Good morning. As of this writing Trail Ridge Road still remains closed for the season. I believe it will be opening shortly as it looks like we will finally have warmer, drier weather moving in. I’m was a bit surprised the road did not open mid week but again there was weather in the form of rain that was due Wednesday night. As many of you know, snow is possible in Rocky Mountain National Park all months of the year, and even if its fairly mild down in Estes Park, up at 10,000 to 11,000 ft there is a good chance its falling in the form of snow and or ice.

We had rain Wednesday night and the system was still parked over the Front Range of Colorado early Thursday morning. As always, I figured with the low hanging clouds and light rain hanging over Estes Park as I headed through town, I would at least attempt to see if I could get above them. With Trail Ridge Road open only until Rainbow Curve at 10,875 ft I figured I would start there. Its always nice to hike Trail Ridge Road before it opens from season after it has been plowed. Hiking Trail Ridge Road before it opens allows you to really enjoy the area before the crowds and cars show up. Basically, the area along the road goes from being a busy roadway in the summer filled with visitors to true alpine wilderness when the gates on the road area closed.

I broke through the inversion layer just below Hidden Valley on my way up. I could see fresh snow along Tombstone Ridge above Hidden Valley and at that point knew I was going to make a dash up Trail Ridge Road to at least the Ute Trailhead to setup for sunrise. As soon as I got past the gate at Rainbow Curve, Trail Ridge Road had a fine layer of ice over the top of the pavement. Obviously, the National Park Service made the smart call in keeping Trail Ridge Road closed as the conditions would have been treacherous for any vehicles driving across in the early morning hours.

Hiking up the road, I had to alternate between the median and the shoulder to avoid the ice and taking a spill on my way up. Except for the occasional protest of a Ptarmigan, it was peaceful and calm at timberline. It was mostly clear overhead but there were some nice clouds floating above the low lying inversion layer over the foothills and plains of Colorado to the east of Rocky Mountain National Park. As I kept a determined pace, things were looking great for sunrise. The higher I climbed, the more pronounced the snow became. By the time I reached the Ute Trailhead, there was almost 1/2 inch of new snow on the landscape and trees. Just enough to cover the landscape, but not enough to make it difficult to hike through.

Beautiful clouds floated over Longs Peak to the southeast, and snow covered nearly the entire landscape. The inversion had not made its way all the way up Forest Canyon, but even still things looked great. After a pastel sunrise over Longs Peak, I headed the ridgeline to for another composition and view. The clouds floating overhead had increased which was only making for even more dynamic compositions.

It was the best of both worlds, Trail Ridge Road was closed and I was the only person up on it this morning, and the harsh landscape was covered in fresh snow but pleasant and manageable. In a nutshell, I couldn’t ask for a better morning in RMNP. Mornings like we had on Thursday are why I constantly keep heading out to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s never the same twice, you never really know how the light will unfold, and the conditions will usually dictate where I end up in the end. This keeps it fresh and keeps me waking up early every day.

Memorial Day in Rocky Mountain National Park proving what most of us here in Colorado know. It’s may be the unofficial kick off to Summer, but in Rocky Mountain National Park its more or less business as usual. Last time I checked in was to relay the message that Trail Ridge Road would not be open for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. And after a couple of days of unsettled weather in Rocky with rain, and thunderstorms, this morning looked like there could be a chance for a decent sunrise.

It was rainy when I left my house this morning to head up to Estes Park and RMNP. My tentative plan was to head up Bear Lake Road, get a decent hike in and look to head to one of the lakes to get mountains reflecting in the calm waters. Fingers crossed, maybe whichever peak I ended up photographing would even have a nice new dusting of snow on it.

When I arrived in Estes Park, I found there was a pretty good inversion sitting over the lower areas of the park. The inversion appeared to be at about 9500 ft or so and there did not seem to be much in the way of cloud cover over the inversion layer. I decided I would ditch my plan to head up Bear Lake Road and instead take the safe route and head up to Rainbow Curve and at the very least get a chance to play in the fog and possibly snow.

Heading up Trail Ridge Road, just as I started to climb above Hidden Valley, I saw my first breaks in the cloud cover. At that time, the inversion was east of Rainbow Curve and frankly, I could not tell if it was moving out of the park or pushing farther west up against the range. This is the reason I like Trail Ridge Road when theres and inversion, you have a little more flexibility to try and manage if you can get up above the inversion layer. While its great to be out in the backcountry when this happens, you pretty much have to hike to a location and cross your fingers that you picked the right spot.

Inversion layers often act like a living, breathing entity. The move up and down like waves. Sometimes they are very still flat, and other times they move up and down like you are in the middle of storm in the ocean, This morning, the inversion layer was moving upwards like a rising tide. I had a few my minutes just before sunrise to get setup and start shooting. Longs Peak was visible when I first arrived for a few brief moments as was the Twin Sisters off to the east of Longs Peak. There was about a 1/4-1/2 of inch or snow of new snow on the pines over 10,000 ft so the view from Rainbow Curve looked spectacular.

Within about 10 minutes or so of me getting setup and taking a few exposures of both Longs Peak, Ypsilon Peak and then onto the Twin Sisters which had a little bit of color behind it from the pre-sunrise light, the inversion made its way up and over Rainbow Curve and left me in a blanket of clouds. Those 10 minutes were all I would get with a clear view to the east. I waiting around for about an hour but the inversion did not clear again until I had left and the light had gone flat.

Here’s a pro-tip for photographers shooting Rocky Mountain National Park during an inversion. Don’t assume you can just setup and wait for the light. Start shooting as soon as you have adequate enough light. Blue light images, long exposures with the inversion smoothing out and the nice pastel light of dawn all can be more dramatic or stunning then when the actual sun appears and may make the light harsh or throw lots of hard shadows and glare into the scenes. My personal favorite light is the light just before sunrise as its a little more subtle, but also a little more easy to process and capture on our modern camera sensors.

Once I decided I was done for the morning at Rainbow Curve, I headed back down Trail Ridge Road and wanted to check out how the aspens were coming along. I’m a sucker for lime green spring aspens almost as much as I am for golden aspens come fall. I was able to find some nice spring aspens budding out in Horseshoe Park as well. While there as still some trees that have yet to bud out, many have started and are looking good. All the rain we’ve had also soaks into the aspen boles and brings out a little more contrast and detail in the trunks which was welcome also.

Overall, an awesome morning in Rocky Mountain National Park that turned out as so many do. Not what I had planned and not what I expected but roll with flow and you can come away with some interesting new compositions and images. Enjoy Memorial Day here in the United States and of course always remember to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice on this day so that we can all enjoy places like Rocky Mountain National Park.

I just wanted to check in here before the Memorial Day weekend regarding the current conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park. Winter is quickly losing her grip on the park but we still have a ways to go in many places.

Lower elevations are starting to green up nicely. This past week we have had lots of wind, rain mixed with snow many of the days but the tug of war between winter and spring/summer is finally starting to lean towards the latter.

Grasses in the lower elevations are greening up and there are even some wildflowers such as Golden Banner starting to grow in earnest in some areas Rocky. Aspens are leafed out and leafing out in many areas but there are some that have yet to even bud out so its a bit hit or miss on photographing those key lime spring aspen trees right now.

Lakes and water below 10,000 ft are all thawed and running at a mild runoff right now. Trail to access places like Dream Lake and The Loch still have spots of snow on them and can be a bit dicey once the days warm up, so be prepared with traction devices and gaiters for your legs if you plan to get off trail or get into some of the higher elevation locations.

As far as Trail Ridge Road goes, I believe it should open by the end of the week. We have had some snowy mornings on the higher elevations but hopefully the plow crews can get the Trail Ridge Road in a safe enough condition to open it to all those waiting to head over to Grand Lake for lunch. It appears that we are going to have a warming trend in the near future which should help as well.

Overall, things are looking great and I can’t wait for the warmer weather and summer conditions to get here. Have lots of great backpacking trips planned and will be out everyday that conditions look promising for photography. Happy shooting!