[wiki summary]

[GeoTom]

Hard to decide between what I considered my best photo and my favorite photo. Here's what I think is my best:

Goat morning

And to bend the rules a little bit here's my favorite:

[Dane]

Where was that favorite taken, GeoTom? Looks awesome.

[GeoTom]

Dane- It was in Switzerland, on the trail between Schynige Platte and First in the Bernese Oberland. It's my favorite photo since it was our anniversary (that's my wife Dani in the photo) and we were nearing the end of a fairly long and enjoyable day hike. We found a spot above the lake (Bachalpsee) and lounged around for an hour or more watching the people hike by and the clouds play with the mountains. While the crowds made it not even close to a wilderness experience, it was one of my favorite days that I've ever had in the mountains. Plus there was beer earlier at the hut on top of the Faulhorn.

[Backpacker Joe]

I dont know that I have a best.

Rainy lake trail

Mt Bearing

Barclay Creek

Bathtub lakes at night

Island lake

Twin Falls lake

Eagle lake cabin

I love these

Libby and larch

Bathtub #5

Lower Falls

[Matt Lemke]

Hey...I posted a lot of photos in this thread and got yelled at. I took them down leaving what I thought was my best one (although I did have many other good ones).....................................

[Layback]

GeoTom - That goat photo really is something else. Nice pics everyone.

[Tom]

This topic needs a wiki.

[klock]

This is my favorite photo from the year. I took it while I was on vacation in Yellowstone back in early August. It was a very long day; my brother, his wife and I went on a road trip that circumnavigated the park. On our way back towards Old Faithful from Mammoth, we got stuck in traffic as the NPS was doing construction on a bridge. We waited about an hour, then traffic got going again. Ten minutes later we were halted again, as the same crew started doing work on the next bridge. :P We sat for another 45 minutes or so, and finally we were really allowed to go. We thought we'd pull off at the Lower Geyser Basin to checkout the Fountain Paint Pot, which was a favorite of ours growing up. Just as we approached it, we heard a big "pffffshuuuuuur" off in the distance. I turned on my camera and started running towards the noise. I ran up some stairs, and as I crested the apogee of the boardwalk, Fountain Geyser came into view, spewing in one of the most amazing displays I've seen. It just happened to be sunset as well, adding even more to the ambiance. Had we not been stuck in traffic for nearly two hours, we would have completely missed the show, and sunset.

Fountain Geyser

[puzzlr]

Snow Lake from Chair Peak

This picture (much better large than as a thumbnail) was on my best trip of the year, a crisp October day with wispy clouds hanging around in the valleys while we were enjoying warm sun up on Chair Peak. This has been my desktop background for a couple months now and I never get tired of looking at it. I see many familiar places, and others that I have yet to get to. I'm especially intrigued by the fairy plateau of rocks in the middle foreground above Chair Peak. It's right near one of the busiest trails in the state, yet it's almost never visited. I'm planning a trip there next fall just to clamber around and enjoy the rocks, then walk out to the edge and stare down at Snow Lake. Like I said, this picture keeps me dreaming.

[MarkJ]

There... I made the edit. It looks like this thread is becoming a photo dump.

[polecatjoe]

Approximately 7 feet off the ground, I found this snail in a hammock made from a leaf and a spider web!

My favorite was taken in my front yard. Very bizarre!

[Ancient Ambler]

Mount Olympus, February

This photo of Mount Olympus from the northwest was taken near the end of a photo-shooting flight around the Olympic Mountains in February, 2010. Most of the time we'd flown around peaks east of the north/south axis defined by the Elwha and the North Fork Quinault Rivers. There had been plenty of opportunities for blue-sky and sunshine shots, as well as many sun-and-shadows shots, as clouds were actively forming around some of the peaks in advance of incoming bad weather. By the time we finished over LaCrosse Basin, the sky to the west was an ominous gray wall. I asked the pilot to head toward Olympus. As we rose through the clouds above Dodwell Rixon Pass and could see practically nothing, second thoughts came with a certain ease borne of knowledge about the peaks between Queets Basin and Mt Olympus. The clouds began to break as we neared Mt. Mathias, and there were wonderful views of mist purling off the ridge that runs from Blizzard Pass up to Circe, an area I'd travelled in very bad weather 45 years before. As we neared the Snowdome, it was clear that Olympus was in a blue hole, surrounded by clouds. Thankfully, the clouds were not so high as to block the intense low-angle light that illuminated the peaks of Olympus and even Athena's Owl off in the distance at the moment I took this photo.

[the Zachster]

I think I like this one the most because of the simple lines and, despite my familiarity with every inch of the Mt. Si trail, it reminds me to look up, look around and see what's new. It's a beautiful world out there.

september

[yukon222]

This pic was the culmination of a long day to a new peak that had been on the "to-do" list for awhile. Schmidt Altibabe is making the final move to reach the summit block. The block of rock was tall and almost vertical so she propelled herself up the face with a powerful move. The weather was perfect and the unique vantage point of the summit offered stunning views in all directions. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8246712@N03/sets/72157624402946191/

The final summit block is just above Tisha's head. There is "air" to the left. Plenty of it. :-)