My favorite time of year has arrived in Rocky Mountain National Park. Summer is here in all its short but spectacular glory. The trails are free of snow, lakes are open, wildflowers are blooming and the alpine tundra is green. It’s easy to photograph inversions from 11,000 ft above sea level as I did this morning a week ago from Tombstone Ridge looking over Forest Canyon towards Longs Peak. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm S lensHard to believe it but we are already past the Fourth of July here in Rocky Mountain National Park. While the official start to Summer already occurred a few weeks prior, I always consider the July 4th holiday to be the official start to Summer in RMNP and what I think is the best time of year in the park for not only exploration and travel, but for photography.
By July 4th, nearly all the readily accessible areas of Rocky Mountain National Park are free of snow. Some years there still may be snow around below 11,000 ft, but on an average year, all but the most stubborn or shaded sections of trails will be snow free. Lakes and ponds will be free of ice and the alpine tundra will be green and really starting to explode with wildflowers. Streams and waterfalls will be running at a decent clip, but not the torrents that they were only a few weeks prior from snowmelt. Lastly, the monsoon season and afternoon thunderstorms will be firing off making for interesting light and conditions in the afternoons.
Summer is my favorite season in Rocky, but it always seems to progress much to quickly. Summer in RMNP, is quick and rapid. One day the alpine tundra is covered in snow, then next it is exploding with wildflowers and what feels like a short time later, is experiencing its first snow all over again as the grasses turn from green to red welcoming fall.
With Summer here in Rocky Mountain National Park. Take the time to relax and enjoy what can be a hectic and short season. We all dream up locations we want to shoot, and light and conditions we want to expeirence. Instead, take the time to let the moment come to you, look for images that speak to the season but perhaps not your preconceived notions of what you want to photograph. This summer morning last week on the alpine tundra, I had other ideas. Taking a moment at a small tarn on my hike out and I couldnt help but stop to photograph the blue skies and clouds reflecting in this pond with this small island of lush grass growing in the middle of it. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lens.For photographers in Rocky Mountain National Park, the pace can feel hectic. You never get to all the locations you want to photograph, and even if you do, mother nature and the weather dont always cooperate. Wind, cloudless skies and or cloudy skies, all conspire against our preconceived perceptions of just how the summer is going to go and what new images we imagine we will be adding to our portfolios in the off season.
The important thing to take note of during this amazing time of year in Rocky Mountain National Park is to enjoy the season for what it is. Short, hectic, physical and most importantly spectacular. Take a moment to relax and enjoy Summer in Rocky. Try not to plan out each and every shoot but also take the day and conditions for what they are and adapt with it and move with the flow. While the season may be short, and some of your goals for images may be left for another summer, stop and enjoy what is an amazing time of year in Rocky.
A stunning sunrise unfolds over Coopers Beach on the east end of Long Island. Coopers Beach, located in Southampton, New York was just named the number one beach in American by
Dr. Beach. This morning was not a summer beach morning in the traditional sense, but a few minutes of gorgeous light made it a special morning. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S IS lens
I just arrived back from a quick trip back to the east coast to visit family and spend a little bit of time at the beach. The purpose of the visit was not photography related at all but I almost always bring along a small kit just on the off chance I’m able to get out early one morning or late one evening to photograph some of the beautiful scenes found back in New York State.
With sunrise being 5:30 AM, is usually not an issue for me to get out, photograph for a few hours and still arrive back before most of family are awake and ready for the day. I come from an Irish family so of course the trick when visiting them back east, is if I can maintain my normally regimented schedule and actually get so sleep early enough so I can get on location before sunrise.
This trip to Southampton, New York to see family I was actually able to all the above. I had a late night catching up with my family, still was able to wake up bright and early and most importantly, head over to Coopers Beach for sunrise. As far as beach weather goes, I did not have great weather back on the east end of Long Island. I missed the heat wave that had abated just as I arrived but was there for a couple of gray, cool and rainy days. Not great for the beach, but of course it might be just what is needed to make compelling landscape images.
The Lifeguards at Coopers Beach wont be all that busy this morning as the weather overall wasnt great for the beach but was for photography. Lookings south, the Atlantic Ocean appears endless from the lifegaurd perch at Coopers Beach. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
It had been a few years since I’ve been able to get out on Coopers Beach and create any new images. The timing, family events and other commitments have made it more difficult in recent years to get out to Southampton, New York and have the opportunity to get out and photograph some of the most beautiful beaches in not only New York, but also the entire United States. For those who pay attention to these sorts of trivial and subjective things, Coopers Beach was just named the number 1 beach in the United States by ‘Dr. Beach’ once again.
Coopers Beach with its beautiful light colored sand, wide beach, dune grasses and often sunny skies in the winter certainly has the credentials to lay claim to being a spectacular location and beautiful beach and scene.
I had one morning to squeeze in a morning shoot at Coopers Beach. With a few hours sleep, I awoke to 60 degree temperatures, 10-15 mph winds and cloudy overcast skies. It didn’t exactly look promising as a photographer, but again I have a 10 minute drive over from the house and I was awake and ready to go already. Out the door I headed with the salty ocean air permeating the atmosphere.
Having been living out west in Colorado for the past 27 years, one of the things I really appreciate about photographing back east is the softness of the light. The subtle textures, color graditions and soft palettes make for dreamy impressionist like conditions that we dont often get out here in Colorado. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
Arriving at Coopers Beach it looked cloudy. Even still, photographing the beach on a cloudy mornings can make for some amazing abstract images. Long exposures, the way each wave is unique and crashes and spreads out on the sands all make for vastly different images and moods. One thing I love about photographing back on the east coast and away from places like Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado where I spend the majority of my time is that the light is so soft and gentle back east. The humidity, angle of the sun make the light much more gently and manageable then the high altitude sun and cerulean blue skies I am now accustomed to photographing in my home state of Colorado.
I headed out on the the beach and had to put my vest on. The weather felt more like being back in Colorado than the east end of Long Island in summer. 60 degrees with a chilly easterly wind blowing in off the water at 10-15mph and hour. Looking east down the beach, I could see a slight glimmer of pink starting to glow. While it looked cloudy, there may be just enough of a break on the horizon that add some nice color to the gray skies. Soon after I had setup my camera, the skies turned a pink, red and purple hue. I had about 3 minutes before the magic was gone and it was back to being a gray morning.
Even with the cloudy conditions, Coopers Beach looked spectacular and the low light conditions allowed for longer shutter speeds with really brings out the mood and pace of this great morning on the east end of Long Island. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
I was feeling good as I knew I had capture some amazing light this morning at Coopers Beach. A few minutes is all I always say I need anyway and this morning couldn’t have been more beautiful. The winds and rains from the night before has smoothed, sculpted and cleaned the white sands of Coopers and the ocean had enough chop to brings out some beautiful texture and form right as the color peaked.
It was an awesome morning at Coopers Beach. It was one of those mornings when you feel like you’ve gotten away with one. While most where sleeping in Southampton, unaware that this beautiful scene was unfolding, I was blessed with a few amazing minutes at Americas number one beach. More importantly, I was able to reconnect to a place that holds a special place in my heart and one I had been unable to enjoy for a few years.
Spring sunrise at Cub Lake. Clouds over Stones Peak, lillies growing on the surface of Cub Lake and beautiful morning light. Rocky Mountain National Park is really starting to look spectacular as late spring transitions to summer. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
It’s late spring in Rocky but you can really feel summer is just around the corner here in Rocky Mountain National Park. After what has been a cool wet spring, the warm weather has arrived on the Front Range of Colorado. Lots of thawing, melting snow and greening grass are the themes right now in the park,
Thursday morning looked promising for a colorful sunrise. After checking all my usual weather apps, Clear Dark Sky, Sunset WX, Underground, I figured I would hike up to Cub Lake for sunrise. The pond-lilies should be sprouting on the surface of the lake and the grasses around Cub Lake should be looking their spring best.
The lower to mid elevations in Rocky Mountain National Park are looking amazing right now. The Fern Lake trail and the bridge over the Big Pool and Big Thompson River are calling hikers and photographers alike right now. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
I get a chuckle when I go through my past photo catalogs. One theme I notice is that I end up at many of the same locations around the same time year after year. I don’t do this on purpose but the light and conditions often dictate where I end up. Cub Lake is one of those locations that is a great place to photograph early in the season. The lake thaws out much earlier than many of the other lakes as it resides at a much lower elevation. The trail to Cub Lake also is snow free much earlier than the Bear Lake and Wild Basin trailheads do. The other great thing about this trail is wildflowers start blowing here earlier than most places in the park and it’s a great place to see and photograph wildlife early in the seasons. Moose, elk and birds are all abundant along the Cub Lake trail in late spring.
So after leaving the Cub Lake trailhead at about 4:30 AM, I arrived at Cub Lake to find conditions more or less like I would expect. There was a modest breeze which is always tricky for photographers shooting RMNP. The breeze would alternate from calm, to gusty which of course muddles the lakes surface and can make catching a reflection in the surface tricky. Clouds were floating over Stones Peak and we had enough breaks with the wind that the overall prospects for sunrise looked decent.
Sunrise at Cub was beautiful as always. Pastels turned into orange and reds and the wind remained modest. I shot sunrise and then headed west past cub lake to connect with the Fern Lake trailhead and loop back to the parking lot. I love hiking this loop as its both beautiful and a great way to get my legs back in shape for ‘hiking season’ in the park. No matter how much training I do all year, nothing gets you in better trail shape than just hiking miles with a heavy pack on.
The Big Thompson River is running at a good clip right now. Seen from the bridge at the Big Pool, the water rushes downstream filled with snowmelt from higher elevations in Rocky Mountain National Park. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
Past Cub Lake, and down to Big Pool. The wildflowers are amazing right now along the trail. The Golden Banner is having a banner year, wild roses and a few columbines were all present. The Big Thompson was running at a good clip with the snowmelt of the spring runoff. After photographing the Big Pool for awhile, I headed back to the parking and ran into a Bull Moose right on the trail. Moose number 2, per his tag was enjoying the verdant green aspen trees right along the trail. It’s been awhile since I’ve actually stopped to photograph at the Big Pool but it’s amazing how time can renew interest in photographing any given subject or location that you’ve shot a hundred times before.
I finished up my loop hike, got back to my car and just soaked in all or Rocky’s spring goodness. Its a great time to photograph RMNP right now. Wildflowers are blooming, elk and moose have their newborns, many lakes are now thawed and lower elevation trails are free of snow and great for hiking. Give it another few weeks and the alpine tundra will be greening up and at its prime. It still amazes me to this day, just how short and fast the seasons progress in Rocky. Blink and you might miss it!.
As fo this writing, Trail Ridge Road is still closed for the season. I have to beleive the opening will be eminent but I dont have any inside information as to when that will occur. Regardless, Thursday morning was amazing as fresh snow fell above 11,000 ft and I had the entire area above the Rainbow Curve to myself. Sunrise over Longs Peak from near the Ute Trailhead was spectacular as fresh snow was present on the alpine tundra and pines while beautiful pink clouds drifted over Rocky Mountain National Park’s highest peak. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S IS lens
Good morning. As of this writing Trail Ridge Road still remains closed for the season. I believe it will be opening shortly as it looks like we will finally have warmer, drier weather moving in. I’m was a bit surprised the road did not open mid week but again there was weather in the form of rain that was due Wednesday night. As many of you know, snow is possible in Rocky Mountain National Park all months of the year, and even if its fairly mild down in Estes Park, up at 10,000 to 11,000 ft there is a good chance its falling in the form of snow and or ice.
We had rain Wednesday night and the system was still parked over the Front Range of Colorado early Thursday morning. As always, I figured with the low hanging clouds and light rain hanging over Estes Park as I headed through town, I would at least attempt to see if I could get above them. With Trail Ridge Road open only until Rainbow Curve at 10,875 ft I figured I would start there. Its always nice to hike Trail Ridge Road before it opens from season after it has been plowed. Hiking Trail Ridge Road before it opens allows you to really enjoy the area before the crowds and cars show up. Basically, the area along the road goes from being a busy roadway in the summer filled with visitors to true alpine wilderness when the gates on the road area closed.
I broke through the inversion layer just below Hidden Valley on my way up. I could see fresh snow along Tombstone Ridge above Hidden Valley and at that point knew I was going to make a dash up Trail Ridge Road to at least the Ute Trailhead to setup for sunrise. As soon as I got past the gate at Rainbow Curve, Trail Ridge Road had a fine layer of ice over the top of the pavement. Obviously, the National Park Service made the smart call in keeping Trail Ridge Road closed as the conditions would have been treacherous for any vehicles driving across in the early morning hours.
What was great about Thursday mornings sunrise in Rocky Mountain National Park was not only the beautiful conditions and light, but the snow that had blanketed the landscape. Enough had fallen to give the appearance of winter but overall the tempreatures were fairily mild for 11,000 ft, the there was only about 1/2 inch of snow which made travel easy and painless. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S IS lens
Hiking up the road, I had to alternate between the median and the shoulder to avoid the ice and taking a spill on my way up. Except for the occasional protest of a Ptarmigan, it was peaceful and calm at timberline. It was mostly clear overhead but there were some nice clouds floating above the low lying inversion layer over the foothills and plains of Colorado to the east of Rocky Mountain National Park. As I kept a determined pace, things were looking great for sunrise. The higher I climbed, the more pronounced the snow became. By the time I reached the Ute Trailhead, there was almost 1/2 inch of new snow on the landscape and trees. Just enough to cover the landscape, but not enough to make it difficult to hike through.
Beautiful clouds floated over Longs Peak to the southeast, and snow covered nearly the entire landscape. The inversion had not made its way all the way up Forest Canyon, but even still things looked great. After a pastel sunrise over Longs Peak, I headed the ridgeline to for another composition and view. The clouds floating overhead had increased which was only making for even more dynamic compositions.
It was the best of both worlds, Trail Ridge Road was closed and I was the only person up on it this morning, and the harsh landscape was covered in fresh snow but pleasant and manageable. In a nutshell, I couldn’t ask for a better morning in RMNP. Mornings like we had on Thursday are why I constantly keep heading out to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s never the same twice, you never really know how the light will unfold, and the conditions will usually dictate where I end up in the end. This keeps it fresh and keeps me waking up early every day.
Memorial Day morning in Rocky Mountain National Park was pretty amazing. After storms pushed through last night, rain and snow was present above 10,000 ft. I headed to Rainbow Curve along Trail Ridge Road to get above the cloud inversion and see what would develop at sunrise. Here we are looking at the Twin Sisters like an island in the middle of an occean of clouds just before sunrise. The inversion layer quickly smoothered Rainbow Curve after this but I love the pastels and subtle nature of this image. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 100-400mm F4 IS S lens
Memorial Day in Rocky Mountain National Park proving what most of us here in Colorado know. It’s may be the unofficial kick off to Summer, but in Rocky Mountain National Park its more or less business as usual. Last time I checked in was to relay the message that Trail Ridge Road would not be open for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. And after a couple of days of unsettled weather in Rocky with rain, and thunderstorms, this morning looked like there could be a chance for a decent sunrise.
Ypsilon Mountain, Fairchild Mountain and the Mummy Range made a short appearance this morning before the clouds rose up and obstructed this view. I shot this in the blue hour before sunirse but the new snow and the Mummy Range and pines helps the image convey the cool, moody morning. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
It was rainy when I left my house this morning to head up to Estes Park and RMNP. My tentative plan was to head up Bear Lake Road, get a decent hike in and look to head to one of the lakes to get mountains reflecting in the calm waters. Fingers crossed, maybe whichever peak I ended up photographing would even have a nice new dusting of snow on it.
When I arrived in Estes Park, I found there was a pretty good inversion sitting over the lower areas of the park. The inversion appeared to be at about 9500 ft or so and there did not seem to be much in the way of cloud cover over the inversion layer. I decided I would ditch my plan to head up Bear Lake Road and instead take the safe route and head up to Rainbow Curve and at the very least get a chance to play in the fog and possibly snow.
Heading up Trail Ridge Road, just as I started to climb above Hidden Valley, I saw my first breaks in the cloud cover. At that time, the inversion was east of Rainbow Curve and frankly, I could not tell if it was moving out of the park or pushing farther west up against the range. This is the reason I like Trail Ridge Road when theres and inversion, you have a little more flexibility to try and manage if you can get up above the inversion layer. While its great to be out in the backcountry when this happens, you pretty much have to hike to a location and cross your fingers that you picked the right spot.
I only had about 10 minutes before the inversion layer and clouds covered Rainbow Curve and pretty much obstructed everything. This image of these pines covered in fresh snow and fog certainly conveys the ‘unoffical start to summer’ vibes for RMNP!. Tehcnical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
Inversion layers often act like a living, breathing entity. The move up and down like waves. Sometimes they are very still flat, and other times they move up and down like you are in the middle of storm in the ocean, This morning, the inversion layer was moving upwards like a rising tide. I had a few my minutes just before sunrise to get setup and start shooting. Longs Peak was visible when I first arrived for a few brief moments as was the Twin Sisters off to the east of Longs Peak. There was about a 1/4-1/2 of inch or snow of new snow on the pines over 10,000 ft so the view from Rainbow Curve looked spectacular.
Within about 10 minutes or so of me getting setup and taking a few exposures of both Longs Peak, Ypsilon Peak and then onto the Twin Sisters which had a little bit of color behind it from the pre-sunrise light, the inversion made its way up and over Rainbow Curve and left me in a blanket of clouds. Those 10 minutes were all I would get with a clear view to the east. I waiting around for about an hour but the inversion did not clear again until I had left and the light had gone flat.
Here’s a pro-tip for photographers shooting Rocky Mountain National Park during an inversion. Don’t assume you can just setup and wait for the light. Start shooting as soon as you have adequate enough light. Blue light images, long exposures with the inversion smoothing out and the nice pastel light of dawn all can be more dramatic or stunning then when the actual sun appears and may make the light harsh or throw lots of hard shadows and glare into the scenes. My personal favorite light is the light just before sunrise as its a little more subtle, but also a little more easy to process and capture on our modern camera sensors.
Once it became obvious that I was going to be socked in with clouds at Rainbow Curve, I headed down to Horseshoe Park to see how the aspen trees were looking. I find lime green spring aspens as enjoyable to photograph as I do golden aspens in the fall. The aspens are start to leaf out and look pretty good as of this morning. There are still many that have not leafed out, but we are almost looking like spring in Horseshoe Park. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 100-400mm F4 IS Lens
Once I decided I was done for the morning at Rainbow Curve, I headed back down Trail Ridge Road and wanted to check out how the aspens were coming along. I’m a sucker for lime green spring aspens almost as much as I am for golden aspens come fall. I was able to find some nice spring aspens budding out in Horseshoe Park as well. While there as still some trees that have yet to bud out, many have started and are looking good. All the rain we’ve had also soaks into the aspen boles and brings out a little more contrast and detail in the trunks which was welcome also.
Overall, an awesome morning in Rocky Mountain National Park that turned out as so many do. Not what I had planned and not what I expected but roll with flow and you can come away with some interesting new compositions and images. Enjoy Memorial Day here in the United States and of course always remember to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice on this day so that we can all enjoy places like Rocky Mountain National Park.
Unfortunately, Trail Ridge Road wont be open for the Memorial Day weekend this year. The NPS crews have been working their hardest to get the road open, but snow and lots of wind the past two weeks have made it difficult to make progress on portions above timberline. I hiked up the road this morning and this was sunrise below the Ute Trail. While we have less snowpack this year, the wind with last weeks stormed moved lots of snow back onto Trail Ridge Road. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 IS S lens
It’s official. The National Park Service just posted that they wont be able to open Trail Ridge Road in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The past couple of weeks we have had a combination of snow and very high winds and according to the National Park Service (NPS), the road crews plowing Trail Ridge Road have been hampered by the snow and mostly the very high winds that continue to push back any progress they have made in the last few weeks.
The NPS road crews in Rocky Mountain National Park do an amazing job working to get Trail Ridge Road open for the season. They have been plowing since April. We’ve had a below average snowpack this year but we have had very strong wind storms much of the spring, combined often with snow and blowing snow.
By last week, I was starting to get the feeling that Trail Ridge Road might not be open for the season as there was very little chatter about it opening early and people who had hiked up the road reported the plowing operations were just past the Rock Cut. Other signs that we may be behind schedule was the fact that the Alpine Visitor Center webcam had not be moved from its winter location as of yet. When they move the web camera, you know they have dug out parts of the AVC and have the generator running up there to power it all day long as opposed to 3 times a day via a solar panel in the winter. The web cam at the AVC did show blown snow behind it one day so I believe the Grand Lake crew has at least reached the parking at one point in the past two weeks.
Trail Ridge Road wont be open for the Memorial Day weekend this year but it was not for lack of trying. One of the Rotary snowplows the NPS uses to plow Trail Ridge Road rests overnight near the Ute Trail. The glinted light of sunrise illuminates the Kodiak Rotary plows blades this morning helping to highlight the battle scars and bruises the equipment takes getting Trail Ridge Road open each season. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 IS S lensSo now that Trail Ridge Road wont be open this weekend, what would be some good alternatives to keep busy. One could be to make the longer drive over Berthoud Pass to Grand Lake. Grand Lake will be beautiful this weekend and with Trail Ridge Road closed, it will be a lot more quiet than Estes Park. Another alternative would be to visit and hike the lower portions of Wild Basin. There will still be a lot of snow in the higher elevations, but the lower elevations of Wild Basin should be less crowded than say the main areas of Rocky and mostly snow free down low. Lastly, areas like Lumpy Ridge right in town would be a good choice as they wont require long drives and although the parking lots are small, they tend to get less visitors than main areas of the park.
As an aside, Bear Lake Road now has timed entry in effect so if you are planning on heading into the Bear Lake area after 5:00 AM and 5:00 PM you will need to have an timed entry permit. With Trail Ridge Road closed, and if you dont have a timed entry permit, it would probably be a good idea to avoid the Bear Lake area unless you have already purchased a timed entry purchase. Regardless, there will be plenty to do and see and Rocky is rounding into spring form making for some great opportunities for photographers.
Sunrise at Bierstadt Lake back on May 5th. You could almost mistake this for a summer image with the grasses but as you can see there is still plenty of snow on the west end of the lake. Regardless, expect to find open water in the lower elevations of Rocky Mountain National Park. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
I just wanted to check in here before the Memorial Day weekend regarding the current conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park. Winter is quickly losing her grip on the park but we still have a ways to go in many places.
Lower elevations are starting to green up nicely. This past week we have had lots of wind, rain mixed with snow many of the days but the tug of war between winter and spring/summer is finally starting to lean towards the latter.
Grasses in the lower elevations are greening up and there are even some wildflowers such as Golden Banner starting to grow in earnest in some areas Rocky. Aspens are leafed out and leafing out in many areas but there are some that have yet to even bud out so its a bit hit or miss on photographing those key lime spring aspen trees right now.
Sunrise from Moraine Park back on May 13th. The Big Thompson River is flowing well and the grasses are just starting to green up. We are a little farther along now as far as the green up goes but Stones Peak has the same if not more snow on it as of today!. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 IS S lens
Lakes and water below 10,000 ft are all thawed and running at a mild runoff right now. Trail to access places like Dream Lake and The Loch still have spots of snow on them and can be a bit dicey once the days warm up, so be prepared with traction devices and gaiters for your legs if you plan to get off trail or get into some of the higher elevation locations.
As far as Trail Ridge Road goes, I believe it should open by the end of the week. We have had some snowy mornings on the higher elevations but hopefully the plow crews can get the Trail Ridge Road in a safe enough condition to open it to all those waiting to head over to Grand Lake for lunch. It appears that we are going to have a warming trend in the near future which should help as well.
Overall, things are looking great and I can’t wait for the warmer weather and summer conditions to get here. Have lots of great backpacking trips planned and will be out everyday that conditions look promising for photography. Happy shooting!
Ground fog rolls across the east end of Moraine Park on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday morning. It was a clear morning but the ground fog allowed me to get out and capture this image of Moraine Park with Deer Mountain in the background soaking up the early morning light. The start to summer in RMNP has been mostly clear and windy but here to hoping that will change soon. Regardless, you have to photograph with the hand your dealt and this worked out better than I originally hoped for. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lensWarm and windy is how the summer has started off so far in 2024 in Rocky Mountain National Park. After an active spring, summer has been pretty much summer like. It’s not been dry in the mountains as we have had rain showers many afternoons, but mornings and sunrises have tended to be mostly free of clouds but more importantly, very windy.
Rocky Mountain National Park is known as a windy location. Wind is something we deal with often in Rocky. The wind while a feature all year long, tends to abate or at least give photographers a few breaks here and there in the early mornings and late afternoon to take advantage of calm waters for reflections or long exposures on a group of wildflowers in a meadow or hillside.
Since about the middle of June this pattern has stuck and now it looks like we are going to trend towards much warmer weather at the end of this week. As of this writing, it appears that next week the weather will be more active again with instability and afternoon thunderstorms making a comeback to Rocky. Both the moisture and return of unstable weather will be welcome for photographers such as myself and anybody looking for some respite from the warmer weather at the end of this week.
Bad weather makes good photographs and as much as one might try, clear skies and breezy conditions are challenging no matter who is behind the viewfinder trying to create art and capture the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park.
On Monday morning I headed into the park with mixed expectations. I had avoided the park over the 4th of July weekend as I had other commitments and frankly when RMNP is that busy, it’s a holiday and a weekend and the skies are clear, I’ll probably opt to sit out a sunrise or two. The skies were clear when I headed in and there was pretty much a 0% chance that there would be any cloud cover at sunrise.
While not all that recent, this image was shot in late June at Lake Irene on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Simmilar morning as it was clear on the east side but socked in with fog on the west side of Rocky. Dramatic sunrises are great but again, photographing fog is harder to do in RMNP than one would think. Anytime I get the chance to photograph fog, I will. Technical Details: Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lensIt had rained pretty hard the night before and as I drove over the causeway over Lake Estes, there were hints of fog coming from the surface of the lake. I figured I would check out Moraine Park to see if there any ground fog present along the Big Thompson as there often can be after a night of rain. With little chance of a colorful sunrise, I headed down into Moraine Park where there was a thin layer of ground fog collecting on the middle to east end of Moraine Park.
I parked at the Cub Lake trail head and hiked around the meadow along the South Lateral Moraine until I could find a comp that would work with the current conditions. As is typical with these kind of mornings the fog was rising and falling by the minute all the while slowly evaporating and moving farther to the east.
Shortly after sunrise, along the Big Thompson River, I was able to capture this image of the fog in Moraine Park with Deer Mountain catching the early morning light. Obviously not the most dramatic sunrise I’ve capture here but one I was pleased with considering the difficult conditions for photography in Rocky as of late. In Baseball terms, sometimes you have to hit a bunch of singles before a home run. This was one of those types of mornings.
It’s shaping up to be a banner year for wildflowers in Rocky Mountain National Park. After a very snowy winter and a wet spring, we are being rewarded with some awesome wildflower displays early in the season. Moraine Park looks amazing right now with Golden Banner growing all through the meadow as seen here during yesterdays sunrise. Now is a great time to get out and photograph RMNP. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 17-28mm F2.8 lens
Sure I’ll be a little cliche here and say it. It’s a banner year for Golden Banner in Rocky Mountain National Park. These beautiful yellow wildflowers that grow in clumps and appear in the early part of the spring through mid summer depending on your elevation and now budding up all over Rocky’s middle elevations.
While the arrival of wildflowers in Colorado and RMNP is always a welcome sign that summer and warmer weather is approaching, this years bloom on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park has been the best that I have witnessed in my 26 years photographing the park.
Right now, Moraine Park, Horseshoe Park, along with the hillsides of Upper Beaver Meadow have beautiful patches of Golden Banner proliferating in a manner I have not witnessed. It’s a photographers delight as one can take their pick of vantage points and work in the beautiful yellow wildflowers.
To date, the best area right now is Moraine Park. Huge groups of Golden Banner can be found just about anywhere in the lush green meadows. Rocky’s snowy winter and wet spring are really paying dividends for us photographers as the weather is now quickly warming.
While Moraine Park looks great for landscapes, its also teeming with wildlife right now as the elk take advantage of the greening grasses. While photogrpahing sunrise, this group of elk watched me with curiosity as I setup in front of this huge clump of Golden Banner growing in the meadow. Technical Details: Nikon Z8, Nikkor 500mm F5.6 PF lensWhile the Golden Banner are the main attractions, lots of other wildflowers are revealing themselves in the same areas. Wild Iris, often growing in or near the patches of Golden Banner look great on the east side of the park as do a handful of other wildflowers such as White Evening Primrose and Marsh Marigolds. Calypso Orchids should be out now as well though I have not seen or photographed any as of yet.
These are the early season wildflowers in Rocky Mountain National Park but we should start to see the summer blooms gaining traction over the next few weeks as the remaining snow melts and the days continue to be long and warm. Columbine, Paintbrush and Alpine Sunflowers will all be covering the hillsides shortly.
This is my favorite time of year. Summer is short in Rocky and it’s fleeting nature and beauty or both exhilarating to explore and photograph each year but also a little solemn knowing that it will be short lived and one can only be present for so many sunrise and or sunsets in the park before the weather begins to turn cooler.
So now is the time to get out in RMNP and explore, enjoy summers warm embrace and all the rebirth and beauty that comes with it. Don’t waste a minute but make sure to enjoy every aspect of this awesome time of year before looking back and wondering where all the time went. Hope to see you out enjoying and photographing my favorite time in the park.
With Trail Ridge Road open for the season again, I’m going to end up spending a decent amount of time photographing on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. This morning, I headed over to the Kawuneeche Valley to photography this locations. It’s only a few weeks before the water recedes and the grasses grow so high as to block out the reflection of Baker Mountain so this morning seemed like as good a morning as any to photograph this location. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lens
Once Trail Ride Road opens for the season, it feels like you get access to an entirely new national park. The west side of Rocky Mountain National Park feels a lot different than the east side. It’s significantly colder, wetter and to me at least always feels a little more primal than the east side. Wildlife abounds, lakes, streams and forest are teeming on this side of the park.
While I try to visit and photograph a variety of locations in Rocky, year after year one will often find themselves in the same or similar locations. Often, many of these locations are best photographed at certain times of year and thus, you tend to take advantage of the conditions and end up in certain areas more often than not.
This location in the Kawuneeche Valley is just one of those locations. With the Colorado River overflowing with snowmelt, this meadow floods and this small pond acts as a perfect spot to photograph Baker Mountain reflecting above the valley. This spot also almost always has a handful or more of Moose milling around. A month from now, much of this water will have receded and the grasses grown so high that a reflection is no longer possible or mostly obscured.
So it has become a tradition of sorts to spend more than a few mornings in the Kawuneeche Valley on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park photographing the overflowing Colorado River before it quickly recedes. It’s also a nice break from the east side of the park where I easily spend 70% of my time, especially during the winter months once Trail Ridge closes for the seasons.
After photographing the Kawuneeche Valley, I headed into Grand Lake to see whats going on in town this season. I was walking along the beach and wandered over to the town dock where I took this photo of the sun hitting the dock and lighting the lime green aspen trees in the background that had just leafed out. Baldly looking as regal as ever in the background with a mostly calm Grand Lake looking as beautiful as ever. Technical Details: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 S lens
After hanging out on the west side, I took a ride into Grand Lake just to see how things look. Grand Lake is my favorite town in all of Colorado, and spending a little time along the shore drinking a coffee on a cool morning is one of life’s joys. Just as I arrived at the beach, the sun rose above the ridge and over the North Inlet and illuminated the town dock. The aspens in background have just leafed out and are a brilliant green, especially when side lit like this morning.
So I’ll be spending a decent amount of time the next few weeks exploring and photographing the west side of RMNP. Of course this time of year I alway joke that I wish I could be in about ten locations at any given time and more often than not I’m going to try to be where I think the best light is. Hopefully, a few mornings that light is over on the west side!.
