Not to mention the knarly tree roots.

With your load weight, definitely do not consider a tripod/monopod combo. You need a stand-alone monopod. You'll get a lot of recommendations here, so I'll put in my two bits. Obviously get a carbon-fiber monopod. They are lighter and the current models also have better carbon fiber technology than ones from 10 years ago. Gitzo and RRS monopods are great, but they are also expensive. If you don't want to spend that kind of money, consider the Feisol monopod:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/848842-REG/FEISOL_CM_1471_CM_1471_Rapid_Monopod.html

Leofoto and Sirui are also good choices that won't cost an arm and a leg. Don't get me wrong, I own RRS and Gitzo, but also Feisol and Leofoto as well as far as monopods and tripods are concerned.

I have this table tripod and it's absolutely terrific. Leofoto makes great tripods at a fraction of the costs of Gitzo and RRS. I have 4 of their tripods/monopods and they all well made.

LOL. Can you still get parts for him?

Acer Computing comes to mind. I read somewhere that Taiwan is in the forefront in carbon fiber research.

Ironically, around Cayuga Lake where we live, there aren't that many maple trees, so the fall foliage is decidedly less interesting than around Skaneateles Lake.

Same here, also own some woodworking machines made in Taiwan. Excellent quality. Taiwan has been a technology and manufacturing hub for decades. Most people don't know that. Foxconn, which makes Apples products in China, is actually a Taiwanese company.

After I wrote the message, I realized that Feisol tripods are made in Taiwan, albeit it does not diminish my view of their quality.

Thought about it, but since it's so small I decided to just let it go.

Absolutely. Many outstanding wineries in the region.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am the wine columnist for Finger Lakes Times.

I have many tripods. Gitzo, Leofoto, RRS are some of the brands. But my go-to "big" tripod is a Feisol CT-3471, which I have had for a few years. It has a load capacity of 55 lbs and handled my Nikon D5 body with a Nikkor 400mm/2.8D lens on a Wimberley WH-200 gimbal with ease. The tripod is rock solid even under a heavy setup (probably 18-19 lbs) such as mine.

Feisol is an American company that manufactures their tripods in North Carolina. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who trashes Chinese products. I've been to China and visited some of their high-tech factories which could match the best factories in the U.S. Just remember how we used to bash Japanese products... Innovation is how America can stay ahead the China.

I haven't used the tripod since the start of the Covid19 crisis. A couple of weeks ago, I took it out to mount a RRS fast release plate on it (per Steve Perry's advice) and noticed that when I opened one of the legs, it went past the first preset angle. Although it is still fully useable as long as I don't open that leg too hard, I decided to contact Feisol's customer service to see if there is something that I could do myself to repair it.

I exchanged a few emails with Michael and was informed by him that it's best for me to send the tripod back to Feisol so they could open the joint up and see what the problem was. I did so a week ago and was awaiting to see what the repair cost would be.

Yesterday, FedEx delivered the tripod back to me, fully repaired at no cost to me, not even a shipping charge. I contacted Michael to thank him for the fantastic customer service and offered to write Feisol's owner to commend him. Well, Michael turned out to be one of the owners!

I learned from my Marketing 101 class in college that it's easy to get a new customer, but it's the repeat customers that keep a company viable. Feisol's excellent customer service is an excellent example of that. They have a lifetime customer in me.

Taken near Lake Como at the southern end of Lake Skaneateles.

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I am dating myself, but I have fond memories of buying car stereos from Crutchfield in the old days and then spent a whole weekend installing them in my cars. Their custom installation kits made the installations a lot easier.

I was glad when they started selling camera equipment a while back.

I meant the second performance of his 3rd concerto.

I had the good fortune of being part of the PBS production that produced the Great Performances broadcasts in the '80s. Many pianists consider Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #3 to be the most technically demanding and difficult of the piano concertos. Anna Fedorova did a wonderful job.

Rachmaninoff was the pianist when the concerto premiered in NYC in 1909. But even more memorable was its second performance a few months later, with Rachmaninoff as the soloist and Gustav Mahler as the conductor. If we could invent time travel, I would love to be there to witness it!