The Green Mountain Baker

A serene sunrise unfolds over the Kawuneeche Valley on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park from the small pond near Green Mountain. With Baker Mountain glowing in the distance and the sound of elk bugling in the meadow, the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park is always a great option to photograph when conditions on the east side of RMNP are less than ideal. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lens

Finally had a little bit of time yesterday to get over to the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park for sunrise. Conditions on the east side of the park were clear and very windy. These types of mornings on the east side of RMNP are perfect for exploring the west side of Rocky for a few reasons.

For one, if there are strong westerly winds on the east side of Rocky, It likely the winds are very calm or non-existent on the west side of the park. This is obviously important for a few reasons, but foremost would be the chance to capture reflections and the second reason would be to keep objects like trees, leaves and blades of grasses and wildflowers mostly still when photographing them.

Another reason these are the perfect type of mornings for the west side of Rocky is that even on clear mornings, the west side of the park seems to me to have a better chance for clouds or fog to be present or to form. The east side of Rocky is basically in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains, its the dry side and its practically a desert type environment on the east side of the park. The west side gets more moisture, is colder and feels less of the effect of the rain shadow, hence the better chance you may get some interesting atmospherics.

There’s some really nice fall color starting to show up in the ground cover along the Big Meadows/Green Mountain Trail on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. This was along the trail in the former East Troublesome burn scar. Photographing these small intimate scenes I find as rewarding as photographing a giant stand of autumn aspen trees. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lens

Leaving the wind behind, I headed over to the west side of the park and photographed from one of my favorite little ponds in the Kawuneeche Valley. This pond, near the former Green Mountain NPS Cabins which were almost all destroyed by the East Troublesome Fire, has a beautiful view of Baker Mountain, as well as Bowen and Baker Mountain.

With some light frost on the grasses and the feel of autumn in the air, the pond had a little bit of fog over its surface just as some clouds appeared over Baker Mountain at sunrise. A little bit better of a location than the windy east side this morning and its a great place to head up to Big Meadows after sunrise for a hike as well. All the more reason to head over the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park when conditions are the east side of RMNP are less than ideal.