Feels like I’ve been a broken record all summer. Wildfire smoke settled in early this year and it had been a consistent companion to us photographers all summer long. Finally, after what seemed like much of the peak summer months the smoke has mostly lifted from the Front Range of Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park. While clouds have been harder to come by, it’s amazing once again to gaze at the deep blue skies overhead and has certainly made landscape photography a bit easier.

On another note, yesterday was also the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service. The National Park Service was formed on August 25th, 1916. Regardless of your political bent, the National Park Service remains the most favorable federal agency in the United States. This is of course for good reason. Their mission to protect wild spaces for generations to come and act as stewards of America’s great landscapes allow all to enjoy the most beautiful National Parks in the world. With visitation at all time highs, challenges in funding, government shutdowns, The National Park Service does a great job at making sure our National Park not only remain functional, but protected and ready to visit in a manner that almost always leaves an indelible mark on one’s soul. Thanks again to all those employees of the National Park Service for doing a tremendous job, year after year.

With the skies cleared of smoke, and 110 year celebration behind us, many of you are probably curious as to the current conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park. After what has been a dry and hot summer, changes in the park are becoming very evident now. The calendar still says summer and we have not even gotten to Labor Day yet but there are many noticeable changes occurring all around Rocky as I write this.

The dry conditions found especially on the east side of RMNP are certainly helping to bring about some early autumn season. It’s obvious that the heat is stressing the plants in many areas while cooler nights and shorter amounts of sunlight during the day are also doing there thing. Grasses in the meadows on both the east and west side of Rocky are starting to go golden from green. Underbrush in many areas such as ferns, wild roses and other plants are starting to change, again hurried on by the stress from the dry and hot summer. Water levels are low with streams running gently and many kettle ponds and alpine tarns are now mud holes.

The longterm forecast for Rocky shows cooler, wetter weather. Of course thats a longterm forecast so we have to take it with a bit of a grain of salt but we can still remain hopeful. As always with Rocky in the Autumn season, there will be a ton to photograph. The Elk Rut should be great, but at least what I’m seeing early on makes me think the fall color, especially the aspen trees may be somewhat stunted due to the dry weather. As always, I’ll be out exploring every nook in Rocky and I’ll keep you updated right here.