Rocky’s Summer Snow

Storm clouds roll off the high peaks of the aptly named Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. The calendar says its August 19th, but the conditions in Rocky this morning appear more winter like. While it can snow at anytime in Rocky Mountain National Park, this is the earliest I've been able to photograph a healthy dusting of snow on the high peaks. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Sigma C150-600mm F5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM lens.
Storm clouds roll off the high peaks of the aptly named Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. The calendar says its August 19th, but the conditions in Rocky this morning appear more winter like. While it can snow at anytime in Rocky Mountain National Park, this is the earliest I’ve been able to photograph a healthy dusting of snow on the high peaks. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Sigma C150-600mm F5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM lens.

This time of year photographers are always anticipating the upcoming autumn season. For many photographers this is their favorite time of year. Trips are planned, notes on locations are exchanged with other photographers and topographic maps are scoured in an attempt to find new vistas and locations to photograph. Typically by mid August there is a detectible change in the air in Colorado. While it’s still quite warm during the day, the nights begin to cool quite a bit. The sun rises and set’s a little earlier each day, grasses begin to turn from vibrant greens to browns and golds. The Elk begin to migrate back towards the lower elevations in anticipation of the ‘Autumn Rut’ and the sounds of bugling in the meadows increases in frequency. Even the quality of light begins to noticeably change. The shadows grow longer in the valleys and canyons while the sunlight burns a little warmer lower in the sky. If your paying attention this slow turnover of seasons becomes readily apparent.

I’ve been watching this change play out in Rocky Mountain National Park over the course of the last few weeks. An aspen branch here turning yellow, and Elk Bugle off in the distance there followed by a hard frost here or there. I did not expect however, to be greeted by a nice dusting of snow in Rocky Mountain National Park on the morning of August 19th!. Sure it’s possible to get snow in Rocky Mountain National Park pretty much any month of the year. I’ve seen a light dusting of snow before near the summit of 14,259 ft Longs Peak in both July and August but typically it’s hardly noticeable and it melts off well before the sun even reaches the mountainsides.

The Earth's shadow paints the sky over Specimen Mountain and The Poudre River in pastels after and August 19th snowstorm has coated the mountains and hillsides with snow. Techncial Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 AF VR lens
The Earth’s shadow paints the sky over Specimen Mountain and The Poudre River in pastels after and August 19th snowstorm has coated the mountains and hillsides with snow. Techncial Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 AF VR lens

So imagine my surprise when in the predawn hours of August 19th, I rounded the sharp curve near the Forest Canyon Overlook on Trail Ridge Road to see the hillsides coated in what looked like snow. My first reaction was to do a double take. I thought to myself, ‘that cant be snow, its mid August?’. It had rained hard during the night and the temperature in Estes Park was thirty-seven degrees fahrenheit when I made my way through town but it was after all still August. I then thought to myself that must just be dew on the grasses and small pines at this elevation. After a night of rain, pines take on a silvery like sheen when wet, surely thats what this had to be. Confirmation that it was snow quickly arrived as my tires began making the unmistakable crunching noise tires make when driving on granular frozen snow and ice.

After thinking to myself thats its just to darn early for snow, I next had to decide where to shoot. Trail Ridge Road was slick and dicey as it was covered with snow and ice above Forest Canyon. Typically the National Park Service would have closed Trail Ridge Road at either Rainbow Curve or Many Parks Curve when they expected snow or icy conditions early in the morning from a previous nights storm. I have to believe much like myself, The National Park Service was not expecting snow this early in the seasons either and Trail Ridge Road remained open.

This created what I’d consider a rare circumstance. While Trail Ridge Road was icy and slick, it remained open which would allow for images that typically would be nearly impossible to capture. When the NPS was anticipating dangerous road conditions on Trail Ridge Road because of incoming weather. The road was open and I should with some careful driving by able to get to whichever overlook was yielding the most dynamic conditions.

Rare and beautiful all at the same time. A fresh August 19th snowstorm coats the Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. Technical Details: Sigma C 150-600mm F5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM lens.
Rare and beautiful all at the same time. A fresh August 19th snowstorm coats the Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. Technical Details: Sigma C 150-600mm F5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM lens.

The overlook that appeared to be yielding the most favorable conditions was Medicine Bow Curve. Specimen Mountain as well as The Never Summer Range had a good coating of snow combined with some residual clouds that still remained. Furthermore the pines in this area had nice dusting of snow and there was some fog still hanging above the Poudre River valley below. So after diligently navigating Trail Ridge Road I setup my tripod and camera and worked the compositions as the light and clouds rapidly changed with the approaching sunrise.

It was a cold morning standing at the Medicine Bow Overlook. Certainly much colder than one would typically expect during the month of August in Rocky Mountain National Park. The cold fingers were certainly worth it and it will be a morning in Rocky I wont soon forget. Hopefully were now back to Summer and I cant start dreaming about what I want to photograph in Rocky when Autumn arrives much sooner than later.

Summer’s Back Nine

The summer photography season in Rocky Mountain National Park is currently in full swing. To borrow a golf phrase we are entering summer's back nine in Rocky. Wildflowers still look great in the park and now is the time to get out and hike to your favorite backcountry destination. I photographed this beautiful sunset last week on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The beautiful colors of sunset reflect in the placid waters of the Colorado River as seen from the Kawuneeche Valley. Technical Details: Nikon D810, 16-35mm F4 ED VR
The summer photography season in Rocky Mountain National Park is currently in full swing. To borrow a golf phrase we are entering summer’s back nine in Rocky. Wildflowers still look great in the park and now is the time to get out and hike to your favorite backcountry destination. I photographed this beautiful sunset last week on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The beautiful colors of sunset reflect in the placid waters of the Colorado River as seen from the Kawuneeche Valley. Technical Details: Nikon D810, 16-35mm F4 ED VR

I apologize for the recent lack of postings to my blog in recent weeks. It’s full on summer seasons here in Rocky Mountain National Park and it’s been keeping me quite busy. Between guiding clients on photography tours, or getting very early morning starts to head up and out to some of the lakes far in the backcountry it’s been difficult finding sometime to sit down and write up a blog post.

In a nutshell Rocky Mountain National Park is absolutely spectacular right now. Rocky is still very green from all the moisture we had this spring and early summer and the wildflowers in the higher elevations are still looking very good. Wildflowers such as Columbines and Paintbrush look spectacular in the higher elevations and I highly recommend getting out and searching for them while you still can. It may be hard to believe but I’ve already seen frost on the grasses in the higher elevations above treeline and on the alpine tundra already. This means it’s only a matter of time before the wildflowers bid adieu for another season.

Sooner than later autumn color will start to settle into the park and the Elk rut will be underway. Any day now somebody is going to post an image of an aspen tree turning yellow early and make a proclamation that fall season is underway early this year. As is the case every year there is always one or two trees that will begin to show their autumn colors early in Rocky Mountain National Park. So before the autumn season settles in and we begin to lament just how quickly summer comes and goes I highly recommend that you get out into Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoy the back nine of the summer season.