Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in Rocky Mountain National Park can tell you stories about the wind. Rocky Mountain National Park can be one of the windiest locales on many days of the year. Winters tend to be windier then the summer but nevertheless I’ve arrived at many locations in the Park to find photographic conditions less than ideal.

One of the locations in Rocky Mountain National Park that I have visited many times to photograph, only to come away with nothing due to the wind is Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake sits .8 miles above the ever popular Dream Lake. It is not photographed as often as Dream Lake for a few reasons. First, it’s hard to walk by the iconic Dream Lake and pass up that view. I suspect many photographers who only make occasional visits to the Park cant resist the lure of Dream Lake’s classic view of Hallet Peak. Secondly, Emerald Lake sits right at the base of Hallet Peak and Flattop Mountain. Photographers need a very wide lens in the 14-20mm range on a full frame 35mm camera to be able to capture the entire scene. Lastly, even on a perfectly calm day down the trail at Dream Lake, the area around Emerald Lake will often generate enough of a breeze to foul the surface of the waters and prevent the classic peak and reflection type image.

Earlier this week I was able to get up to Emerald Lake on one of these such days when there is no wind. Due to the lack of clouds this morning I played around a bit with my compositions. While I was able to capture the classic peak and reflection image with a cloudless sky above Hallet, I used my 16-35mm lend to isolate the reflection of Hallet Peak in Emerald Lake along its rocky talus shores while minimizing the cloudless blue sky.

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time this summer in the Bear Lake area adding some additional locations to my Rocky Mountain Portfolio. While there has been little discussion about the issue, photographing the Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge areas is going to be getting significantly more difficult in the near future due to a second phase of road construction on the bottom portion of Bear Lake road. Back in 2004 the National Park Service completed a fairly large road construction project on the upper portion of Bear Lake road. The 2004 road construction project made access to the Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge trailheads difficult.

At the time, Park shuttles were the only way to access those trailheads at the time and unfortunately, they started running at 5:00 AM if I recall correctly. Sunrise in the middle of Summer occurs around 5:30 AM so even if your on the first shuttle, your not likely to even get to Bear Lake in time for first light and you can pretty much forget hiking into locations farther in the back country like Dream Lake or the Loch. The Phase II portion of road construction is slated to begin in mid October and last through the Summer of 2012. While it appears the 5.1 miles of Bear Lake Road that will be under construction will be closed during the night to traffic, it also appears that it will be closed during much of the day with the exception of some holidays. Either way its going to make photographing these areas more difficult for foreseeable future starting in the middle of October.

Photography much like other pursuits, can have good and bad days. Check that, with photography there are really good days, and days when its great to be out in the field, but maybe the actual photography did not work out as planned. Today was one of those days when everything came together just right.

As is typical, I started my day by squinting out my bedroom window at 3:00 AM trying to see what the atmospheric conditions in the sky would be. I was heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park regardless of the conditions, but checking the sky as soon as I wake up is now second nature to me. I’ll be the first to admit it may sound a bit odd, but looking out into the dark of night and seeing the orange glow of suburbia reflecting off the evenings clouds cover gets my blood pumping. I always have an extra spring in my step when I’m heading out the door to shoot, but when there are clouds and the chance for some epic lighting conditions may present itself, I get even more pumped up.

On the ride up to Rocky Mountain I keep checking the sky to make sure the clouds were still with me. Colorado’s dry air can play cruel tricks on the photographer banking on morning clouds after a night of thunderstorms and the associated cloud cover. The cloud cover can quickly dissipate right before sunrise leaving clear blue skies above. I arrived at the Bear Lake parking lot, turned off the lights on my truck and quickly jumped out to confirm those clouds were still floating above the mountain peaks. Sweetness!, lots of clouds floating over Longs Peak, Otis Peak, Hallet Peak and Flattop Mountain. Even better I could see the orange glow of dawn starting to light the horizon along the eastern plains. This mornings cloud cover was in all the right places, over the peaks but clear on the high plains.

I threw on my backpack and raced up the trailhead. There was a slight breeze this morning and although I contemplated shooting Dream Lake with what was looking like an epic sunrise, I told myself I’m not going to shoot a scene I along with countless others have photographed successfully many times before. Besides, I figured I would have to share the lake shore and the image with a half dozen other photographers who would be swarming one of Rocky most iconic locations. I figured my destination this morning would be Dragon Tail falls. With a slight breeze blowing, I figured the falls were a safe bet because the breeze would have to no impact on the image.

I raced past Nymph lake which is somewhat sheltered from the wind and remained smooth as glass as I passed by, next stop Dream lake. Surprisingly, there were no photographers amassed along the east shore of Dream lake but the breeze would prevent a mirrored reflection image. Ironically, this actual made me feel a bit better as I knew I would not pass up that once in a lifetime shot at Dream Lake on this morning. I passed Tyndall falls and headed off trail to Dragon Tail falls. With my heart pumping for the sprint up the trailhead I setup my camera and waited for sunrise. I arrived with plenty of time but the excitement of the pending sunrise had me moving at a good clip along the trail. 20 minutes after I arrived, I was able to shoot Dragon Tail falls in some beautiful light with clouds over Flattop Mountain. I quickly headed up Tyndall creek and waded into a small tarn and again was able to capture Flattop Mountain with clouds skirting over head. As quickly as the light show began, it faded behind the clouds. I took my time hiking back down the trail and spent some time photographing the lilly pads at Nymph Lake. While I was slowing down at Nymph Lake taking in the beautiful morning, that familiar feeling of euphoria swept over me. Much like a golfer who always returns to the course because of that one great shot during their round, I could wipe away the dozens of times I had attempted to capture similar conditions only to have things not pan out as I had planned. So it is with photography, and mornings like today keep me pursuing my craft with as much excitement as the first time I photographed a sunrise in Rocky Mountain National Park.