zachary_feldman

While it might not be worth driving to the beach on a raining cloudy day, if you're already at a place that could have a nice sunset you might as well wait and see. I was backpacking in Wyoming in the wind river range. We were in a deep basin and it started getting really windy and raining and cold and dark. Generally horrible weather. So we got into our tents and started to go to sleep because it was looking like a boring grey black through the sky. Because we gave up we almost missed an amazing sunset, luckily someone looked out the door near and yelled at everyone to come out. A small patch of sky clear at the ridge a thousand feet or so above us. The ridge looked like it was on fire, really amazing. So we stood in the rain and wind, shivering in shorts and t-shirts for a while in awe. My point is that if your already there, just hang in there and see what happens. If your bored read a book while you wait, just don't give up on the last 15 or 20 minutes after hanging around someplace all day.

One reason for taking the 100-400L would be the birds. I'm going to Nepal for a semester this coming fall and I've been reading that there is a lot the birding up in the higher altitudes. Presumably there is also lots of birding in Tibet just over the mountains from Nepal.