Trail Ridge Road Sunrise

April 25, 2017 in National Park, Adventure, Photography, Retrospective

Feeling quite inspired, I decided it was time to make the trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a proper sunrise. I don't think I've ever woken up so early, I've stayed up this late many times, but never woke up at 2:30 AM before. I was trying to, of course, beat the sun, but I also had a 2-1/2 hour drive ahead of me. The trip was pretty uneventful until I got into the park, that's when the fun begins.

I made my plane to see the sunrise at the lookout on Trail Ridge Road. This road closes just a few hundred yards above for the winter. The forecast was evident that evening so it would make for a beautiful sunrise, but for freezing temperatures. As I made my way up in elevation towards the lookout, I started hearing crunching noises. Then I started slowing down, eventually stopped and started turning sideways even though I was gunning it. I tried a few more times but was going nowhere, and I was running out of time. I got out to see what I was dealing with and that's when I realized what the crunching sound was, about a 1/2 inch of ice.

With no time to waste and knowing that the road was closed ahead, I decided to leave my truck where it was stuck in the middle of the lane and deal with it later. Unfortunately, I still had about a mile or s ahead of me to get to the viewpoint.

Thankfully I made it with enough time to set up and not be too stressed for time. The sunrise was amazing. There is something so special about dawn maybe its that fact that so little see them compared to sunsets. I had the place all to myself, not a soul in sight. Just me and the beauty before me.

Once I was done soaking it all in, I carefully made my way back down the ice road to deal with the truck. Luckily being stuck on an incline with the downhill direction being where I wanted to go, it wasn't that difficult to get unstuck. I did a bit of exploring of the park afterwards hoping to find some elk, but didn't see any. Later that week I replaced my old worn out city tires with a new set of all terrains.

Photography Date: 4-25-17
Writing Date: 3-18-18

Bighorn Sheep

April 23, 2017 in National Park, Photography, Retrospective

Every time we've gone by Horseshoe Falls, it's always been incredibly crowded. So naturally we've stayed away, but we could only ignore it for so long and decided it was time to see what the fuss was about. We got out there bright and early to avoid all the crowds. Our plan was successful, and we had the falls all to ourselves.

We made our way up the short hike to the falls and explored the area for a bit. Navigating the river turned out to be a little more tricky than I thought it would be with fresh ice over all the rocks. It was nearly impossible to tell a wet rock from a frozen one.

We eventually made our way up the mountainside, noting some fresh bear tracks, up to a little meadow. To our delight across the distance was a resting heard of Bighorn Sheep. I'd never seen these guys before with my own eyes, so I was pretty excited. It was right then that my camera battery decided to die, I couldn't believe it, I even had a spare battery in the truck. Hopping it was just from the cold or something like that, I put the battery in my pocket and made my way to the sheep.

Jesse recently picked up an excellent 70-300mm lens so he was sniping these guys out. After he got some shots, he let me borrow his lens and my battery in the pocket idea worked giving me a few shots. How awesome it is to see new wildlife up close in person, and with this zoom lens, really close. After that, I pretty much immediately bought myself the same lens, I didn't want to miss an opportunity like that ever.

Photography Date: 4-23-17
Writing Date: 3-18-18

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The Old Crags Hotel

March 12, 2017 in Retrospective, Photography, Hike

We were planning another weekend hike when Jesse's daughter wanted to come along, so we picked a trail close to home with not too much effort but a huge payoff. We headed out to Eldorado Canyon State Park to take the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail up to the Continental Divide Overlook and to see the ruins of the Old Crags Hotel. It was a short yet fun adventure.

Photography Date: 3-12-17
Writing Date: 3-18-18

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Another Shot at Fern Lake

February 18, 2017 in National Park, Photography, Adventure, Retrospective

Jesse's good friend Logan was in town for some business and wanted to add in a bit of adventure, so we made plans to head up into Rocky Mountain National Park. We decided to hike into Fern Lake which was perfect for me as I failed to see it on the last hike, though we would be coming in from another trailhead. The morning started off with a bit of excitement; I was pulled over right in front of Jesse's place right as I got there. The police were called about a little pickup being up to no good, but it was a case of mistaken identity, and I was let go.

We made our way up the trail in the early blue hour before sunrise. Nothing but our laughter could be heard as we told jokes and shared stories and goofed around. Maybe we would have seen more wildlife if we were quieter, but oh well. The trail seemed to just go up for miles more than we planned for, up up up, until we finally made it to Fern Lake. To be honest, it wasn't much to look at. We knew the lake would be frozen, but the snow had blown over it covering it completely. It just seemed like a snow-covered field. That was ok; sometimes it is about the journey and not the destination.

Photography Date: 2-18-17
Writing Date: 3-14-18

I Couldn't Make it

January 07, 2017 in National Park, Photography, Retrospective

After talking for a while, my friend Jeff and I finally decided to get out and explore. We landed on the Fern Lake trail, but rather than coming in from Moraine Park; we would take the trail from Bear Lake. Rocky Mountain Park had gotten a lot of snow recently so that snowshoes would be required. I didn't own a set and had never used them before, but Jeff had some spare and would show me the ropes. At the time I had a problem with my hip, it would flare up after a long hike and get pretty sore. The kind of sore that made you want to sit still. I didn't think it was going to be a problem, because it was something that flared up towards the end of the day, but there was something about how I had to walk with the snowshoes that agitated it from the being.

We started our hike with the sun rising over our shoulders as the dim light trickled down through the trees. The trail was surprisingly busy that early morning, but I later learned it was a pretty popular starting trail that cut off to many different routes later on. We soon broke free from the rest and began blazing our trail through fresh snow. We did a test and discovered we were on top of over six feet of snow in one area. The snowshoes made keeping on top of the snow reasonably secure, but my hip didn't like the new movements to accommodate for the shoes.

The whole morning we were protected from the wind since we were deep in the trees, but once we came into this massive clearing, we realized how fast it was blowing. It pierced through layers like you were wearing a t-shirt. I quickly put my coat back on as we headed out to explore. Because the wind was able to blow down the mountain so fast and the snow was so dry, when it would finally grab hold of something, it would build these beautiful structures and shapes. We spent some time exploring this area before my hip pain finally beat me, and I could take no more. Something about pushing yourself to the limits while on a hike is that you still need to make it back, this is not something I thought well out.

We ended up turning around and make our way back to the truck. We got nearly half way to our destination before I pooped out, the feeling of defeat was overwhelming. I also felt pretty bad for Jeff too, as ai know he wanted to do more exploring than I was able. After limping back to the truck, we drove around the park a bit to check out a few areas we hadn't seen yet in the snow. Besides my hip hurting, the day turned out pretty good, and Jeff was a great sport.

Photography Date: 1-7-17
Writing Date: 3-9-18