Earth has three "great" mountain ranges: the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Rockies. I'd argue that it has many more "awesome" ranges, but I guess great > awesome. Anyway, the Rockies are the closest to me, and in the fall of 2021 I took two weeks to hike around and photograph the Rockies from the Tetons in Wyoming down to the San Juans in Colorado.
Note: Many of the images included in this post are from early in my photography journey, a period when I was experimenting with different editing techniques.
Grand Teton National Park
I missed the last boat from Jenny Lake by just a few minutes so ended up having to hike a few miles extra, making it around 16mi roundtrip to the end of the stunning Cascade Canyon and back in the dark. There are a few backcountry primitive sites there that are an amazing place to camp with unrivaled views of the Cathedral Group. Unfortunately got there a little later than I wanted so didn't have much time to scout around for foregrounds.
Somehow got up early enough to catch a beautifully still sunrise at Jenny Lake.
Yellowstone at Night
Was going to go to Idaho side of the Tetons for a long sunset hike, but there were recent reports of grizzlies (and more importantly I was feeling lazy) so I went up to Yellowstone for sunset and to check out the Milky Way. Passed Jackson Lake on the way and was a little shocked to see how little of the lake was currently there - just mud and puddles where there used to be an actual lake just a year or two ago. Made it to the Brink of the Lower Falls just as the sun was setting and had the entire overlook to myself. The scene is so huge that I had to take a multi-row pano with my wide angle at the widest focal length to fit it all in.
Most people leave after dark, but there's so much magic to experience then. I ventured over to several geysers and geothermal springs. Totally different at night when you can hear the earth bubbling and gurgling but can't see what's going on. So wild! Here's White Dome Geyser erupting in front of the Milky Way.
Decided to check out the west side of the Tetons around Driggs, Idaho. Was a lengthy drive and didn't know exactly where I'd end up or if I could find a decent foreground. Ended up at the Targhee Resort, where there were some flowers in bloom (and at least one or two engagement photo shoots in progress). Unfortunately wildfire smoke had settled around here so the air got very hazy as I moved west, so I was limited in foregrounds - if I had gone further to look for cool buildings the haze would have hurt visibility of the mountains.
Had a rewarding sunrise hike up to Delta Lake. The last section across the boulder fields is no joke. It definitely slows you down. Do-able without using hands, but I still brought scrambling gloves and was glad I had them in several places. The water was very blue and very beautiful. Felt up close and personal with the peaks! Met quite a few people headed up to the Middle Teton and the Lower Saddle. That got me curious and now that's on my list for next time.
On my way out from the Tetons I stopped to admire the Wind Rivers from the road - hope to be able to spend some time there soon. Made it to the southeast part of Wyoming by sunset and despite some wind was able to send up the drone around Medicine Bow Peak.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Constant wind was forecast the whole time I was going to be in the park, which put a damper on my hopes of catching a couple nice reflection photos. Summited Mt. Ida for a cloudy sunset. Pulled into a parking lot on my way back to camp to cook up a late night dinner and when I turned around at one point there were two eyes shining right back at me from the tree line. Whatever they belonged to soon stood up and slinked back to the woods. Coyote? Mountain lion?
On my third day there the weather relented and I got one sunrise with no wind. I decided to hike up to Sky Pond. I had gone up there in October of 2020, but by then it was already half frozen over and wildfire smoke was choking the sky (Estes Park was evacuated a day or two after). This time around was totally different - no smoke, no wind, just beautiful conditions. Met some climbers going up the Petit Grepon and had some fun watching them ascend and exploring the area a little bit.
The wind came back the next morning, but there are still good compositions to be had other than just reflections, of course. I hiked in to Odessa Lake, shot the sunrise, and then set up my hammock for an amazing nap. I decided to treat myself recently to an Eno sub6. Unbelievably lightweight (weighs less than an apple) hammock that's perfect for hanging out during the day (too small and fragile for anything more than that).
Went over to the west side of the park for sunset - had originally planned to hike in further, but excessive clouds and a late start meant that I only went in a few miles, not that I'm complaining - it was still an awesome hike with great views!
I had wanted to summit Hallett Peak for sunset, but even late in the day with the permit system there was a long line of cars snaking all the way out from the Bear Lake corridor, which would have delayed my start enough to maybe not summit before dark. Bummer. Next morning an early season snow storm had rolled in, dumping a couple feet of snow at the top of Trail Ridge Road and throughout a lot of trails. Hiked into Glacier Gorge and hit enough snow to justify using spikes (which I didn't bring) a mile or two before Black Lake. Clouds and snow obscured visibility enough that I didn't stick around and just enjoyed the hike there and back. I had planned on a nice overnight backpacking trip on the west side of the park, but there was enough snow that Trail Ridge closed down for a day or two, so rather than take the long way all around, I decided to go a day early to Aspen.
Aspen & The Maroon Bells
The Bells are understandably very popular and so you have to have a permit to drive up there. I had one, but since I got there a day earlier than planned I didn't have one for the first day, so I parked downtown and walked the 11-12 miles up. Probably very unnecessary, but didn't want to risk getting turned around and missing sunrise. The water level was so low! Difficult to get a proper reflection. Took advantage of the really convenient and accessible shuttle system to get a ride back down to within a mile of where I had parked.
The aspens were a little late to turn, and were just starting to become bright yellow when I was there. I'm sure the moment I left they all went from green to gold :D. Honestly though I have never seen aspen trees so tall! They were giants!
I was there for several days and one day hiked over to Crater Lake, which already had some ice forming on top of it.
I had wanted to get over to the Capitol Peak area for sunset, as there are lots of aspens around, but got there later than I wanted (seems to happen way too often!) and while I definitely enjoyed the view from around the trailhead, it was still pretty far away from the peak, and the aspens here were even greener than around the Bells.
The San Juans & Crestones
After taking a rest day or two to relax, I suddenly got some bad FOMO with just a day or two left before heading home, so I decided to try to cram as much as possible into the time I had left. I started out with a sunset hike to Wetterhorn Basin, where there was someone with a large camp set up, with a small herd of llamas (wtf?) and a large campfire going (not cool with the fire ban and raging wildfires). Also a lot more cows along the trail than I had expected. And cow poop. But totally worth it all - it was a gorgeous sunset and the basin was unbelievable. Would have been an epic place to set up camp (are llamas good neighbors?), but I hiked all the way back to the car to head to my next sunrise spot. Was so quiet and still on the night hike back!
Sunset along one of Mt. Wetterhorn’s sharp ridges
Another long drive to the South Colony Lake Trailhead. I had never been before, and arriving in the middle of the night added to the adventure. Easily one of, if not the worst road I had ever driven on. If you can even call it a road. Really just large rocks and dirt for the last few miles. There weren’t even decent lines for taking my rig. Crawled my way up there but it may have been faster just to walk it (saw people doing exactly that on the way out). I was pretty tired when I got there but still hiked out to the lake. The hike was longer (or at least felt longer) than I thought it would be, but was able to find a decent composition as the sun was lighting up the Crestone Needle. Took a nice long nap when I got back to the car.
Doubled back the way I had come and after another long drive, made it to Courthouse Mountain for a fiery sunset.
Late afternoon light on the plateau around Colorado’s Courthouse Mountain, from above
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
I was thinking of going to the North Rim of the Black Canyon for sunset, but wouldn't have had enough time, so went to the South Rim after sunset and dinner to see if I could get a nice Milky Way image. The moon wasn't up at that time though, so while I could shoot the Milky Way, the Canyon was in total darkness. I probably would have had to expose for several minutes to get anything visible, and since it's so big I was shooting a vertical pano, so it would have taken probably close to a half hour to get enough photos to stitch together, and even then it might not have come out, so I decided to bail on this attempt.
A Chaotic Ending: Loveland Pass & Mt. Evans
I left a couple hours early from Aspen to get back to Denver for my flight, but even still, there was so much traffic on I-70, that no matter how far east I drove, the ETA on Maps just kept getting later and later until it was obvious I was going to miss my flight. Was able to rebook on the first flight the next day, and made the most of an extra night there by heading up to Loveland Pass for sunset.
Mt. Evans was right on the way back (just a relatively short detour off the highway), and even though the very summit was closed for the coming winter season, the lake just before it was still accessible, and the sky was partly clear, so I decided to go up and get one final glimpse of the Milky Way for the season.
