Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Fall Colors Trip 2016

It was 90 degrees when I left my house on Friday afternoon.  Two hours later, I was driving through a blizzard at the Eisenhower Tunnel.  That's a Colorado Fall for you. 

Many people may not realize, but there is a ton of research, planning, preparation and patience involved in these multi-day photography trips.  This year's trip was centered around the peaks of the stunning, but not very popular Eagle's Nest Wilderness a.k.a. the Gore Range.  I took almost 1500 pictures over the course of 4 days.  If I could describe the experience in one word, it would be "cold"... and "beautiful"...and "lonely".  I don't have time to write the story behind each image, so I'll just post some of the best ones from the trip:



Autumn photography of acorn creek with aspens in the fall and gore range
Acorn Creek




































sunrise in autumn with eagles nest peak and fall colors gore range Colorado
Eagles Nest Peak Sunrise






Colorado autumn sunrise with the sunbeam and upper cataract lake eagles nest wilderness fall
Sunburst and Cataract Lake



Cataract Lake Colorado in the fall with Autumn aspen foliage
Cataract Lake



Aspen forest panorama in the gore range colorado
Aspen Forest















Peak K, Peak L, Gore Thumb, Guyselman, Peak N and Peak O from Highway 9 in fall colors
Peak K, Peak L, Gore Thumb, Guyselman Mountain, Peak N and Peak O (I think)






Autumn on Grand Traverse peak with colorful aspens in Vail Colorado
Grand Traverse Peak from Vail






Piney Lake



Autumn reflection with peak c and Mt. Powell near piney lake in the calm piney river fall colors colorado Vail
Peak C (center) and Mt. Powell (Left) from Piney River



One night I stayed out late to get some milky way shots as the sky was so clear at Piney Lake.  After shooting, Molly and I were heading back to the truck in the dark.  All of the sudden, Molly stops in the middle of the trail.  She must notice something.  Right in front of us we hear this loud grunting sound.  We both freeze.  A couple seconds later the same grunting sound.  All I can think is, "Man I hope that's not a bear".  Then I see another headlight in front of us.  No... it's not another headlamp.  It's the reflection of my own headlight in the eye of a large animal.  It grunts at us again.  This time Molly barks at it very loudly.  The creature starts moving toward us, then turns to its right and starts walking down the hill.  As it passes, I can see two HUGE antlers of a bull moose.  It walks past us toward Piney Lake.  I later found out that this moose is well known at the Piney Ranch.  Apparently, they call him Monty.  All I have to say is I'm thankful for my canine hiking partner!



Milky Way


http://aaronspong.com/featured/stars-over-the-eagles-nest-wilderness-aaron-spong.html




Moose in Piney Lake