Bear Creek Lake Park, December 2019

The weather forecast for my second day in Colorado was exactly what I'd hoped for -- snow! Just the right amount, too; about 3-5 inches. Enough to give everything a beautiful fresh coat of white, but no so much to restrict my ability to get out and shoot. After careful consideration, I decided to see how things looked at Bear Creek Lake Park.

I don't think I'd been to the park since we moved away five years ago.  I was hoping to capture the combination of fresh snow and running water, with the cloudy skies enabling the long shutter speeds I needed for that silky, flowing look.  It didn't take long for my first crack at it.

Then again, some of the views of the trail were just as picturesque as the views of the creek.  Peaceful and quiet.  Soft.  Serene.

I have a theory that science may not support.  Any temperature feels warmer if it's also snowing.  Again, I don't know if there's any actual science behind it.  But I haven't had anyone I've ever shared it with disagree with me, either.  So as cold as it was, it felt perfectly comfortable.

I didn't have any problem making the scenes look deserted.  I only saw three other people during my couple of hours there.

The whole place looked like something Robert Frost would write about.

The clouds made it hard to tell when the sun had officially set.  But looking back on the pictures, I think the shift from a reddish cast to a bluish one may be the signal.

I found this small cascade completely fascinating.  The snow and ice, the tangle of branches, the water flowing in so many different directions, all of it.

It quickly got so dark that even long exposures were barely enough for a clear image.  So it was with no small amount of satisfaction in a successful hunt that I packed up my gear and headed back to my car, so happy to have truly seen winter!