Montana is FULL of beautiful places to choose from for your engagement session. Jamie and Evan’s Pine Creek Adventure Engagement was a perfect fit for their proposal. I am obsessed with the wide open spaces and complete lack of other people. Pine Creek Lake is the place you go when you want to “get amongst it.”
The hike from the parking lot is a solid uphill five miles and isn’t for people who want a relaxing day. As an avid hiker, I’m all about following people to the middle of nowhere to photograph their wildest lives. My favorite photo sessions are the ones where we get away from it all, so pack a bag…let’s go.
Jamie had no idea that Evan was about to propose to her at the top of Pine Creek Lake – that was half the adventure. When we arrived, it was super overcast and rainy. No one complained about it because it was literally a straight uphill hike in 95 degree weather. After about 3 hours, we arrived at the top. Just as we busted out the turkey bagel sandwiches, the sun pierced through the clouds. I was super impressed with Mother Nature’s timing, and I definitely took advantage of the perfect golden hour lighting as Evan got down on his knee.
Pine Creek Adventure Engagement gear list:
Bring food + water. The hike takes approximately 5 hours, and it gets hot, so bring lots of water. We also timed the session so that we would reach the top at sunset, so make sure you bring headlamps so you can see where you’re going on the way down. Wear whatever you want, but I can say with 99% certainty that you will be sad if you wear high heels. This is an adventure session. I mean adventure in the sense that you gotta work to reach your final destination.
For Photographers:
I kept my gear list short and sweet, because there are a few places where you cross creeks. Also, I didn’t feel like lugging 50 lbs of camera gear up a mountain. I shoot with only prime lenses and found that my 35mm and 135mm were perfect. I used my 35 mm the majority of the time, because I really wanted to capture as much as the scene as possible. GoWing sent me their Lens Flipper to try out which was extremely useful. I changed my lenses back and forth without having to juggle my gear around or set anything on the ground. I also brought plastic bags to wrap around my camera just in case it started pouring rain, but the tree cover kept my gear safe.
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