Feature's 12|07

From the picture you uploaded it looks as if AF has focused on the sky (that looks sharp to me?) which means the lens has focused to infinity. Infinity will get much of an image in focus but will rarely extend to the very foreground such as the rocks here. Without seeing the actual image I wonder if some of the softness/bluring is actually camera shake? I think you said that the wind was strong, that could have moved the camera during the exposure.
There is no problem using AF for landscapes but you must select the focal point by first selecting a single focus point in camera, just select the closest one to where you want to be focused in the scene, hold the focus point over that area an then lock the focus (see camera manual). Personally I hardly ever use AF for landscape, select manual focus on the lens and focus about 1/3 of the way into the picture - this will give you maximum DOF but if you want the foreground really sharp and can afford a little softness further into the image then focus on the closest point and then move focus slightly futher into the scene.