Photo Story: Wild Mountain Goat on Hurricane Ridge, 1976, Olympic National Park

Let's hear it for Kodachrome 64 and my old Nikon EL with it's 58 mm Nikkor F1.4 lens!  This is one of my dozen or so favorites from the 1970's.  For those that don't know this, Kodachrome was slide film with an ASA (ISO) of 64.  It came in rolls of 24 and 36.  Here the slide has been scanned to a 10mp file and then downsized to 750 pixels wide for blog posting.  I recently made a 24" print for my younger son, and it is plenty sharp.

"Mountain Goat"
Hurricane Ridge, Olympus National Park, 1976

Nikon EL film camera, Nikkor 58mm F1.4 lens

Shutter speed unknown, F stop unknown
ASA 64 (Kodachrome 64)

This image was taken on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park in July, 1976.  That was more than 40 years ago!

Mountain goats are not indigenous to the area. They were introduced in 1920, eighteen years before the area became a national park. I'm not sure how many were living in the park when I took this picture in 1976.  However, I have read that in 1983 there were approximately 1,100.

I love wild animals but it seems that the Park system is trying to figure out what to do with these animals, as it is reported that they are overgrazing the delicate alpine vegetation and soil.

Incidentally, seen in the distance, beyond the snoozing mountain goat, is Puget sound and Vancouver Island, Canada.