Another one of those beautiful, “This is Colorado” scenes that we oftentimes take for granted here. Sitting at St. Vrain State Park this past Saturday, I could see this balloon rising into the calm, cool morning air far off in the distance. It was initially too far away but eventually it drifted east allowing for a nice capture. Yeah, we live in a pretty cool place.
Rocky Mountain reflections
An unexpected, beautiful scene this past Sunday.
I arrived at my first photo stop of the day at this lake in northern Colorado, hoping to photograph some birds. While they were there and I was taking pics of them, I looked to the west and was struck by the near perfect reflection on the water.
As is par for my luck, I didn’t have my wide-angle landscape gear with me so I sprinted back to my truck, grabbed what I needed, then ran back to the spot and began snapping pics. Glad I did!
It was a nice view of the foothills and of course, dominating front and center was 13,916 foot high Mount Meeker with the 14,259 foot Longs Peak behind it. I could stare for hours at scenes like this – and oftentimes do.
Wintry scenes following the storm
Friday brought a nice snowstorm to the Colorado Front Range, coating the landscape in a blanket of white. Temperatures close to single digits followed yesterday morning throwing a hoar frost into the mix. That made for some pretty cool scenes from wide angles to closeups. Here are a few of my favorites from my outing. Stay warm!
Moody skies about the sunlit Rocky Mountains
Ahhh! Love this! We’ve had a lot of cloud cover over the Colorado Front Range today as a cold front approaches. When I left work today, I couldn’t help but notice that while we had clouds, the mountains were lit up with sun. Best of all, the lower atmosphere was crystal clear affording an amazing view of those peaks.
Needless to say, I sought out some high ground to try to capture the show. I took bunches of images from wide panoramas to ones like this, zoomed in. My daughter says this is the one I should share now so here you go. 😉 You get a fantastic view of those purple mountain majesties with Mount Meeker front and center and Longs Peak peeking out from behind.
Pastel-colored lenticulars in the Colorado foothills
This is a spot you have seen me share pictures from before but, goodness, this Saturday it was a particularly awesome view.
The sun was just starting to creep over the horizon in the east. To the west, this is the view that unfolded over a historical farm. Above, the clouds glowed in pastel-colored pinks and oranges. On the horizon, the Rocky Mountains with Mount Meeker and Longs Peak standing tall and proud just behind and to the left of the barn.
Beautiful!
It is with good reason that when I am photographing in the Longmont area, I usually time my arrival to coincide with sunrise at this spot.
Elk bugles in the shadow of a giant
Just a gorgeous, fall scene in the Rocky Mountains. I spent a morning a few weeks ago in the Upper Beaver Meadows area of Rocky Mountain National Park watching the elk.
The action was pretty light and a bit further away than I would have preferred but that allowed me to capture this cool scene. Below, a massive elk bull bugles and the sound echoes throughout the valley. Behind him, the indomitable, 14,259-foot high Longs Peak with some light, wispy clouds circling its rocky face.
I just sat on a rock, soaking it all in.
Little people, big mountain
Kind of a fun, random shot from this past summer.
Taken from near the top of Mount Evans, looking across at Mount Bierstadt. I had taken the easier route to 14,000 feet, driving to the top of Mount Evans. These folks had hiked from the opposite side of Mount Bierstadt to summit that 14,065 foot peak.
The two mountain peaks are a bit over a mile away from each other and with the naked eye, you probably would not have seen the people on the opposite peak.
First light on Longs Peak
For those on the Colorado Front Range or, particularly if you ever visit Rocky Mountain National Park, this is a mountain you are well familiar with.
The 14,259-foot high peak dominates the view from virtually every direction. This past Sunday morning, I had pulled up a nice, quiet spot in the park to just sit and watch the sunrise and listen to the elk bugle.
As the sun peeked over the horizon, it lit up “The Diamond,” a 1,000 foot sheer cliff on the east side of Longs Peak. The low clouds and soft light provided some nice accents to what was a beautiful view on a chilly late summer morning.
Unnamed Alaskan mountain provides a nice view from camp
For some reason, lately my mind has been wandering back to 2019 and our two week RV excursion there. It was an absolute amazing time with sights, sounds and creatures that I pray I will someday be able to see again.
During our time near Seward, we camped north of town between there and Exit Glacier. Out the back of our campsite, this was the view that greeted us. After the trip I shared a more fog-shrouded image of the mountain in black and white but in looking back, I came across this gem.
Early morning I would walk to the edge of the Resurrection River and just sit, coffee cup in hand, taking in the view and the sounds of the river’s waters. Sigh. The green of the foliage and the blue above were so brilliant. Throw in some snow and, if you look close, waterfalls, and it was pretty darned awesome.
Old Glory at 12,000 feet
A bit of a day off from photo taking yesterday as my brothers and son went for a “boys ride” in my UTV and ATVs. Our destination was Kingston Peak which tops out at 12,153 feet.
At the top, we were greeted with amazing views from well-above timberline and, perhaps appropriately for September 11, Old Glory flapping in the wind. Certainly I had hopped to see some critters but was quite pleased just to have seen the view from the top.