This is Peter, proudly displaying his unique discovery of a tree.
During summer break '95, my friends Kinshuk, Peter, and I decided to go on an overnight hiking trip in the Trinity Mountains (in Northern California). We drove to the starting point, and from there hiked about 5 miles to a campsite by a lake. We spent the night there, and then hiked back in the morning.
This is Peter, proudly displaying his unique discovery of a tree.
The hiking trail occasionally crossed open, rocky fields. In these
places, there would be small stacks of rocks, called ducks, that
would mark the trail.
Peter, me, and Kinshuk, taking a break on the ridge-top. From here,
it was downhill to the campsite.
This is where we stopped to set up camp for the night.
The campsite was next to this lake. Our tent is actually in the
middle of this picture, but it is difficult to see through the trees.
On the other side of the lake, there was still a small remnant of
snowpack. Even though it was August, the hillside was steep enough
that the snow was in the shade all day long.
I wanted to see the snow up-close, so I hiked around to the other
side of the lake. Here you can see how the snow melted in a
neat pattern. At this overhang, the snowpack was about 4 feet thick.