Exploring new areas of Rocky Mountain National Park is always exciting. I’m lucky enough to be photographing in Rocky Mountain National Park, so it’s always a thrilling experience for me and I’m certainly not complaining. There are times however, when areas of Rocky impress me even more than I could imagine.
Last week was one of those experiences. I have never photographed Black Lake, but it’s been on the ‘to-do’ list for some time. In fact, I’ve never spent much time in Glacier Gorge beyond Mills and Jewel Lake. I have seen some other photographers images from the area and had been told by many how beautiful the Black Lake area is.
It’s a pretty good slog up to Black Lake. It’s a little under 5 miles one-way just to reach Black Lake which is nestled deep in Glacier Gorge. The area I planned on shooting above Black Lake would make the one-way mileage exceed 5 miles, and the total elevation gain exceed 1800 ft.
I set off from the Glacier Gorge parking lot a little before 4:00 AM for Black Lake. The trail can be a little difficult to follow in some areas and a wind event over the winter months has created large areas of blown down timber which can be navigation a little tricky in some areas but I was able to forge ahead fairly easily.
As I neared Ribbon Falls and the shore of Black Lake, some nice clouds and pre-dawn light started to fill the sky to the north and east. I had only a few minutes until the sunrise but things were looking promising. I scurried around the side of Black Lake and followed Black Lake’s inlet stream to a vantage point up above Black Lake with a commanding view of McHenry Peak and The Arrowhead.
I found a nice location along the creek looking back over Black Lake and began to setup my camera. After hiking 5 miles in the dark, it’s somewhat easy to develop tunnel vision and not to observe your surroundings as you normally would. After setting up my gear, I was able to take a deep breath and take in my surroundings.
It’s hard to describe in words how beautiful a location this area is. I can hope to convey that through my images from this particular morning, but this area is so beautiful one needs to experience it first hand to fully appreciate the location and experience.
Black Lake is one of those areas that far exceeded any and all of my expectations. It’s a location I will return to photograph again. And even though I managed to drop my $2400 24mm tilt shift lens into the creek during the shoot, I had one of my best Rocky Mountain National Park experiences on this expedition.
>drop my $2400 24mm tilt shift lens into the creek
Ow!!! Is it going to be fixable?
Anyway, I love this area too. One of my favorites but a good slog early in the morning. I really want to get up to Shelf and Solitude lakes at some point at sunrise as the images I have seen of those are spectacular but AFAIK the trail is not very clear so would need some daytime scouting in advance or an overnight stay in the tent site below it.
Hi Jao,
It appears my 24mm TS-E will be ok. I got pretty lucky I believe. I was in a bit of a rush setting up for this shot and had my bag near my feet at the edge of the stream. I felt something roll over my foot and heard a ‘plop’. I quickly realized that two of my lenses had rolled out of my bag. My 24-105mm stopped just short of the water but my 24mm was nowhere to be found. I quickly ran my hand through the stream but I could not locate the 24mm. The light and location were just too good and after the 5 mile hike to Black Lake, I was not going to let my 24mm rolling into the creek prevent me from getting the shot.
The light and clouds were changing very rapidly and I was working the scene for the next ten minutes or so all the while my 24mm was taking a bath. Finally I had a few minutes to really look for the lens. I found it submerged under rock in the stream. The front lens cap was missing and water was pouring from the lens when I removed it from the creek. At that point I figured I could at least send then lens back to Canon for repairs and was glad I found it. I managed to find the front lens cap in the stream and the front element other than a small dent on the filter ring was unscathed.
It took me two days of letting the lens sit out in the sun but finally I was able to get all the moisture that formed on the middle lens elements to evaporate. I was about to place the lens in a container with minute rice to draw the moisture out, but our dry Colorado air did the trick. At this point the front and rear elements are perfect and I can see no residue or water marks on the middle element. Other than the small dent on the filter ring which still works just fine I think I made out ok. I tested the lens and it appears just as sharp as it did when I purchased it. It’s a good thing that the TS-E lenses are manual lenses so there were really no electronic components to ruin.
Shelf and Solitude Lakes are on my ‘to-do’ list as well. My understanding is that those two lakes are best photographed in the afternoon. You get a great view of the backside of Longs Peak illuminated as the sun sets. Being a pretty hard core morning person, I have a hard time getting myself motivated to fight the afternoon crowds and hike up to the lakes. One of these days I’ll do it though.