Diamond in the Rough
Early morning light reaches down to fill the bowl of the Twin Peaks Massif, the tallest outcropping along Colorado’s Front Range. On the left is Mount Meeker (4,242 m; 13,916 ft), then in the center Longs Peak itself (4,346 m; 14,259 ft), and flanked by Mount Lady Washington toward the right (4,048 m; 13,281 ft). On the far right of the image, The Keyhole is clearly visible, which marks the beginning of the easiest route to the summit, which is a Class III scramble. The germane Wikipedia entry speculates that this route was used by the native Arapahoe and Cheyenne people for collection of eagle feathers. In the compressed foreground, the shoulders of Estes Cone (3,355 m; 11,006 ft) push deeply into the transition from subalpine to alpine. Seems like the top of Estes Cone might also be a fine place to watch sunrise...
At the moment I composed this, I sat with dog for companion, but otherwise kept company only by the wind and several acrobatic ravens, atop the summit of Lily Mountain (2,983 m; 9,786 ft), south of Estes Park. The trail to the summit is only 2 miles long, and to get here in time for sunrise, I figured I’d need to leave home by 5:15, assuming 1 h+ driving and hiking 3 miles an hour, plus a 15 min cushion before the sun rose just after 7:00. Unfortunately, I missed the trailhead and then spent 5 minutes rectifying that error. On top of that, I wasn't able to hike as fast I had anticipated up the snow-covered trail. In most places, snowshoers had compacted the surface, but occasionally the wearers of the snowshoes must have gotten lost, because the trail petered out fairly frequently, and then post-holing up to mid-thigh was inevitable. Couple that with the weight of all the camera gear in the backpack, and I found myself out of breath a few times.
When I was still 5 minutes from the summit, the clouds over the Divide blossomed with color, so I tried to find a spot along the ridge, and realized that the tip of Lily Mountain blocked the view to the Longs massif. So I pressed onward, and couldn't help but notice the long pink rays of light breaking around the pines, and turning the snow rose colored with morning hues. And I couldn't yet see the object of my affections, and was missing the best moment. Drat. Five minutes too late, I arrived to a magnificent vista as the land yawned downward and out in front of me toward Estes Cone. The sun flirted with clouds, played coy for a moment or two, and then delivered the scene you see here. All in all, still very much worth the effort, I think.
This is a stitch of 3 horizontal images, totaling almost 11,000 pixels on the long edge. Thanks for looking and commenting!
Diamond in the Rough
Early morning light reaches down to fill the bowl of the Twin Peaks Massif, the tallest outcropping along Colorado’s Front Range. On the left is Mount Meeker (4,242 m; 13,916 ft), then in the center Longs Peak itself (4,346 m; 14,259 ft), and flanked by Mount Lady Washington toward the right (4,048 m; 13,281 ft). On the far right of the image, The Keyhole is clearly visible, which marks the beginning of the easiest route to the summit, which is a Class III scramble. The germane Wikipedia entry speculates that this route was used by the native Arapahoe and Cheyenne people for collection of eagle feathers. In the compressed foreground, the shoulders of Estes Cone (3,355 m; 11,006 ft) push deeply into the transition from subalpine to alpine. Seems like the top of Estes Cone might also be a fine place to watch sunrise...
At the moment I composed this, I sat with dog for companion, but otherwise kept company only by the wind and several acrobatic ravens, atop the summit of Lily Mountain (2,983 m; 9,786 ft), south of Estes Park. The trail to the summit is only 2 miles long, and to get here in time for sunrise, I figured I’d need to leave home by 5:15, assuming 1 h+ driving and hiking 3 miles an hour, plus a 15 min cushion before the sun rose just after 7:00. Unfortunately, I missed the trailhead and then spent 5 minutes rectifying that error. On top of that, I wasn't able to hike as fast I had anticipated up the snow-covered trail. In most places, snowshoers had compacted the surface, but occasionally the wearers of the snowshoes must have gotten lost, because the trail petered out fairly frequently, and then post-holing up to mid-thigh was inevitable. Couple that with the weight of all the camera gear in the backpack, and I found myself out of breath a few times.
When I was still 5 minutes from the summit, the clouds over the Divide blossomed with color, so I tried to find a spot along the ridge, and realized that the tip of Lily Mountain blocked the view to the Longs massif. So I pressed onward, and couldn't help but notice the long pink rays of light breaking around the pines, and turning the snow rose colored with morning hues. And I couldn't yet see the object of my affections, and was missing the best moment. Drat. Five minutes too late, I arrived to a magnificent vista as the land yawned downward and out in front of me toward Estes Cone. The sun flirted with clouds, played coy for a moment or two, and then delivered the scene you see here. All in all, still very much worth the effort, I think.
This is a stitch of 3 horizontal images, totaling almost 11,000 pixels on the long edge. Thanks for looking and commenting!