Photogenia

Halfway up, or is it a quarter way up - I can't tell - the need to photgraph everything is overwhelming. I want to just stop, sit and keep taking pictures, but Doug has given us a tight schedule and we have about two hours to make it up. That seemed very achievable at the bottom, but now it seems like a real struggle. 

But it's so damn hard to stop pulling out the camera. By now I have my long lens on and am holding it permanently in my hand, to the point that it hurts. But I really wonder if I will ever see a landscape again as breathtaking as this. You want to stretch out your hand and stroke the distant sand dunes - the beauty is like an itch you can't scratch. Eventually we do start to take more frequent breaks. I am grateful that despite the sun being up, the temperature is not too high and we even keep on multiple layers as we climb.