Fall 2022 in SW Colorado

Day 4

Woke to snow; about 2.5" of it. It was nice to see that the evergreen trees had a light dusting of snow on them and that there was a beautiful inversion laying down in the valley. I was hoping the sun would poke through the slight gap on the horizon. I thought it would really make this scene pop. Unfortunately, the clouds were moving faster than the sun and the gap closed. This was almost an amazing image. As with much of landscape photography, a little bit of luck is involved no matter how prepared you are.

I took a peek down towards the pond and it was smooth as glass, for now! I hurried up and gathered my gear and snapped a quick image before heading toward Gothic Road. The day was starting off pretty nicely, tho I didn’t feel I had time to sit around and soak it in. I had to get crackin’ with some other potential shooting locations down the road! Next stop, Emerald Lake!

Once at Emerald Lake, I took a few moments to orient myself. There were a couple of ladies camped across the lake. What a spot, huh!? I also noticed that there was a red canoe along the shoreline. I dipped it into the water, took a few shots, and pulled the canoe back out. If you look closely, you can see the camper’s tent in the BTS image, but in the final image, taken with the DSLR, they are edited out. I felt their tent distracted from the canoe.

Further down Gothic, I got a few shots from near some beaver ponds and then my favorite cabin/river/mountain composition.

After a short stop at Paradise Cafe for breakfast, I waited out a rainstorm, and then grabbed a quick Peanut Lake shot. I really liked how the clouds were moving over Mt Crested Butte.

Keeping with the gloomy mountain peak theme, I drove down Washington Gulch and attempted to shoot its peak. I waited out some clouds that kept sloshing back and forth over Gothic Peak. I was waiting on the peak to present itself. Finally I got either enough of a shot or bored of waiting. It’s difficult to tell which came first.

Well, the peak never really presented itself, at least not when the lighting was decent. However, I enjoyed sitting and watching the clouds slosh back and forth across the peak. It literally looked as if someone kicked a bucket of water and the water inside sloshed back and forth for a few moments.

I set up a composition I liked, but knew it was in vain. The clouds were simply too thick and there’d likely be no sunlight breaking through. Maybe I’ll bag this shot next year, huh? :-)

With it clouding up, there wasn't much reason to head towards Kebler/Ohio/Owl Creek passes in any hurry. With plenty of daylight left, I thought I’d head back to the old homestead and shoot it.

One of these days, I’ll shoot this Cabin Scene they way I have it pictured in my mind. Anyhoo, I decided to stay the night in CB and shoot Peanut Lake in the morning. I’d had good luck there before. Maybe good luck would strike again!