Snowmass Lake - June, 2023

 

 Jimmy Brad and I had a perfect weather window where we fit in a hike to Snowmass Lake (and Snowmass Mountain for Brad) right at the summer solstice.  This one had been on my list of iconic Colorado backpacks for over a decade, and it did not disappoint.  This spring has been so rainy and one of the craziest weather seasons I can remember.  A couple days before our hike in to this lake, it snowed a couple inches at this location.  Though this was the first day of summer, it looks more like winter up there!

When we arrived at the lake, there was only one area that was snow free for campers to set up tents.  We had to get close with a few other groups, but everybody was friendly with no problems.  That night sleeping was miserable, being right next to the lake with the wind blasting over it all night was restless.  Brad woke and left for the Snowmass summit at 1:30 AM.  From about then until dawn, there were various parties getting up and getting ready to hike not too quietly so, again, sleep was not good.  Jimmy and I got up to watch a fantastic sunrise over the lake.  The clouds made cool shapes that contoured the edge of the peaks.  Though we didn't know it, right at about that time Brad was standing on the summit.  After having breakfast, we attempted to hike out and find the trail toward Buckskin Pass hoping to hike Buckskin Benchmark.  Unfortunately, the snow was continuous and became a post-holing slog.  After a few miles of this, combined with a trail we couldn't find, we decided to turn back to camp.   We arrived back there at 9AM just after Brad returned.  We all decided we had accomplished our goals for the trip, so we packed up and headed home instead of staying for a second night. 

Sunrise on Snowmass - Prints available

If you look closely, you can see people climbing up the snowfield

And some of Brad's pictures from his 14er hike:

KD's First Mountain - August, 2019

Our daughter hiked all the way to the top of an unnamed peak at 12,812 from Independence Pass.  The trip was about 4 miles and 800 ft. of elevation gain.  She was a TROOPER and never complained once.  We were so proud of her!  One of the ways she was motivated to keep going and get to the top was the hope of finding "gems" under the rocks at the summit.  She found a couple along the way on the trail (carefully placed there by unknown mountain creatures) that kept her excited to get to the top, but also slowed her down as she was searching for more along the way :) 

Sunrise at Twin Lakes before our hike

Unnamed 12,812

La Plata in the distance

Anderson Peak

Keeping with tradition - Victory pepsi

Painting - Aspen Leaf Progression

Just finished a series of watercolor paintings of an aspen leaf as it changes colors in the fall.  I used the same leaf template for all four images.  The first leaf (left) is summer green.  The second is half turned from green to orange/yellow.  The third leaf is showing the peak autumn color, and the fourth is withered brown from when the season ends. 



Click on the images below to view on the artist website/order prints:

The Maroon Bells - Acrylic Painting

The Maroon Bells - Fine art prints available

Just finished my latest artwork in progress featuring the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake from Aspen, Colorado.  I looked through hundreds of images of these peaks from different times of day, from different vantage points and in different seasons.  This was a compilation of what I believe is the most idealistic/iconic view of this scene.  The sun is rising and hitting the peaks and clouds above turning them bright orange.  The aspen groves have turned yellow and orange in the fall.  The lake is still and calm creating a perfect reflection of the 14,000 ft. peaks.

All together this painting took almost 30 hours.  It measures 4 feet wide by 3 feet tall. 

Teocalli Mountain - July 2015

Old farming house with Teocalli Mountain - Prints Available

KD ready to go!

Cami, KD and I drove down to the Brush Creek road with the intention of 4 wheeling up to the Teocalli Mountain trailhead to set up camp Wednesday night, but by the time we had everything loaded, it was almost dark and raining hard.  We drove a couple hundred yards up the trail on the ATV and turned around to take refuge in the truck where we slept that night.

The next morning after sunrise, we headed back into town to grab some food and explore the scenery around Crested Butte before giving it another try that afternoon.  The entire area was just filled with fields of color.  Crested Butte is called the "wildflower capitol of Colorado."   After this trip I'm inclined to agree with this label:

Sunrise the first morning.

Gothic Mountain

Mt. Crested Butte - Prints Available

Lupine Wildflowers - Prints Available

We 4 wheeled up the road and set up the tent right at the base of Teocalli Mountain. KD is now 2 years old and getting much better at not driving her parents crazy on long trips. She loved riding the ATV and "helping Daddy drive."

I woke at 3am and headed out in the dark hoping for a unique sunrise view of Castle Peak, the tallest 14,000 ft. peak in the Elk Range.  I reached the ridge right about at sunrise, but the cloud cover was pretty dense.  In fact, there was only a quick 30 second period of time where the actual summit of Castle Peak was visible before the clouds engulfed it again.

Fire on the mountain

Castle Peak - Prints Available

Fresh dusting of snow at the top!

Here's a time-lapse of the sunrise.  It's about 2 hours condensed into 30 seconds:

The views south were also stunning!

Distant alpenglow

Mt. Crested Butte and Whetstone Mountain from just below the summit.

Up!

There almost no visibility on the summit.  We were literally walking in the clouds.  Hiking back down through the fields of wildflowers was awesome though.  Hmm... I must have missed them on my way up.

Looking back down the route.

Color!

KD actually fell asleep in my arms while riding the ATV on the way back to the truck.  It was a quick, but beautiful trip that I would highly recommend.

Parting Shot