Mountains

Sloan Lake Morning
Early morning at Sloan Lake, 13,000 feet, American Basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
Yosemite-Reno Trip
Yosemite-Reno Trip
Yosemite-Reno Trip
Mountain%20Spirits
Fog lifts above an old mountain cabin in the San Juan mountains. This is one of my favorite places, a quiet old retreat hidden in plain sight. I always wonder about the mystery of this place, the spirit of the people who built and lived in that one-room cabin, hard on the side of a mountain meadow.
%22Cliffs%20Ablaze%22
The rising sun lights red rock cliffs ablaze underneath the watchful eye of Henry Mountains near Hite, Utah. After a blissful night of camping in our own private campground next to White Canyon, my friends Adam Schallau, Sally Sally Stacks Smithies, and I raced to find a sunrise location where we could see the fresh snow on the Henry Mountains contrasted with the red rock cliffs below. With slightly different visions, we ended up about a quarter mile apart at sunrise, but we were all treated to a fabulous light show that none of us will soon forget.
"Lavender Fields, Los Poblanos"
Lavender begins to bloom at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm under a stormy late-June sunset in Albuquerque.
"Riot of Fog & Color"
After a day of rain, there was a brief respite in the late afternoon on Friday at American Basin. Hoping for a show, Liz Godfrey VanDenzen and I sat in field surrounded by a riot of color (her term-she named this picture): indian paintbrush, alpine bistort, sneezeweed and alpine buttercup. Indeed, we got our show, as fog descended into American Basin about an hour before sunset. Within 10-minutes of this shot, the entire upper basin was lost in fog for the remainder of the day.
"Reflection in Ice"
On Saturday morning, we woke up really early and hiked to to Sloan Lake at 13,000', at the very top of American Basin. We found the lake still partially covered in ice. Liz made some oatmeal, which was a welcome warm breakfast on a cold alpine morning. This is one of our favorite places on earth to watch the sunrise and even with the lack of clouds, it did not disappoint. We had been worried that we might get skunked given the heavy fog that had descended the night before, but it turned out to be a perfectly clear morning.
%22Mystery%22
The alpenglow on two prominent unnamed peaks reflects into the shallows of a lake deep in the heart of the lesser-visited San Juans.
%22Storm%20Factory%22
Ever since I read the fabulous "Ghost Grizzlies" by Doug Pederson, Beartown has been a place of wonder for me. Getting to Beartown (one of the most isolated trailheads into the Weminuche Wilderness) played a large motivating factor in trading in the efficient Subaru for the gas-guzzling but off-road capable 4Runner. Even with the 4Runner, the Road to Beartown's reputation had intimidated me. Finally, this year we took the plunge and forced ourselves to Beartown/Kite Lake. The 4Runner was certainly pushed hard, but it came through! On our final morning at Kite Lake, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and hiked up a steep ridge towards the continental divide above Kite Lake. Reviewing some maps the night before, I found a small, off-trail ridge along the divide that would in theory allow me to spy sunrise over Storm King Mountain, Mt. Silex, and the Guardian, aka the Storm Factory in the wild heart of the Weminuche Wilderness. I dream of a bigger trip one day focused on the lakes around these mountains. It had been a stormy evening, and I was a bit nervous about heading well above tree line, partially off trail, and by myself (Liz slept in). But the effort was worth it, as I had one of those almost spiritual mornings deep in the mountains. I just barely reached my destination up the ridge, across alpine tundra, to the western flank of Hunchback Mountain at 12,800" in time for the light show above the Storm Factory. I quickly found the best composition I could find among the scree of the continental divide. The wind whipped the flowers as I shot them. No matter though, because the sunrise provided one of the absolute best displays of pink sky I've ever seen. And like its name suggests, the clouds above the storm factory quickly coalesced within 30-minutes of sunrise into a threatening looking storm that eventually dropped some rain on me as I high-tailed across high tundra and eventually back down to Kite Lake. Thankfully, there was no signs of lightening. It was a magical experience that will linger with me a long time.