An Autumn Trip To The Tetons

Ok...better late than never with this trip. I've been back for almost two weeks now (we visited the area Oct 1-4), but have been too busy to post about it. My wife and I spent four wonderful days in Grand Teton National Park and I can certainly see why it is such a popular destination for autumn photography. While the weather only cooperated for a couple of those days, they were two very special days in my book and definitely made the long drive to get there worth the while.

Buck and Pole Fence Leading To The Tetons

Before discussing the trip itself, I should back up and make mention of all my pre-trip worries. First off, I kept hearing how the cottonwood colors along the Snake River were far from spectacular this year as they were simply turning a dull orangish, brown. Yuck! Far worse than that were the fire issues going on. In particular, a fire in the vicinity of Mt. Moran in the northern part of the park (started by lightning) was being allowed to burn and was casting a smoky haze over the entire park. From the images I saw, this was horribly affecting most photographic possibilities (with the exception of a few nice sunset shots). Double yuck!!

The day of the trip brought discussion of high winds with snow throughout much of the Rocky Mountain region. This turned out to be good and bad. Good in that the powers that be saw the danger of allowing the fire to burn during such windy conditions and decided that it needed to be put out. End of the fire issue. The snow that the park received also helped to clear the air. End of the hazy sky conditions. Woo Hoo. Of course, there's no free lunch and we payed for this turn of events by having to make the long drive in difficult conditions. Snowfall, heavy at times, dogged us through the Wasatch Range in Utah and throughout our journey north through Wyoming. It was all worth it though when I got up the following morning and drove out to Schwabacher's Landing (along the Snake River) with a fresh layer of snow covering the valley floor. Despite the fact that the mountains were hidden behind a cloak of heavy clouds, it was a beautiful sight!

Unfortunately, the mountains refused to make an appearance all day so a good part of the it was spent location scouting and searching for wildlife. I quickly discovered that the place to be in the park was the Oxbow Bend area in the northern section as the aspens were peaking with glorious colors. This made the decision of where to shoot the following morning a no-brainer. My only hope was that the mountains would make an appearance by then.

Oxbow Bend Panoramic

An early wake-up in our hotel in Jackson had me keeping my fingers crossed. I saw nothing but stars overhead, but there are no vantage points to the Tetons from town (they're obscured behind surrounding buttes) and it wasn't until we had driven for 10 minutes or so that I began to see the silhouettes of the peaks. Things got even better when we arrived at Oxbow Bend to find steam rising off the water and more low hanging clouds sitting over Jackson lake, but not completely obscuring Mt. Moran. Even in the dark I was getting excited about the photographic prospects that lay ahead. I wasn't disappointed as it blossomed into a beautiful sunrise that I got share with about a hundred of my closest friends (the many other photographers who knew this was THE morning to photograph this location)!

Oxbow Bend At Dawn

The superb conditions lasted a number of hours as low hanging clouds clung to the entire range making for some wonderful atmospherics to compliment the magnificent scenery. I was in heaven all morning!

Teton Reflection

The latter half of that day was spent in search of wildlife as the sky completely cleared off and the landscape prospects were not all that appealing. A majority of the scenic locations within the park are far better shot in the morning anyway as the Tetons lie to the west and receive great morning light. Getting back to the wildlife topic, I must say that we were very disappointed with our efforts to get satisfying shots. It wasn't for the lack of finding subjects. We saw plenty of moose, bison, antelope, and even a couple of black bears. We just couldn't get them close enough and/or in pleasing locations not obscured by a buzzillion branches and twigs. Still, it was fun just to be able to be in the presence of such magnificent animals.

The remainder of our trip was so-so or poor photographically. The following morning was a cold and clear 10 degrees and, while the view from Schwabacher Landing was nice, it just didn't compare to the wonderful conditions of the previous morning.

Classic Schwabacher Landing Sunrise View

The evening saw a build up of cloud cover in advance of another approaching winter storm so we spent it hoping to get some decent shots of the bull moose being sighted near the Oxbow Bend area. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain. Our last day was overcast with periodic snow and high winds. It seemed like a good time to finally bow to my wife's wishes to spend some quality time in the shops of Jackson. Over dinner we both agreed that a return trip in the spring to photograph the wildflower bloom was a must-do. I can't wait!

To see a collection of my images from the trip, click on the link below...

Autumn in the Tetons

Weminuche Wilderness Backpacking Trip

I recently returned from my major trip of the summer...a six day backpacking trip into the heart of some of the best scenery that the Weminuche Wilderness Area has to offer. The Weminuche is Colorado's largest wilderness area at nearly a half million acres and lies within the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. This particular trip circumnavigated the two most spectacular subranges in the wilderness...the Needles and Grenadier ranges. All told the trip involved 40 miles of rugged mountain hiking totaling nearly 8000 ft of vertical gain. The highest elevation during the trip topped out at 12,800ft. I was joined by an old friend, Greg Rynders, who flew out from Minnesota to experience what Colorado has to offer. For both of us, it would be the first time on a backpacking trip of such magnitude.

I thought I was in decent enough shape for this adventure but soon found out that wasn't really the case. None of the training I put in quite prepared me for the ordeal of lugging a 50lb pack over long, steep trails at high altitude. In other words...the trip was exhausting!! I had all I could do to perform my photographic duties before/after each long, arduous day on the trail. It also didn't help that this area's nickname "The Storm Factory" lived up to its billing. Day after day, we were stalked by waves of afternoon and evening thunderstorms bringing with them rain, hail, sleet, lightning and cold winds. Only our last day was completely dry. While stormy weather can often be a boon to photographic endeavors, I found that in our case it was more of a hindrance than a help. Thus, I felt that my photographic production over the course of the trip was a bit disappointing.

What follows is a brief day by day account of my experiences over the course of the trip.

Day 1 : An easy day to be sure. It started with an 8:15am departure on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge train. After a scenic, but slow ride of over three hours we were dropped off at the Elk Park stop, right at the doorstep of the wilderness. We planned a short first day of hiking - only three miles, mostly to allow Greg a chance to acclimate before beginning the trip in earnest. As it turned out, it was beneficial to myself as well as I huffed and puffed up the 1000 ft vertical gain. It was a real eye opener to find out that I hadn't adequately trained! This didn't bode well for the remainder of the trip!

We stopped and camped at a set of beaver ponds in the Elk Creek drainage that I had wanted to photograph. It was a spectacular setting with 13,000+ ft. Vestal and Arrow Peaks towering over the ponds. As it turned out, both the evening and morning light were spectacular so I was glad we spent the night there!


First Light On Vestal Peak

Day 2: After my first day experiences on the trail, I reckoned this day was going be a tough one. It involved an 8 mile trek with 2600 ft. of vertical gain which would take us up to the Continental Divide and over to Kite Lake where we would make camp. My reckoning was definitely correct! The storms really ramped up today as they started before noon and lasted until the early evening hours. We were caught in one above treeline as we were making our way up to the divide, but fortunately the lightning was all cloud to cloud. After the first couple of miles, the climbing was pretty much non stop on this day and I was absolutely exhausted when we finally reached Kite Lake. But my thinking was that what didn't kill me today would only make me stronger over the rest of the trip...so I just sucked it up and trudged on.

I was definitely spurred on by the views that started opening up once we got above treeline. The profusion of wildflowers were quite a treat as well. I tried to take advantage of these views with some backpacking shots of Greg (which, of course gave me excuses to rest along the way!). A nice lunch while atop the divide (in between storms) also served to reinvigorate my weary bones.


Greg Hiking Up To The Continental Divide

From my research, I figured that Kite Lake wasn't going to be the most photographic of lakes in the area and I was right. The lake is actually out of the wilderness boundary and has some old mining remnants around it. Also the cliffs surrounding it serve to block out the more spectacular peaks in the distance. It wasn't a big deal as the weather didn't cooperate too much anyway.

Day 3: This was our longest day of the trip as we logged a little under 11 miles. Fortunately, unlike the previous day, most of this was downhill. However, we did have to trudge up Hunchback pass before we could take advantage of all that downhill. While getting up there was far from easy, I was at least beginning to notice the aerobic benefits from the previous day. With an 8am start on the trail, we got to take advantage of beautiful morning weather while crossing the pass. Unfortunately, it didn't last. By the time we got down to treeline the intermittent rains began to appear. By the time we had lunch and forded Rock Creek, it began to storm in earnest. It was too bad as the orange, mineral-stained Rock Creek would've been a great place to putz around photographically, but the heavy rains made us decide to move on.


Greg Fording Rock Creek

While the weather served to dampen our spirits greatly the rest of the day, what was even more frustrating was the lack of campsites we encountered while making our way down the Vallecito drainage. We had intended to stop well before the 11 mile mark, but had to keep going until we finally found a place to pitch a tent. That didn't happen until we finally found a site (albiet a nice site) before the Roell Creek crossing. It stormed on and off pretty much until sunset. This was the worst photographic day of the trip and had me wondering when my luck was gonna change!

Day 4: This day we made our way down the last couple of miles of the Vallecito drainage and started up towards the infamous Columbine Pass. With the weather pattern being what it was, we had no intention of trying to get above treeline in the afternoon hours. We just wanted to be in a position to cross the pass early the next day. As usual, the morning was beautiful and we enjoyed our stroll down to the Vallecito Creek bridge crossing and even making our way up the Johnson Creek canyon. Johnson Creek is truly spectacular as it carves out many gorges and spills over many waterfalls on its short journey from Columbine Lake to Vallecito Creek. After taking some time to investigate and photograph some of the lower sections of the creek, Mother Nature intervened once again as darker clouds quickly moved in.


Waterfall Along Johnson Creek

The rest of this day's hike would be completed under cold, stormy skies. My backpack (which did not have a rain shield) seemed to grow heavier with each step as it soaked in the rain while we ascended the switchbacking trail. I quickly grew weary and began cursing the weather gods. It was still raining when we found a campsite and we plopped down beneath a tree and ate a late lunch in the rain. We took turns cursing the weather until finally it broke and gave us a window of opportunity to set up camp, dry out, and warm up. Unfortunately, it didn't last long until the next wave settled in.

Photography that night was limited to shooting wildflower macros in between rain showers. That was until the sun unexpectedly made an appearance just a few minutes before sunset and began casting an amazing glow upon Organ and Amherst Peaks to our east. I scrambled to gather up my camera gear and made haste to a location along Johnson Creek that I had scouted out earlier in the evening. Thankfully I was able to get off a few shots before the glow subsided. While I wished more of the peaks could've been glowing, the scene was still my favorite of the trip.


Last Rays Hitting Organ and Amherst Peaks

Day 5: Today the plan was to take our time making our way up to Columbine Lake and over the pass and utilize the nice morning weather to shoot the spectacular scenics along the way. Hah!!!! Mother Nature would have nothing to do with that! We woke up to a cloudy sky for the first time this morning and by 8:30 it already started to rain. Man this was getting old! We got a brief respite just before arriving at Columbine Lake and enjoyed a few minutes of sunshine before heading up the final switchbacks to the pass.

Wildflowers Near Columbine Pass

Man, were those switchbacks steep! As the end was in sight, we started to notice the black sky on the other side of the pass. By the time we reached it, we were being pelted by driving hail and serenaded with the sound of thunder. No time to enjoy the view here. Wouldn't want to do that! So we hustled down towards Chicago Basin (our goal for the evening) and made our camp.

Once I saw Chicago Basin, I could understand why its so wildly popular. The basin is surrounded by three 14,000 ft. peaks with waterfalls cascading down their lower reaches. Mountain goats are plentiful and easy photographic subjects as they are unfortunately habituated to the presence of humans. This can actually make them a nuisance if you're not careful around them. Because of the basin's beauty and the presence of the three very climbable 14ers, it is very crowded as peak baggers flock to the area. We knew this going in and just dealt with it. It was our last night in the wilderness anyway so it was time to get used to the presence of people again!

Photographically speaking, Chicago Basin was a mixed bag. Unfortunately, the afternoon and early evening thunderstorms (with some wicked lightning) hindered our exploring greatly. I wanted to trek up to the Twin Lakes area, but that just wasn't going to happen. The shots one can get from the basin itself are rather limited as the peaks don't receive great light (at least at this time of year) in either the evening or morning due to its southwestern alignment. There's some nice waterfall photography to be had, but I just ran out of time to do much. I just decided that I was going to have to write the evening off as a scouting venture for a future trip and just enjoy the scenery in a non-photography sense.

Day 6: Exit day! Both of us were ready to get back to civilization this morning. We had spent the previous evening talking about beer, buffalo wings, ice cream, mountain dew, etc. so now it was time to partake! It would be a quick six mile walk all downhill today to the Needelton train stop where we'd flag down the train for our return trip to Durango. The day started clear and, amazingly, actually stayed that way. It would've been easy to complain that we didn't get a nice day until it was time to leave, but I was really happy we didn't have to deal with thunderstorms while waiting for the train. It was also cool to watch a group of rafters making their way down the Upper Animas while we waited. I photographed them from the bridge at Needleton and have already sold one of the shots to a local publication. So the trip's already paid for!!


Rafters on the Upper Animas River

To see more shots from this trip, click on the following link...

Weminuche Backpacking Trip Images


All the physical hardships and bad weather aside, this was still one of the best and most memorable trips I've ever undertaken. It had been a while since I last immersed myself so completely in a wilderness setting over such a period of time. Hopefully, I won't wait so long to do it again!

Man Against Nature

Well, in this case, nature most definitely won! My plans to overnight at a high altitude lake near Telluride were thwarted last night when lightning from a wicked early evening thunderstorm drove me off the mountain. My targeted destination for this trip was Hope Lake, a beautiful emerald green lake nestled high in the San Miguel subrange of the San Juan Mountains. Unlike my previous backpack trip to Crater Lake, this area was well above treeline so weather was even more of a concern. After waiting out an early afternoon thunderstorm, a clearing trend seemed to be prevailing. Since the trek to the lake was only 3 miles, I figured I would give it a go and return if the weather soured.

Note to self: Never, ever consider spending the night on the tundra if there's even the slightest risk of thunderstorms in the forecast!

The trip to the lake was very pleasant despite the endless switchbacks during the second half of the hike. The views back to the San Miguels towering over Trout Lake below were magnificent and I was looking forward to a great evening at my destination.


Trout Lake and the San Miguel Range

My enthusiam was dampened a bit when I got above treeline and clouds started rolling over the peaks in front of me, but at least they didn't seem of the threatening nature. I arrived at the lake and quickly dropped my pack to take a load off and enjoy the view. After a quick chat with another couple heading back down, I dug through my pack for my camera gear and began to wander around looking for compositions. Not long after that the first of the really dark clouds started to make their way over the craggy peaks in front of me and I heard the first distant rumble of thunder.


Hope Lake

"Aw Crap!" I uttered to myself (or something to that effect). I quickly ripped off a few shots and started coming to the realization that I was way too exposed to ride out a storm anywhere near the lake. I packed up and headed out of the cirque surrounding the lake only to find that the storm clouds had already filled in all the way down the valley. Just then the first crack of lightning (less than a mile away) jolted me into the realization that it was time to run! Down the muddy mountainside I went trying to move as fast as I could with a 40 lb pack and with full knowledge that I was carrying two aluminum lightning rods (my trekking poles). After another nearby lightning strike I quickly came to the conclusion that it would be crazy to try to reach the larger stands of pines below as they were just too far away. I was now in the vicinity of a few stunted 10ft pines and I made a beeline for those. Just before reaching them I felt my legs go from under me, resulting in what must have been a most ungainly looking seat drop into the mud. From there I basically slid down to my destination.

It was under this miniscule cover that I sat for the next hour waiting out more lightning, hail, heavy rains, etc. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever let up! Finally, I decided I could wait no more and (probably foolishly) made a final run towards the closest stand of mature pines below. Looking back, I can't believe I didn't sprain or break an ankle on the muddy, rocky terrain but I made it unscathed. I caught my breath there and waited for the storm to let up a little before finally forcing my jelloed and quivering legs to take me back down to my truck. This was definitely not my finest hour and on the way down I vowed to myself to give Mother Nature her due respect and never get caught in such a situation again!

First Solo Backpacking Outing

Well, I just returned from my first solo backpacking trip up in the San Juan Mountains the other day. When I first moved to this area almost two years ago, I figured that I would've done many of these by now. Unfortunately, physical ailments hounded me all last summer so I barely did any hiking at all. This trip was just a quick overnighter to a high alpine lake, Crater Lake, along the West Needles subrange of the San Juans.

While it was only a six mile journey to the lake, it turned out to be a bit more than I bargained for. This is still the spring season up in the high country and, while most of the snow has melted, everything is still very wet up there. What this translates to is muddy trails...miles and miles of muddy trails. It made for very slow going which was only exacerbated by the blowdown area I encountered about a mile from the lake. This consisted of a large section of downed pines (and I mean big pines) from a storm last winter and the swath of destruction was about a quarter to half mile wide. They obliterated the trail and forced me to navigate my own way through the mess and on to the lake as I wasn't able to relocate the trail once I got through it. Thank god for my GPS! That section wasn't fun at all with a balance interfering 40lb backpack strapped on.

The end result of my slow progress to the lake was that I arrived only a half hour before sunset and had no time to relax or eat before pulling out the camera gear. But what a sunset it turned out to be!


North Twilight Peak Reflected in Crater Lake at Sunset

I can certainly deal with a few hardships if I know it'll result in witnessing marvelous scenes like the one above.

After a rather sleepless night (I never sleep well when camping), I decided to pack up and leave shortly after my sunrise shoot as thunderstorms were predicted to be widespread by the late morning/early afternoon hours. My sunrise shoot, while beautiful, was very typical of most any Colorado high country sunrise scene....a nicely glowing mountain reflected in a high alpine lake under a clear morning sky.


Crater Lake at Sunrise

I was hoping for an interesting sky or more pronounced early morning mist/fog to set it apart a bit more, but it wasn't meant to be. After the previous night's sunset, I wasn't gonna complain! As it turned out, my earlier than planned departure turned out to be a wise choice as I was surrounded by threatening skies by the time I got back to the trailhead. It was a memorable first backpacking trip, that's for sure!

Spring Trip to the Northern San Juans

I had grand plans in early June to take a 5 day (or longer) trip to the northern region of the San Juan Mountains...more specifically to the San Miguel and Sneffels Ranges...but a busy schedule made me scale it back to just a quick two days. I guess two days are better than none! My first day in the San Miguels near Telluride was a soggy one (as has been the weather pattern in the southwest Colorado for weeks now) so I concentrated on shooting a few of the many waterfalls in the area.


Mystic Falls Near Telluride

Mystic Falls along the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River was the highlight of my adventures in this region. This seldom visited waterfall cuts through a 120 foot high and narrow gorge which reverberated the crashing waters to deafening levels. While access to the gorge isn't particularly easy, it was definitely worth the effort to photograph what is now my favorite waterfall in the San Juan Mountains. In addition to Mystic, I also visited both Bear Creek Falls and Cornet Falls. Both of these falls are easy hikes from trailheads eminating right in the town of Telluride.

As I made my way to the Sneffels Range, the wet weather finally started to break...


Rainbow Along The Sneffels Range

At last I could venture outside without need of my rain gear! The clearing storm allowed me to take advantage of some interesting atmospherics to compliment some of the locations that I've often shot during the autumn season. I was just trading golden autumn aspen for spring green.


Spring Aspen and Mt. Snefflels

I was also ecstatic to find a nice field of lupine that evening. While it was too windy to photograph them at the time, I came back during the calm of the following morning as they nicely accented the Sneffels Range backdrop. It definitely made me look forward to the high country wildflower season come late July!


Field of lupine and the Sneffels Range

Waterfallin' In The San Juan Mountains

I've spent a good portion of the month of May in and around the San Juan Mountains (my "home range" here in southwest Colorado) searching for and photographing the many waterfalls present in this region. The month of May has proven to be an excellent time for this endeavor for two reasons. First, the spring melt swells the rivers and creeks to incredible volumes, transforming existing waterfalls to thunderous levels and creating seasonal waterfalls not present at any other time of year.


Basin Creek Waterfall (left) and a seasonal waterfall (right) in the La Plata Mountains

Second, the weather in the last half of May brought the premature arrival of the monsoon season, bringing thunderstorms to the area most every afternoon/evening. These thunderstorms bring the cloud cover that is vital for successful waterfall photography. If you've ever tried to photograph waterfalls on a bright, sunny day you know what I mean as the water becomes so bright that it becomes impossible to record the entire range of light within the scene. This forces a photographer to either blow out the highlights of the water or lose the details around the waterfall to deep shadow. Neither is a desirable alternative. With cloud cover the range of light becomes much more manageable and can be easily be captured with today's digital or film cameras. The only other option for shooting waterfalls (if cloudy conditions aren't present) is to do so either early in the morning or late in the evening when the subject is in full shadow or whatever light is present is very weak.


Treasure Falls Near Wolf Creek Pass

Concerning my little project of waterfall photography in the San Juans, I've come away with a few observations. While there are countless waterfalls in this range, only a small percentage of them are actually worthy photographic subjects. Part of this is due to accessibility issues as many require significant bushwacks or climbs up steeply sloped mountainsides to reach. To me, a bigger issue is simply the non-photogenic nature of many of these falls. Deadfall and scraggly brush often line the banks above and below many waterfalls detracting greatly from their esthetic value. Many others carve out deep, tree-lined gorges that offer few vantage points unless you're a billy goat!


South Clear Creek Falls Near Creede, CO

Despite these challenges, I still enjoy searching out and photographing these marvels of nature. Even if the photography proves difficult, there's nothing more relaxing to me than the sound of rushing water. I can spend an entire afternoon doing nothing but listening. If I come away with a good photograph or two...that's icing on the cake!


Lime Creek Falls Near Coal Bank Pass

For a more complete collection of the San Juan waterfalls I've photographed, click on the link below...

Waterfalls of the San Juan Mountains

Record December Snow Pounds The San Juans

Wow! December has brought some amazing snowfall to the San Juan Mountains here in southwest Colorado. Over 9 feet fell on many of the mountain passes over a two week span, with the final storm pounding the region on Christmas day. Talk about throwing a monkey wrench into holiday traveling plans!


Grand Turk Mountain Near Silverton, CO

The snowy December was both a curse and blessing for me as it forced the cancellation of my much anticipated trip to Bosque del Apache, but it did afford many opportunities to photograph the local mountain scenery and the people who love to play in it. In particular, I spent a large amount of time in the Molas Pass area. This area, just south of Silverton, is one of the more popular recreation areas in the San Juans. It particularly attracts snowmobilers, cross country skiers and snowshoers. This is due, in large part, to the fact that it's essentially an expansive high alpine meadow which is BLM-owned public land and is relatively free of the avalanche issues found elsewhere. The fact that it is surrounded on all sides by snowy, majestic peaks only adds to its allure.


High Flying Snowmobiler, Molas Pass

To get a visual taste for what its like to spend a snowy winter in the San Juans, click on the link below.

Winter In The San Juan Mountains

Finished Adding Autumn '08 Images

After 11 days on the road in the Colorado rockies and two weekend trips to Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Arizona), I've finally finished up my fall color shooting for the season. It was a tremendous year to be in mountains, that's for sure!


Crystal Mill Near Marble, CO

My Colorado travels took me to the Kebler Pass area (near Crested Butte), the McClure Pass / Marble area, parts of the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness, and the San Juan Mountains. In Utah, I spent a couple of days exploring the La Sal Mountains near Moab. All in all, I arrived at most of these locations considerably before peak conditions occurred. Should've waited a little longer. Next year I'll know better!


Woods Lake Near Telluride, CO

Click on the link below to see more imagery from my travels...

Autumn 2008 Images

Special thanks to fellow photogs Monte Trumbull and Luke Tingley for their companionship during the San Juan leg of my trip. Thanks for putting up with not only myself, but the crazy antics of my young pup, Yoda!

I'd also like to thank John Mumaw for inviting me along on his Canyon de Chelly shoots. It was my first time to this beautiful National Monument and I guarantee it won't be my last.


The Window, Canyon de Chelly NM, AZ