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.
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:
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.
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.
Just returned from a week long trip driving around the state with Cami and our 1 year old daughter KD to take some shots of the awesome fall colors Colorado is known for. This was an AMAZING TRIP!
After doing some extensive online research and planning I came to the conclusion that there are two mountain ranges in Colorado that hold the best overall opportunity for photographing pristine mountains with aspen groves in the foreground:
The Elks
Mt. Sopris
We spent the first 3 days/2 nights camping out in the truck near Aspen/Carbondale area. We didn't waste one sunrise or sunset! The elk range is very beautiful indeed. I am sure I will return to this beautiful area in the coming years.
Capitol Peak
Maroon Bells
The San Juans
Dallas Divide
After two nights of sleeping (or not sleeping) in the truck bed with the baby kicking us during the night, we were happy to arrive at our cosy hotel room at the Ouray Chalet hotel in Ouray, also known as the Switzerland of America. The San Juan Mountains, specifically the area of the Sneffels Range around the small mountain towns of Ridgeway and Telluride, are nothing short of spectacular! I could have easily spent the entire week here. I still feel like I wasn't able to check off all the spots I had on my checklist. There are just infinite mountain vistas here to explore! A few drives especially worth noting are Owl Creek Pass, Dallas Divide, and Last Dollar Road.
James, Molly and I took a quick backpacking trip up to Cathedral Lake out of Aspen. The hike in was super easy, but also exciting as we got caught in an intense thunderstorm right before we reached the lake. We huddled down under a tree for a good hour or so waiting for it to pass. I wouldn't have wanted to be stuck above treeline for that one!
Once we reached the camping spots near the lake, we set up camp and started talking about bear stories as it was getting dark. Once it was dark, I was having trouble sleeping. I know that we are generally safe from bears and other wild animals in Colorado, but just talking about it for so long kind of messes with your head a little. Turns out James wasn't sleeping either for the same reason.
Sometime after midnight James finally got to sleep. How did I know this? Well, he was snoring very loudly. It was no longer the fear of bears that was keeping me awake, but the obnoxious sound of my camping buddy. All of the sudden, James has one of those choke on your snore moments. You know, the kind where the snoring stops and you make a loud grunting, gurgling sound? Well, his unconscious growling was so loud that he actually woke himself up! He immediately turned to me and yells really loudly,
"Aaron! A bear!"
I said, "No James. that was you snoring."
In the morning I woke up early to catch the sunrise on Cathedral Lake. I really need to get a wide angle lens as the whole scene wouldn't fit into the frame. I had to take 3 separate vertical images to create this panorama:
Cathedral Lake reflection. Electric Pass Peak and Leahy Peak are the two bumps on the right - Prints available
We headed up the peaks afterward. The hike up these two is extremely scenic and totally easy. We took our sweet time and enjoyed the views.
