Post-sunset glow on the walls of the Black Canyon, Colorado, as seen from the bottom of the Warner Route.
In late October my buddy Kevin and I hiked down the Warner Route and camped along the Gunnison River at the bottom of the Black Canyon for a night. We brought our fishing rods for the “gold metal” water, and it did not disappoint! We caught a bunch of brown trout and kept a few for dinner. Delicious!
Dinner!
I floated and fished the lower Gunnison Gorge with my dad a couple times back in 2007 and 2008; you can see those photos here.
For all of August and September 2017, my wife and I lived out of our truck and tent while traveling around and backpacking in our great state of Colorado. We did over a dozen backpacking trips in various mountain ranges throughout the state, including the Flat Tops, Gore Range, Sawatch Range, San Juans, Sangre de Cristos, and Indian Peaks. I’ve posted my various photo journals from each trek on the Trip Reports page of my gallery site; here links to all those journals, in chronological order.
In late July we did a quick one-nighter backpack trip in the Flat Tops Wilderness of Colorado, from Trappers Lake up towards Trappers Peak. We camped near one of hundreds of lakes that dot the high alpine plateau and enjoyed a sunset at the top of Trappers Peak.
In early August we backpacked into the rugged north end of the Gore Range and Eagles Nest Wilderness for three nights. We hiked the Upper Piney River Trail for while, branched off on a faint boot trail then camped the first night in the high basin below Mount Powell and Kneeknocker Pass. On day two we crossed over the pass and hiked to the summit of Mount Powell, the highest peak in the Gore Range. I’ve wanted to hike Mount Powell for about 20 years but never got around to it, so it was quite satisfying to finally stand on the summit! After some rough off trail routefinding we spent the next two nights at a remote alpine lake before hiking all the way back out the way we came.
After our backpack trip in the northern Gore Range, we drove over to the east side and backpacked into the Eagles Nest Wilderness again, this time to Willow Lakes. I’d backpacked here 12 years ago and I was excited to show Claudia this place and hopefully to photographic some nice light too! We spent a couple nights up there, generally relaxing and exploring this beautiful basin. I was fortunate to photograph some of the best sunrise light of the summer here!
In early August we set out into the Holy Cross Wilderness (in the Sawatch Range of Colorado generally between Vail and Leadville) for a 3-night backpack trek. We spent our first night at the super popular Missouri Lakes then explored an off trail route over a high ridgeline to a remote and pristine lake where we spent the second day and night. We spent our third night near Blodgett Lake before hiking back via Fancy Pass and Holy Cross City, completing an irregular loop through this beautiful wilderness area.
In mid-August we backpacked around the headwaters of the South Fork Clear Creek near Huron Peak in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness and Sawatch Range of Colorado. The last time I hiked in this area was back in 2008, but this time we hiked the long way in here from the south from Taylor Park and Texas Creek, via the Continental Divide Trail and a high pass above Lake Ann. Though we spent three days out here, most of my photos below were from one fantastic evening watching sunset atop an unnamed peak above Lake Ann.
After spending my birthday with some friends in Ouray, we drove up some of the jeep roads above Red Mountain Pass and car camped a few nights up there. We drove rough high elevation old mining roads eastward through the San Juans over Corkscrew Pass, Hurricane Pass, California Pass, and Cinnamon Pass, then did a one night backpack trip into Cataract Gulch near the 14er Sunshine Peak.
While hiking to South Zapata Lake the day before, we got a good view of the Great Sand Dunes, and I could see vast fields of sunflowers all around and in the dunes. I took a mental note of where the largest sunflower fields were and the next day we hiked into the dunes towards these areas. Though we intended to camp in the dunes for the night, enormous thunderclouds rolled in and scared us out of there! Fortunately I was able to photograph the sunflowers without getting struck by lightning!
In late August/early September, we spent five days camped at South Colony Lakes in the Sangre de Cristo range in Colorado. Surrounded by three 14ers, including the rugged Crestone Needle towering directly overhead, this basin is supremely awesome — one of the classic gems of Colorado. During our stay here we summited Crestone Needle and Humboldt Peak, along with lots of chilling out around the lake in between.
In early September we spent a night up at North Halfmoon Lakes below Mount Massive. Though our plans to hike the peak were thwarted by high winds and hazy skies from the wildfires in the northwestern US, we still enjoyed an evening and morning at the lake.
From the Gore Range we drove further north to Indian Peaks, were we backpacked to a remote and beautiful basin where we spent two nights. Indian Peaks was where I did most of my first backpacking trips back in my college days at CU Boulder, and I quickly became a backpacking fanatic after that! It’s been over a decade since I’ve returned, and it felt like seeing an old friend again.
After our backpacking trip in Indian Peaks it was about time for a rest, so we spent a few nights camping at the Moraine Park campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. I must say it was quite magical to fall asleep each night listening to the elk bugling in the big meadow below us during their autumn rut.
In late September with a forecast for a quick but powerful autumn snowstorm, we returned to Indian Peaks to one of my favorite spots – Mirror Lake and its incredible view of Lone Eagle Peak. After spending the night in an intense blizzard we awoke to bluebird skies and a glorious snow-smothered scene. This was our final backpacking trip of our two months on the road in Colorado, and it was fitting that my favorite photo of the whole trip came that morning!
After some our snowy backpacking trip in Indian Peaks, Claudia had had enough of the cold, so we escaped to the desert of Utah for dry land and warmer weather. We spent a couple nights relaxing and hiking at one of our favorite spots on a remote plateau high above the Green River, then spent a night at Swaseys Beach just north of the town of Green River. This was a relaxing end to our two months on the road!
On the way back home from Utah we spent one last night camping at the South Rim of the Black Canyon. The next day we drove back to Crested Butte and started moving back into our condo, and our big summer trip was official over.
The world famous lakeside town of Hallstatt, Austria.
The final destination of our three-week northern limestone Alps tour in July was the Dachstein mountain range of Austria. Starting from near the Südwandhütte, above the lovely village of Ramsau on the south side of the range, we hiked for three days around and over the Dachstein to the famous village of Hallstatt on the north side, via the Hofpürglhütte, Adamek-Hütte, and Simony Hütte.
Sunrise behind Watzmann (2713 m / 8900 ft), as seen from the summit of Grosse Hundstod (2590 m / 8497 ft).
Berchtesgaden is a famous Bavarian mountain resort town in southeast Germany. The area is famous for the gorgeous fjord-like Königssee lake and the massive peak of Watzmann which towers over it. In July we spent three days relaxing around town waiting for the rainy weather to pass — which fortunately it [kind of] did — then we headed out on a three night hut trek around Watzmann via the Wimbachgrieshütte, Ingolstädterhütte, and Kärlingerhaus.
Sunset light illuminates the rugged limestone peaks of the Wilder Kaiser, Austria.
The Eggersteig takes an improbable route up between two immense vertical limestone faces of the Wilder Kaiser. Though this route involves narrow ledges, climbing ladders and cables, and massive exposure, it’s actually possible to do it without a klettersteig (aka, via ferrata) kit.
In July after our trek in the Karwendel we took a bus and train to the town of Kufstein, stocked up on some snacks, and started hiking into the Kaisergebirge, a small but incredibly rugged mountain range that rivals just about anything in the Dolomites as far as sheer jaggedness goes. This would be a shorter two-night trek but would prove to be much more strenuous than our previous one! We spent the first night at the Vorderkaiserfeldenhütte, the second at the Stripsenjochhaus, then climbed over the Wilder Kaiser range via the famous Eggersteig route and down to the village of Ellmau.
A rainbow over the Bavarian town of Mittenwald, with the Karwendel mountains rising behind.
In early July after two weeks in Germany visiting Claudia’s family and friends, I was excited to go down to the Alps for some mountain time! Our first destination was the Karwendel range just north of Innsbruck, Austria. Over the course of 5 days, we hiked from west to east below the jagged spine of this range from the villages of Scharnitz to Pertisau, via the Karwendelhaus, Falkenhütte, Eng Alm, and Lamsenjochhaus. With reasonably short hiking days and not very steep trails, this was a perfect warm up trek to acclimate us to mountain trekking again for the first time this summer.
Six hours of train rides brought us from Freiburg to Mittenwald, the uber-quaint Bavarian village where we had stayed back in 2013 prior to climbing the Zugspitze. So in a way it felt like picking up where we had left off before — on that previous trip we had trekked through the Allgau and Lechtal ranges west of there, and now we would be trekking eastward.
The next day we started walking from the nearby village of Scharnitz, just over the border in Austria. A long but gentle forest road led to the Karwendhaus, spectacularly situated on the edge of a dramatic cliff overlooking the Karwendaltal valley. Coincidentally, shortly after arriving at the hut Claudia ran into four of her former classmates from her university days in Freiburg!
The Karwendelhaus hut overlooks the Karwendeltal as clouds clear after a rainy night in early July.
It started raining just as we arrived at the hut, but later in the evening everybody was thrilled to see the sunset light burst through the clouds in this spectacular display of light!
The setting sun beams over the Karwendeltal valley through a gap in the clouds.
The next day we hiked further along the range to the Falkenhütte, located at another spectacular site underneath the massive vertical north face walls of the Karwendel.
A nearly full moon rises behind Sundial Peak and Lake Blanche.
Last night we did a quick backpack hike from Big Cottonwood Canyon to Lake Blanche and Sundial Peak, in the Twin Peaks Wilderness of the Wasatch Range in Utah. Though the wind was relentless during our stay, we had fun exploring this lovely basin and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and moonrise above the lake.
An Ancestral Puebloan kiva with a view of the Milky Way.
At the end of May we spent three days hiking through the upper portion of Grand Gulch, in Cedar Mesa, Utah. This was the third time I’ve backpacked in Grand Gulch, but the first since the area was designated as part of Bears Ears National Monument by President Obama in 2016. Nothing has changed as far as I can tell – just the same amazing canyon scenery and fascinating archeological history to be found around nearly every bend. See more pictures from the canyon below!
If you follow this blog, you might have noticed that I haven’t posted any new photos in over two months! Recently I have started getting emails from people wondering if I’m alright, or if I’ve given up on my website or photography in general. Well, let me assure you I’m still alive and kicking. The thing is, back at the end of December when I was longboarding a ditch in Albuquerque, I slipped on a slick spot where someone had poured paint and I badly sprained my wrist. I didn’t think much of it at the time and even did another run, but later on I realized something was seriously messed up. X-rays, an MRI, numerous doctor and therapy visits, three months, and thousands of dollars later, my wrist is still messed up but slowly healing. It wasn’t broken but it was pretty much as badly sprained as can be without needing surgery. Unfortunately it killed any prospect for backcountry adventures this winter/spring since I can’t hold a pole, rip skins, or use a shovel if I had to. Fortunately I’ve still been able to snowboard at the ski area, which has kept me sane enough. But since pretty much all my winter photography is done while hiking or splitboarding, I haven’t had hardly any new photos to share all winter. So… bummer.
On a brighter note, I have lots of adventures in store for the summer! We will be homeless again all summer and will spend five weeks in Germany and Austria, followed by two months of backpacking around in Colorado, which I’m super excited about since we’ve been elsewhere for the last two summers. I still love Colorado the best! With that in mind, here are some new old photos I dug out of my archives from a solo trek I did through the Needle Mountains in the Weminuche Wilderness back in 2008. Yes, I am dreaming about summer and long to get back into the wilds of the Weminuche, my happy place!
Sunset in the White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, December.
Over the holidays my wife Claudia and I drove down to New Mexico for some desert time and to escape winter for a while. We spent a few days in Santa Fe, camped in the White Sand dunes, hiked in the Organ Mountains, explored the City of Rocks, and I even got to ride the famous ditches of Albuquerque!
