Mountain photos and adventure journals from Colorado.
Today we took advantage of the glorious blue sky weather by hiking up to Ice Lakes Basin to check out the autumn colors up on the tundra there. It was a nice mellow day in the mountains, and a fitting farewell hike to Colorado! (More on that in the next post!)
I had a chuckle when we spotted some ski tracks in the snowfield at upper left in the top photo. Hardcore!
Animas Sunset : Prints Available
Last week we did a 7-day loop trek in and around the Needle Mountains, the rugged heart of the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. As usual, we had some crazy weather during our trip, including lots of lightning, thunder, and several stunning sunrises and sunsets. See lots more photos below! Continue reading “Weminuche High Loop”
Snowmass Lake Alpenglow Reflection : Prints Available
Last week we spent 6 days backpacking around the famous Maroon Bells in the Elk Mountains of Colorado. The photos pretty much tell the story so I won’t say too much else except that it was another great trek in Colorado!
See many more photos below! Continue reading “Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop”
Wetterhorn Sunrise Sunflowers : Prints Available
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! Continue reading “Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre Loop”
A summer monsoon storm rolls over the San Juan Mountains, as seen from Bridge of Heaven above Ouray, Colorado – July.
On Saturday we took advantage of the glorious July weather and hiked up Hayden Mountain. Here’s Claudia hiking up to the 12,578 ft. northern summit of Hayden. The town of Ouray is tucked in the valley far below.
Sneffels Range Tundra Sunset : Prints Available
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
Blue and Green : Prints Available
Lower Blue Lake Wideangle : Prints Available
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
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.
