Ah, Flatside.

I was asked by Windy a while back if this was my favorite place to shoot and I quickly dismissed it. However, I’m beginning to have doubts whether or not that is the case. Flatside is definitely a favorite of mine for shooting sunsets. Even more so since it is such an awesome location and not too far from home.

I recently purchased a couple of things for my camera and wanted to try out the new wide angle lens I got. I must say, I’m really excited about the possibilities that this lens is going to give me. After reviewing my shots from Flatside on this recent trip, I’m also very pleased with the results.

I got in touch with Windy on Tuesday morning regarding a possible trip up to Flatside. I told her that if the clouds looked cool in the afternoon that we should head up there. Later that day, around 3 or so, I messaged her because the clouds were looking good. That’s one bonus about this location, it gives you the opportunity to judge the sky before you leave, because it is so close to home.

_{Flatside Wilderness Sunset}

The drive for Windy is about an hour and it’s about the same for me. So, Caden and I left around 3:20 for Perryville to meet up with Windy for some Flatside Pinnacle stomp’n.

We arrived at Flatside around 4:30. At the pull off there was still a lot of snow left from the previous week and it kind of got me excited about the possibility of snow at the top. Unfortunately, I didn’t consider the amount of snow that may be on the trail on the way up, and there was still quite a bit! Needless to say, we were slipping and sliding all the way to the summit of Flatside Pinnacle. We didn’t think about it at the time, but when we were leaving we would have to slide all the way down the backside of the mountain until it leveled off again.

That made for some fun times and an interesting story…

Halfway down the mountain Windy calls out to us to, “check out this print! it’s definitely NOT human!” Of course, being the biology/environmentalist devotee that she is, Caden came sliding down the hill quickly to check out the aforementioned unidentifiable “animal” track. Caden’s face lit up with excitement as she saw the print and called over to me to come check it out, also stating that it definitely wasn’t a hand-print.

_{Flatside Pinnacle Sunset}

Ok, I thought. If they have no idea what it is, this must be pretty exciting, I gotta check it out. I shuffled over the ice and snow to where Windy and Caden were looking down on this unexplainable print and quickly said… it’s a chupacabra track!

Funny enough, we were just talking about chupacabra’s earlier on top of the summit. The subject came up because of a conversation Matt Kennedy and I had a couple of days earlier, regarding chupacabras.

However, this was not a chupacabra track at all. I quickly realized what it was and put my hand in the exact same position as the unfortunate soul who had previously fallen in the ice and snow while summiting the formidable Flatside Pinnacle. They both released a sigh of dismay. I found it slightly humorous that they were both hoping it was in fact a chupacabra track…

With that behind us we continued down the pinnacle with our hopes high that we were not being followed by chupacabra’s.

Thank goodness?

Check out Windy’s awesome photography over at her blog: Windy Richardson Photography

Carpe Diem!