Wednesday, June 29, 2016

4 Wheeling in the Sangres...Or Not.

A friend and I went to Westcliffe to do some 4-wheeling up to Hermit Pass, but were called back home before we started up the mountain in the morning.  Cami was in labor with our 2nd child.  We made it back in time.  No mountain summits, but a top of the mountain life experience!

A few shots from the quick trip:

4wd road Hermit Pass road in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Westcliffe Colorado










And the little guy:



Friday, June 10, 2016

Photography Trip - Silverthorne - Spring 2015



Sunset over the gore range with lupine wildflowers landscape photography by Aaron Spong
Gore Range Sunset


We realized this would be the last chance we'd have to take a vacation before the new baby boy Spong is born next month sometime.  Last minute, we decided on the Silverton area.  Beautiful scenery surrounds the towns of Frisco and Silverthorne.  The top of the Tenmile Range can be seen to the south.  The west side of the Front Range is to the east, and the bottom of the rugged Gore Range is to the north.  Here are a few photography samples from our trip:



Mt. Evans

Mt. Evans Summit Panorama

On our way down we decided to attempt to watch the sunset from the summit of Colorado 14er Mt. Evans.  The Mt. Evans road goes almost all the way up to the summit.  Once at the parking lot, Cami (8 months pregnant) and KD (2 years old) decided to hike the short road to the top with me.  There was quite a bit of snow still covering the road and it was cold and windy, but they braved the elements.

KD's first 14er!

Grays and Torreys


Clouds rolled in and covered us shortly after taking these shots. No sunset light tonight.  As we were driving back down the mountain, our daughter interrupted the silence said, "Mommy, Daddy, I made the truck louder!"

"Oh, how did you do that?"

"I yawned."

We laughed when we realized what she meant.  There is a lot of logic in a 2 year old mind.  Every few minutes for the rest of the drive down she would say, "Oh! Truck's louder again!".  






The Gore Range
http://pixels.com/featured/gore-range-sunrise-aaron-spong.html
Gore Range Sunrise - Fine art prints for sale


The next day we spent driving around to check out some photography locations and maybe do a little hike.  I found a couple spots with flowers overlooking the Eagles Nest Wilderness that Colorado photographer John Fielder has featured on his website.  It's very interesting to me to see how the big wig professionals find their spots.  A few of them are just off some county roads next to houses and subdivisions.  When I took the above photograph, I was actually standing on a dirt road.  It sure looks like wilderness though doesn't it?



Eagles Nest Peak






Panorama of the entire Gore Range - Click for larger view

Sightseeing







http://aaronspong.com/featured/sunset-over-the-gore-range-aaron-spong.html





Dillon Reservoir
Top of the Tenmile Range

Peak 1

Mt. Guyot

Grays and Torreys sunset from Dillon