In the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado, the alpine wildflower season is nearing it’s peak. Most everyone has heard of Ice Lake Basin so I set out to capture what I thought would be a unique photo of this magnificent area. I just needed a location that had all the element and finding that spot wasn’t easy.

I finally found a steep unnamed peak to climb that would provide the arial view I was after.  After climbing and climbing, I was finally able to locate a beautiful cliff with many different species of wildflowers clinging to its face with the top grassy self providing the best opportunity.  The wind was blowing the wildflowers into a frenzy which made it difficult to freeze their motion without ramping up the ISO too much. The wind was blowing the wildflowers into a frenzy which made it difficult to freeze their motion without ramping up the ISO too much. It also made stabilizing the tripod and camera near impossible which resulted in a softer image.

After finally settling in on a location, I took a couple of deep breaths and suddenly realized that I was completely swallowed up by the immense scene of nature surrounding me.  The 360 view was breathtaking with included the roar of distant waterfalls cascading off the shear peaks. I soon realized that this was probably the closest to Heaven I would ever come on earth.

Now all I needed was a sunset to complete this experience. At around 8:30 pm it finally came but unfortunately it was a rather dull red series of horizontal bands but it was still beautiful so I shot my fill. As I was picking up my gear to head back, that familiar light switch effect suddenly occurred where the clouds developed into beautifully bright scalloped red bands making the scene quickly go from great to fantastic! I sat there well into darkness clicking away. As I carefully made my way back down the steep terrain, the smile on my face only widened as I reflected on the gorgeous scene that God had just blessed me with…

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Access to the high San Juan Mountain alpine finally opened up which revealed plenty of snow left over from winter.  I climbed to around 13k and was rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find a few early wildflowers already in full bloom which provided for a somewhat rare combination of the early summer foliage starting to replace the harsh winter snows.  I’m sure after the near 100 degree weather we’ve had lately that the snow fields are mostly melted with many more wildflowers shooting up fed by the fresh snow melt. It was one of the more rewarding trips I have taken in awhile and I can’t wait to go back up really soon!

Winter has finally lost it’s grip in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado but the beautiful early summer weather has more than made up for it.  June is usually a dry hot month around here but like with last year, the monsoon weather has set in early at least for now.

I set out late in the evening up into the high county on a dark stormed filled night with little expectation of any meaningful light piercing through. My son accompanied me and once again he told me he had a good feeling.  At one point I almost turned around when the storm clouds became even more ominous as we approached our destination. He persisted in telling me that things would change at sunset and man I’m I glad I listened to him!

Just before dark, a beam of light broke through highlighting the bottom edge of the West Needle Peaks. We had already put our gear away so we quickly scrambled to get into position and then the rain started pouring. This didn’t stop the now beautiful red sunset now in progress.  I held my hand over the end of my lens to prevent the rain from ruining one of the most beautiful sunsets of my lifetime.   Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, a rainbow dropped out of the sky like a tornado.

Despite the rain causing the picture to be a little fuzzy, we were both in awe with what had just occurred. It was a quiet ride back home as we were both pondering in our heads what an amazing scene we were so blessed to witness…