Aptly named Sheep Lakes is a destination point not only for visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park, but also for the herd of bighorn sheep that call Rocky home. Sheep Lakes is a great location to view bighorns because of the minerals and salts that can be found in the soils around the two lakes. As the weather warms and the shallow lakes evaporate and recede, salt licks form along the muddy edges. For the bighorn sheep which have been subsisting on a winter diet of foods with low calorie and mineral content the salt that forms along sheep lake is a boon to their diet come spring.
During the spring and early summer, the herd of bighorn sheep will make a daily trek down to Sheep Lakes and the salt lick to replenish themselves after the long winter months. This near daily migration down from the hillsides overlooking Horseshoe Park is where most visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park are able to see and observe big horn sheep.
I find Sheep Lakes to be a great location to photograph Horseshoe Park at sunrise, especially during the spring season. Sheep Lakes are one of the first bodies of water to thaw out in the park. The lakes offer a stunning view to the east looking back over Horseshoe Park as well as a commanding view of the Mummy Range to the west. Many of the most colorful sunrises will occur over the eastern portion of Rocky, and both Horseshoe Park and Sheep Lakes offer and unencumbered view to the east with Deer Mountain providing a recognizable but impressive backdrop.
Last week, with a nice set of clouds built up over the east side of Rocky and Sheep Lakes thawed, I headed over to the lakes to photograph sunrise. The winds were howling at higher elevations but at Sheep Lakes the winds were not nearly as intense. Sunrise was short and sweet. The lightshow only last twenty minutes or so before the clouds overtook the sun, but it was more than enough time to photograph one of my favorite viewpoints in all of Rocky.