MOUNTAIN PHOTOGRAPHER

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Colorado




  • Backpacking & Camping, Colorado

    Ultimate Needles High Route

    Today I’m taking off for a 7 day backpacking trip through the Needle Mountains south of Silverton, Colorado. I’ll be doing a similar route as last summer’s trek, except that this time I’ll be hiking up the west side, and then down the east side of the range (last year I just did the west side).

    So, I’ll be taking the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to the Needleton stop, hiking over several high passes to the remote and beautiful Balsam Lake, then I’m going to cross over the range and head down the east side over several passes until I get to the popular Chicago Basin, then back to the Needleton stop to catch the train 7 days later. According to the map the route is only 25 miles, but I know from experience that it’s a very strenuous 25 miles. There are so many epic campspots along the way that I will have plenty to see and photograph for 7 days.

    I’ll back on Monday the 18th.

  • Backpacking & Camping, Colorado

    CDT: South San Juans

    08.07.08 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    Hiking the Continental Divide Trail, Colorado

    This last week I hiked the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the South San Juan Wilderness with two of my friends. It’s a 60+ mile trek from Cumbres Pass near Chama, New Mexico to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Although we initially planned for 6 days out there, we ended up hiking an average of 13 miles per day, finishing in 5 days.

    This hike was the longest distance backpacking trek I’ve ever done, and the first time in a long time that I’ve gone on a trip where the priority for me was the hiking itself, rather than the photography. We had a lot of ground to cover and we spent a good portion of each day just hiking. The photography was mostly unplanned, take-what-you-can-get shots along the way.

    It’s pretty amazing to hike so far, basin after basin, each day looking back at distant mountains on the horizon and knowing that you just walked all the way from there, step by step. Although I usually prefer to hike shorter distances each day (to have more time to relax at each camp spot and concentrate more on photography), the South San Juans are well-suited for this style of long multi-day trekking. The mountains are remote with poor access, and the trail is fairly flat and mostly on high tundra with the logical camping spots being few and far between.

    See my gallery of photos from the trip here.

  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Sunset over Ouray

    08.01.08 | Permalink | 1 Comment

    Ouray Sunset

    Sunset alpenglow light shines on the Amphitheater above the town of Ouray, Colorado. To see the opposite view, looking at the town from the top of the Amphitheater, check out this photo. Goes to show that mountains always feel much bigger when you’re on top of them rather than when you’re looking up at them.

  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Marmots!

    07.31.08 | Permalink | 1 Comment

    A mother and baby marmot perched on a rock up in Ice Lakes Basin, San Juans, Colorado. Check out a zoom crop of the two below.

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  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Boating at 12,000 Feet

    Ice Lake Flowers

    I was up at Ice Lakes Basin today, in the San Juans of Colorado, and saw a boat on the lake at 12,257′! They hauled this inflatable raft almost 2,500 feet up to take this cruise. That is some ambitious leisure.

  • Backpacking & Camping, Colorado

    Ouray-Uncompahgre Loop

    Uncompahgre Wilderness

    This weekend I went on a wonderful 25 mile backpacking loop from Ouray. I started at Bear Creek, a few miles up the road from Ouray, hiked up to the rolling green tundra paradise of the Uncompahgre Wilderness, along the Horsethief Trail to the Bridge of Heaven Trail, then back down into Ouray. I camped two nights along the way.

    The tundra is so beautiful right now, with lush green grass and wildflowers popping up everywhere. In contrast to last week’s brutal bushwhack, this trip was a stroll through paradise. I was practically ecstatic as I walked through one gorgeous basin after another. This hike easily ranks among the best I’ve done in Colorado, and it’s basically in my backyard!

    UPDATE: I’ve finally posted my photos here.

  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Moon above Hayden

    Moon and Clouds

    The moon shines through some funky clouds above Hayden Peak, as seen from my front door in Ouray, Colorado.

  • Backpacking & Camping, Colorado

    Cow Creek Bushwhack

    07.13.08 | Permalink | 10 Comments

    During the last three days, I bushwhacked through the Cow Creek valley, a rugged and remote mountain valley in the Uncompahgre Wilderness of the San Juan Mountains east of Ridgway. My original plan was to hike through the valley and continue up to the high alpine zone, where I would hike a high loop route around to Wetterhorn Basin and then take a trail back to my truck. However this plan was thwarted by geography - the Cow Creek valley is absolutely impassible six miles up, forcing me to turn around and bushwhack all the way back out the way I came.

    Cow Creek, Colorado
    This photo shows a sample of the kind of terrain and bushwhacking I was dealing with the entire time. There are many obstacles along the river which forced me to constantly hike up and down through thick bush and forest and along steep, loose, rocky slopes. Over the three days, I spent 23 hours of tough hiking to cover a mere 12 miles round trip, for an average of about 0.5 miles/hour! I can think of a few words to describe this bushwhack; it was brutal, tedious, frustrating, demoralizing, maddening, hellish, unrewarding, exhausting, etc, etc.

    Below are some more photos from this fruitless exploration.

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  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Dusk in Ouray

    Ouray at Dusk
    [+] Dusk in Ouray, Colorado as seen from the Sutton Mine Trail.

  • Colorado, Photo for Today

    Potosi Peak

    Potosi Peak

    [+] Sunset behind Potosi Peak, 13,786 ft., as seen from the Hayden Trail above Ouray, Colorado. Although it’s only the fourth tallest peak in the Sneffels Range, Potosi dominates the southern side of the range, soaring 5,000 vertical feet above Canyon Creek and Camp Bird Road. It’s a forbidding seldom-climbed peak, surrounded by sheer cliffs and rugged canyons. Read more about Potosi Peak on SummitPost.org.

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