RMNP: May 2013, Part I

Shooting the sunrise at Sprague Lake may have been the main reason I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park this past Saturday. But once that had past there was much more still to see. And with the overcast skies that had been forecast earlier in the week not yet present, there was also good light in which to see it.

The colors once the sun had crested the horizon were almost impossibly warm.  More like someone's first experience adjusting the saturation levels in Lightroom than what you'd expect to see in "real life."

When I was doing some online research before my trip to scout the best location for sunrise pictures, I noticed the Sprague Lake shots showed two very different views and I couldn't figure out why.  After walking around to the east side of the lake and looking back to the west it dawned on me (pun intended).  Many of them were taken from this perspective of the mountains bathed in alpenglow.  Good to know for a future visit.

Water was a recurring theme of the day.  From reflections in it ...

... to its frozen states of ice and snow, which were both quite prevalent at locations above 9,000 feet like Bear Lake.

I'd actually never walked around to the east side of Bear Lake before.  Fortunately at this early hour the snow was hard enough that snowshoes weren't necessary.  But in a few hours once things warmed up I would have undoubtedly been sinking in to my waist with every step.

The Big Thompson River was flowing briskly where it passed under Bear Lake Road.  And those overcast skies I thought hadn't materialized?  They'd apparently just been delayed.  At least they allowed me to shoot at a slower shutter speed to get more of that nice flowing effect in the moving water.

Moraine Park was pretty damp in its own right.  Here the water provided some jarring juxtaposition to burnt patches from last year's Fern Lake Fire, which apparently may still be burning seven months after it started.

Click here for Part II.