Wetterhorn Sunrise Sunflowers : Prints Available
Sunrise light on Wetterhorn Peak, with Matterhorn Peak to the left. Uncompahgre Wilderness, July.
Last week Claudia and I went on a 5-day backpacking loop in the Uncompahgre Wilderness in the San Juan Mountains east of Ouray. Our route circumnavigated the fourteeners Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Peaks and took us through a paradise of expansive green tundra, wildflowers, and peaks.
See a LOT more photos below! (more…)
Sneffels Range Tundra Sunset : Prints Available
The sun sets behind the Sneffels Range, as seen from the tundra near Upper Blue Lake - June.
Claudia and I spent Thursday night up at Blue Lakes in the Sneffels Range. We enjoyed an exciting thunderstorm, followed by a windy evening, a night with an unidentified animal stalking around our tent, and finally a gorgeous clear morning. But the highlight of all – Claudia said yes and we’re engaged!!!
Blue Lake Vertical Panorama : Prints Available
A vertical panorama of Lower Blue Lake under Dallas Peak and the Sneffels Range.
Lower Blue Lake Wideangle : Prints Available
A wide angle view of Lower Blue Lake in the Sneffels Range - June.
After I left the Great Sand Dunes in the morning on Tuesday, on a whim I headed to nearby Crestone and went backpacking up the North Crestone Trail in the Sangre de Cristo Range. Unlike the San Juans, which are still smothered in snow, the Sangres are almost totally dry already. Although I was planning on camping up at North Crestone Lake, when I finally arrived there [six fairly grueling miles later] I was disappointed to find no suitable spot to camp near the lake. Besides, it was very windy up there… too windy. So I retreated back to the next meadow down where I spotted a nice established camp spot in the forest next to the creek. Exhausted from my lack of sleep the night before in the Dunes, I took a nap, shot the sunset, lit a small campfire for a while, then fell fast asleep in my tent for nearly 12 hours!
The valley where I camped was not particularly photogenic, imo, and the boring blue sky was not inspiring either. After wandering around for a while the most interesting thing that caught my eye was a bunch of dead trees up on the mountainside. So I hiked up there and shot the setting sun beaming through the bare tree skeletons. Certainly not my best photo ever but I like it and I was proud of myself for putting in the effort to find one intriguing scene to shoot when normally I probably would have just not even bothered.
The lower/middle portion of North Crestone Creek is special because the valley is chock-full of aspens. This would be a spectacular hike to do in the fall when the trees are golden yellow!
Medano Twilight : Prints Available
Spooky clouds hang over Medano Creek and the Great Sand Dunes after sunset.
On Monday I headed to the Great Sand Dunes for a quick overnighter. I hiked in at about 10pm, slept on a dune for about 4 hours, then woke up around 3:30am to shoot the setting (nearly full) moon, followed by sunrise.
I had a blast out there with the camera… so much fun! And the hike out with Pink Floyd Meddle playing on my iPod was pretty groovy too! Here are some photos from the trip.
Dunes Moonshine #1 : Prints Available
A setting full moon illuminates the dunes with dim alpenglow, enhanced by a long, high sensitivity exposure.
A setting full moon illuminates the dunes with dim alpenglow, enhanced by a long, high sensitivity exposure.
Dunes Moonset : Prints Available
A nearly full moon sets beyond the San Luis Valley, as seen from the Great Sand Dunes.
A deep blue early dawn sky casts a luscious blue hue on the dunes during this 2-minute exposure.
Touch of Sunlight : Prints Available
These shades of color lasted only for the brief moment when the rising sunlight was just beginning to touch the dunes.
Rugghubelhütte : Prints Available
The Rugghubel alpine hut sits on a snowy ridge above Engelberg, with a hazy Swiss Alps backdrop - February.
Yesterday I hiked up to the Griessental valley, a photogenic alpine valley that I vowed to return to after seeing it the first time during the Brunistock traverse a few weeks ago. This valley is directly above the town of Engelberg; in fact you can see the Rugghubelhütte (above) from town!
Griessental Sunset : Prints Available
Alpenglow light illuminates the snow-filled valley of Griessental, February.
See a wider version of this one here (Tough to decide which one I prefer).
Ruchstock Moonlight : Prints Available
Full moon light illuminates Ruchstock (2812m) and Hasenstock, February. In this 30-second exposure, at the left is the last light of dusk, and at the right is the glow of city lights under low cloud cover.
I spent four days this week hiking around in the Elk Mountains, where I photographed the rugged and mighty Capitol Peak for three sunsets in a row, from various vantage points. Read more and see LOTS of photos here!
I just posted some photos from a 3-day loop hike starting and ending in Ouray, Colorado, passing through the vast tundra of the Uncompahgre Wilderness along the way. The spectacular sunsets of this summer keep on coming!
This last week we went on a 7-day backpacking trek through the Needle Mountains and Grenadier Range, the most rugged portions of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Here are some snapshots from the trip. See my gallery of photos from the trip here.
The route we took passes through four rugged valleys and over three high passes. This is a strenuous wilderness route, seldom travelled, with slight unmarked trails for only about half the way. The rest of the way requires good map reading, terrain intuition, some bushwhacking, and lots of trial and error. This is the third time I’ve done a long high route in the Needle Mountains, and every time I get a bit lost at some point(s)!
Here I am with the camera.
After over a week of nonstop rainy weather, we finally got out for two nights of camping at Blue Lakes, in the Sneffels Range of Colorado. Though still rainy, the weather broke enough to get out for some nice hikes, including a killer sunrise at the middle Blue Lake.
On Sunday I hiked into Wetterhorn Basin, in the Uncompahgre Wilderness east of Ridgway, Colorado. With all the stormy monsoon weather and fantastic sunsets we’ve been having in the San Juans lately, I had hopes of catching another great sunset in the mountains. I arrived in Wetterhorn Basin just in time to hunker down in the forest as the lightning and thunder rolled through. After an hour or so the storm cleared just as the sun began to dip into a gap on the horizon, lighting up the mountains with spectacular alpenglow!
That night I woke up at 1:40am, and under the full moonlight I climbed up Wetterhorn Peak, the rugged 14,015 ft. mountain that dominates the scene. I’d climbed up the peak once before four years ago, so I kind of remembered how to climb the scrambly exposed route to the summit in the dark. I relaxed up there by myself for four hours, enjoying the sunrise, soaking up the views, and looking at all the other places I’ve hiked around there and would like to hike in the future.
After downclimbing the peak later that morning and strolling back to my campsite, I relaxed for the rest of the day, waiting for the afternoon storm which never seemed to materialize. That night, however, the sky finally unleashed and dumped rain for hours, with lightning and cracking thunder trying to keep me awake. But I was pretty exhausted after my hike that morning, so I managed to sleep like a baby through the storm. The next morning I had a leisurely hike out amongst the wildflowers, wrapping up another nice trip in the wilderness.
>> SEE MY WETTERHORN PHOTOS HERE <<
POSTSCRIPT: When I was on the summit of Wetterhorn, in the early dawn darkness, I could see another headlamp on the high ridgeline to the north. I just KNEW that it must be Jody Grigg, a fellow Colorado photographer, because A) I had seen his name on the trailhead register, B) only a photographer would be on that remote ridgeline for the sunrise, and C) Jody’s one of the few photographers I know who would actually make it up there! Sure enough, a few days after this trip, I got this photo from Jody in my email:
