The rugged mountains above Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park are impressive without any help from the sky. The dramatic clouds made this one of my favorite GNP images. The photogenic-ness of the scene meant running the last mile of this nearly 10 mile trail in near darkenss. Being the last bear bait on the trail in the dark does not give one a comfy feeling. Sorry if any of you heard me singing!
On hikes of this length, elevation change and duration, after hiking many other similar hikes in the days before, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens became my sole carry lens. Its focal length range and image quality left me wanting another lens only infrequently. And most often those occassions were for wildlife encountered deep into the high country.
Image stabilization was extremely helpful for shooting between segments of trail running - and allowed me to leave the tripod in the SUV.