I was, and my mom got moderately sick from the altitude. Learn the symptoms of altitude sickness, sometimes people might feel a bit sleepy and euphoric, and do something stupid. Altitude sickness can slow down your brain, "dumb you down", and make performing simple tasks hard. Stay safe while hiking, know your limits, and don't push yourself over your limits. I do not recommend hiking this hike alone. I'm not a medical professional, so make sure you do your own research. The information here is just based on my own experience as a wilderness photographer for over a decade.
For this hike I also recommend you bring a physical compass and learn how to use it, as it is easy to lose sight of the trail or get lost on this trail (your phone can malfunction and/or run out of power). Also hiking poles are a necessity.
High Resolution Photos: If you want to see full resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To view my best Stanislaus National Forest photos, use this link. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.
Message from the photographer: This might be the last blog post with photos I've taken on a "real camera" (not taken with my cellphone) for a while. The vision loss, due to visual snow syndrome, has made photography and traveling very challenging. These are the last of the photos in my archive that I've taken with a "real camera". I'll probably have more blog posts out with cellphone photos as those photos are more casual, my mom is sometimes helping me with those, and it doesn't require the post processing and sorting I normally do with photos I take on my "real camera". I know in the past I've mostly used cellphone photos as a filler for when I don't have anything to post, and I really don't want to turn this blog into a cellphone photos only blog, but with the vision loss, it is very hard.
This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to view the cellphone photos I've taken on this trip here. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.
