Have you ever seen an image that you couldn't shake? Something so wild, so incredible, it writes itself into permanent memory?

That's how I felt when I first saw The Matterhorn.

The thing was... there weren't geotags or GPS coordinates. No "how-to" guide books. No Top-10 websites. Just hours on Google Earth, scouring maps and trying to imagine what the lo-fi topos looked like in real life.

Then came hundreds of miles of windy coastal roads. First stop was a dud. Second had no way down to the water, but of course, it was the third when I walked up to this glorious pile of rock and The Matterhorn was found.

So I scrambled down the cliff, pulled out my camera, and broke the #1 rule - I turned my back to the water. Well wouldn't you know it, a sneaker wave came, knocked me and my tripod down, and almost took us out to sea.

Shaken, not stirred, I picked myself up, shuffled up the cliffside, and watched as the horizon broke open and this spectacular sky lit up before me.