During the time we lived in Texas, we regularly visited Colorado over winter break. And on those visits, I typically squeezed in a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Now that we live in Colorado again, I saw no reason why I couldn't still make a wintry excursion to the park. So I did. :)
I decided to get up early enough to catch sunrise, and Sprague Lake has always served me well at that time of day. This particular morning there were virtually no clouds in the sky, and as a result not much color to speak of. I set up on the east end of the lake a tad too late to catch alpenglow. I did get the first rays of dawn striking the peaks to the west.
Returning to the parking lot on the west end of the lake I stopped by a footbridge for a shot of some of the only water that hadn't yet frozen over. Still no sun visible 20 minutes after the scheduled sunrise in Estes Park. Mountains will do that.
I had planned a short hike to The Pool, mainly because I never had. Big Thompson River was still in shadow. Mountains.
The Pool is as advertised -- a little section where the river backs up. Too small to even be called a pond, but interesting in its own understated way.
The sun was finally starting to light up the landscape when I took a final shot and headed back.
I hiked through some burnt-out areas from 2020's East Troublesome Fire.
I could have spent hours studying the patterns still remaining in the charred bark.
This was my first time at RMNP since we moved back in May, and it was great to just get reacquainted with the park. I look forward to many more visits to come!
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