With March being one of Rocky Mountain National Park’s wettest months, typically means nice dumps of snow and moisture. We of course desperately need the moisture but the combination of snow and winds that accompany each passing system can make it difficult to be out in the field photographing.
I look at the month of March as a tease. A few mild, warm and sunny days sprinkled in for good measure with a ragging blizzards and cold blustery northerly winds tossed in as reminder that winter still has a few good rounds left in her. In other words, March wants you to know it’s not quite time to unpack the Hawaiian shirts and flip flops just yet.
The weather this March in Rocky Mountain National Park has been mostly following along course. We’ve not seen a blizzard with heavy snow as of yet, and the park is desperately below the typical snowpack measurements, but March remains raw and ever changing.
With the lakes still frozen over and the streams just beginning to reveal moving water beneath the ice and thaw, I headed out looking for subjects that remain interesting regardless of the season. With a new storm system quickly descending on the park, I hiked up to a favorite location in Glacier Gorge.
The skies were cloudy and snow was moving in over the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park. I was hoping that the small break in the cloud cover on the eastern horizon would hold through sunrise and cause a kaleidoscope of colors as the cloud cover became illuminated by the sunrise.
A kaleidoscope of color was not to be this March morning in Glacier Gorge. There was however, just enough muted color in the sky over Glacier Gorge for a short time to make for a dynamic image of this krummholz tree.
This morning typifies this time of year in Rocky. Muted colors, cloud cover and snow partially covering the landscape as more begins to fall on the high peaks. A pair of Stellar Jays squawking at me as the sun rises over the Front Range of Colorado. It may be one of the more difficult and least inspiring times to photograph, but there are few other places I would rather be.