If you happen upon a copy of the October 2008 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine, flip to the back and check out my Plitvice waterfalls in Croatia photo, which is featured in the “Strange Planet” section.
Baldy Peak Aspens
Golden aspens high up on Baldy Peak, looking towards the Ouray valley.
Twin Peaks from Ouray
Twin Peaks, as seen from my porch, in Ouray. This is the view I see out of my window every day as I work on the computer. It’s pretty torturous to gaze up there wishing I was hiking when I’m stuck in the office! As you can see, the fall colors are filling in around here. We also got some thunder and pouring rain from these dark clouds, which is a bit unusual this late in the season.
Twin Peaks Sunset
Sunset as seen from the slopes of Twin Peaks, above Ouray, Colorado.
Sunset on Timpanogos
This last weekend I went up to Utah to visit my parents, who are building a house in Midway, and my sister, who was visiting and is about to move back to Berlin. On Saturday night I was supposed to go to a play with them, but my mom was kind enough to let me play hooky to go hike up Mount Timpanogos instead.
Since it was almost a full moon, I decided to go watch the sunset from the summit and hike back down under the moonlight. I’ve been up the mountain twice before via the Aspen Grove trail (including a glorious snowboard descent), so this time I took a different trail – the Timpooneke Trail. The trail gains ~4,500 feet over ~8 miles, and after a quick three hour hike I reached the summit at 5pm, with a full two hours to relax up there by myself, soaking in the views and taking photos.
Timpanogos may be Utah’s most beloved mountain, and indeed on this Saturday I counted over 300 signatures in the summit register – all from that day! It’s great to see to see that so many people enjoy this majestic peak that’s in their backyard.
See my sunset photos from Timpanogos here.
I look forward to returning soon and photographing Timp under a blanket of winter snow.
Courthouse Sunset
Sunset last night from the summit of Courthouse Mountain, 12,152 feet, near Ridgway, Colorado. The La Sal Mountains near Moab, Utah are visible on the horizon. Snapshot with Ricoh GX100 camera.
Evening on Hayden
The last rays of sunlight shine on the slope of Hayden Mountain near Ouray, Colorado.
Grizzly Peak
Grizzly Peak, 13,738 feet, reflected in a small pond in the San Juan Mountains near Silverton, Colorado. Notice how the grass is starting to turn its golden yellow autumn color.
Luck in the Needle Mountains
This last week I did a 7 day backpacking trip through the high and rugged Needle Mountains south of Silverton, Colorado. See my photos from the trip here. This trip had a couple unexpected events in store for me, but fortunately, Lady Luck was really by my side this time.
A near tragedy for my camera! I woke up at 3:30am one morning, and hiked up 1200 feet in the dark to the summit of aptly-named Knife Point, a 13,265-foot spire with a killer view into the heart of the Needle Mountains. Once the dawn light started illuminating the surrounding peaks, I started to take some photos. At one point, I decided to switch spots, and grabbing my tripod I started bounding up some rocks to get to the other side of the summit. I heard an odd jiggling sound coming from my tripod, and turned to look just in time to see my camera falling off the tripod, crashing and bouncing off boulders. Oh crap. In a state of shock and denial, I jumped down to the camera, noticing shattered glass and dismembered plastic. OH CRAP!
CDT: South San Juans
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.
