Shimmering Dawn - a photo on Flickriver

Shimmering Dawn

            Sky Pond, Lake of Glass, and the Loch shimmer as the first rays of dawn hit the summit of Taylor Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.

This images was the result of a pretty epic adventure.  I picked up my buddy Craig at 10 PM on Friday night and we headed out to the Bear Lake parking lot in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We were on the trail by 11:45, but did not get too far before Craig was suffering from some pretty painful cramps in his calves.  This slowed us down a bit initially, but he managed to get them worked out over time.  

As we were working our way up through the trees, we noticed our shadows extend in front of us, and we quickly looked back.  A pair of rangers were gaining on us. When they caught us, they asked us where we were going (and we told them). They told us that someone was lost up on Flattop Mountain and they were headed up to find him. Later, we had cleared tree line and were about 1 mile from Flattop’s summit when the rangers, with their rescued victim, met us on their way down. Craig and I were both happy to see that they had managed to collect the lost person, and he looked to be in pretty good spirits.

We reached the summit of Flattop around 3 AM, and proceeded south along the continental divide for another 2 miles. It was a bit breezy and fairly cold, so some extra layers were required.  A little after 4 we broke from the trail at our planned spot and began ascending towards the southwest shoulder of Taylor Peak. We had pretty close to 1 and 1/2 miles to cover in a gently ascending boulder field. The pace was slow and Craig took a spill along the way but only had a few scratches and some wounded pride to show for it (thankfully).  We could see the warmth in the sky beginning to appear as we cleared a saddled running a couple hundred feet beneath Taylor’s summit. We had to push forward at a renewed pace to make the ridge where this image was taken.  We arrived just in time, and this image was the first shot of the morning.  I would have loved a little more time to decide on a composition, but the light was not going to wait.

After the sun had risen, we spent a good hour to two just resting, taking in the views, eating, and contemplating the 8+ miles back to the parking lot.

We finally set off back around 8 AM and were making pretty good progress through the boulder field. As we got closer to the trail, we noticed a group of bull Elk lounging on the tundra.  We stopped and took some pictures and relaxed for awhile, then proceeded around them and reconnected with the trial.  We were back on Flattop Mountain a little after 11, and stopped for a snack, and to rest our weary feet.

As we proceeded down Flattop Mountain we began too meet several hikers heading up.  Finally, after a good 12 hours above tree line we entered the trees and were grateful for the shade.  Arriving at the parking lot right around 2 PM, we quickly set off for Estes Park, where a full course of McDonalds was waiting.  Damn did it taste good!

Our journey took us over 17 miles of magnificent scenery and we ascended close to 4,300 ft of elevation throughout the evening/day.  I hope you like the picture, because I don’t intend to return

Taken on: August 20, 2011

Tags:

Alpenglow

August

Lake of Glass

Loch Lake

Loch Vale

Mountains

Nikon

Rocky Mountain National Park

Sky Pond

Summer

Sunrise

Taylor Peak

The Shark's Tooth

USA

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Sets appears in: • Continental Div/Grays Peak • Expl more » • Rocky Mountain National Park • Colorado « less

Groups appears in: • Best Images Ever (ADMIN Approval Only | Award 2 or More) • Weekend Tee

Camera: Nikon D700, f/16.0, 1 sec, 24mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D700
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	1
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Fine Weather
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 11.5 (Macintosh)
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