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Besides the caves in Lava Beds National Monument there isn’t a whole lot of subject matter for photography. I did, however, see this mountain peak in the distance one evening so I decided to drive over there to see what I could find. While I did get a shot I’m happy with, I wish I never went because I hit a jack rabbit on the road while heading back to my campsite. I immediately stopped the car and saw in my rear view mirror that it was still alive and squirming on the side of the road. I parked, walked up to it and knew I had to kill it to end its suffering. With nothing in my car that I could use as a tool to get the job done I had to use my tripod and strike it in the head as hard as possible. It died instantly, which was a relief, but this had to have been one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life.I really hope that the rabbit was not a mother with a litter of young ones somewhere. Hopefully it was that weird uncle that only comes around when he needs money. Anyways, I usually find myself saying that “getting the shot was worth it”, but this time it definitely was not.

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This spectacular view was well worth the walk up this mountain….what a good time….

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