Old Fall River Road is the original right of way that tourists and visitors would travel through Rocky Mountain National Park. In fact, Fall River Road predates the inception of Rocky Mountain National Park and at one time was the only road connecting Larimer and Grand Counties. Trail Ridge Road is now the main thoroughfare through Rocky, but Old Fall River Road remains a popular destination when open for one-way car travel from July until early fall or the first snowfall.

The seasonal closure of Old Fall River Road makes Chasm Falls a great hiking destination the remaining portion of the year. With Fall River Road closed for the season and the parade of cars held at bay by a locked NPS brown gate, time spent photographing Chasm Falls is a far more intimate experience.

I’ve visited and photographed Chasm Falls many times in the past. Prior to this visit, I’ve always photographed Chasm Falls like most park visitors, by driving to it. Chasm Falls is in reality the first actual pull off along the steep windy road. Most visitors to Rocky Mountain stop here to view the falls on the way to the Alpine visitor center. Because it’s so popular in the summer with Fall River open to auto traffic, it can be difficult to connect with the place.

Edward Abbey, a favorite author of mine advocated removing all the roads from the National Parks. Abbey felt that if these natural areas were of such importance, visitors should have to put in the effort and see them on foot, in a more natural and less corrupted setting. While I don’t share Abbey’s viewpoint on the matter, spending time alone at Chasm Falls without the parade of auto’s and visitors made for a much more organic and enlightening experience.

Photographing alone at Chasm Falls, there were no distractions, no human voices or sounds of cars and car alarms. With only the sound of Fall River and the birds in the trees I was able to take my time, slow down, and really enjoy and connect with my surroundings. Abbey’s thoughts lingered in my head for the remainder of the day. My experience this day at Chasm Falls, devoid of cars and on foot was enlightening. Maybe Abbey was on to something?

Albert Bierstadt’s paintings of the American West, featured dramatic skies, clouds and mountains that helped to dramatize, some would say overly so, the landscapes of the early American West. There are two landmarks named after the famous Hudson River School painter in the state of Colorado. Mt. Bierstadt, and Rocky Mountain National Park’s Bierstadt Lake.

Bierstadt Lake lies atop the Bierstadt Moraine and boasts some of the best views of Hallet Peak, Flattop Mountain, Mt. Otis, Thatchtop, and Notchtop. At sunrise, Bierstadt Lake presents the photographer with impressive lighting and views of the these northeasterly facing peaks.

Bierstadt Lake is a fairly good size lake compared to the other lakes Alpine and Sub-Alpine lakes of Rocky. If you can happen to be at Bierstadt under the right conditions, with little wind and clouds floating over the famous peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park you can easily be transported into a scene that seems reminiscent of a Bierstadt painting.

This particular morning was just one of those very mornings at the lake. Bierstadt Lake is a favorite location of mine. I’ve photographed quite a few beautiful sunrises from the shores of Bierstadt. A large approaching storm from the west was starting to settle in over Rocky this day. This was a ‘calm before the storm’ moment. Even as the storm moved in, there was no wind present and the clouds had not yet moved far enough east to obscure the sunrise.

I setup my camera on my tripod and waited for the first rays of the morning to illuminate the peaks. As a photographer who has been lucky enough to witness and photograph many beautiful sunrise’s, I still get just as excited, if not more so when I’m on the cusp of photographing a location under what I believe is going to yield dramatic conditions and light. The anticipation and excitement as the scene unfolds is difficult to describe in words alone.

With the click of the shutter as the first rays of light hit the peaks, time seems to slow as the light show unfolds. In many ways for me, it’s like I’m not even photographing at all. It’s an experience and a feeling I don’t want to come to an end. As soon as it begins it’s just as quick to come to an end. The light fades and flattens and it’s time to pack up and hike out.

Albert Bierstadt’s paintings were often criticized for their overly dramatic and indulgent lighting, color and size of presentation. After morning’s like this at Bierstadt’s lake, I can deeply appreciate what Bierstadt was attempting to convey in his paintings. To those of us lucky enough to witness lighting such as this we know that Albert may have been too conservative in his presentation of his art and vision.

With the warm temperatures and early spring continuing, there are lots of current photographic opportunities in Rocky Mountain National Park that are occurring much earlier in the year than is typical. I realize this abstract of Glacier Creek just Loch Vale may be a bit too abstract for some, but I spent a good deal of time photographing this portion of Glacier Creek a few weeks ago and came away with some different views.

Typically, this portion of Glacier Creek would be buried under heavy winter snows through most of April. Stopping to photograph this spot a few weeks ago, the green moss on the rocks of the creek bed stood out in great contrast to the white winter snow that surrounded the small opening that had formed on Glacier Creek revealing the early spring runoff.

I setup my tripod precariously along the banks of Glacier Creek. It was difficult to setup in a location that provided a clean vantage point of the opening on the creek, while not sliding down a large bank and ending up in the creek itself. I attached a polarizer to my 70-200mm lens to cut down on the glare and emphasize the green moss on the rock, contrasted against the white snow. All in all it was an image I had not visualized photographing on my hike up to The Loch for sunrise, but I’m quite pleased with the images I walked away with this morning.