Rocky Mt. N.P.

[Alan McConnell]

I'm thinking about doing a trip to Rocky Mountain N.P. in July. I have some ideas in mind, but I'd like to pick anybodys brain about spots to go with the LF. I'll be camping most of the time and as of now my time is flexable. I'll be driving (hope gas isn't too high) from Indiana along I80 to the park. Afterward I'll spend some time over around the Avon area and then head back on I70.

[civich]

Alan,
Jeez, from the lack of responses you'd think that none of the left and right coasters have seen the middle of the continent!
I spent some time at RMNP last year. Plenty of opportunity for photography especially if you can carry your gear for even short distances. Do drive Trail Ridge Road for the grand landscape. Glacier Basin probably has the most scenic camping area but prepare yourself for the devastation which the pine bark beetle has inflicted on the lodgepole pine forest - shaded campsites are disappearing - the spruce and fir forests at higher elevations seem little affected though. Do make a campsite reservation if possible - July is prime time! The shuttle bus system is superb and if your kit is packable the bus system will help you avoid the parking mash-up at the popular site trailheads - though arriving early for the light will help with that also.
One last thing - Alberta Falls. It's a nice subject and worth the short walk from the Glacier Gorge trailhead but my reason for mentioning it is that at the Moraine Park visitor center off of Bear Lake road there is a display of paintings and photographs from past years of their artist-in-residence program. Many nice works but there is a b&w photograph by Clyde Butcher titled 'Alberta Falls' which virtually sucks all of the light from the other, color, photos rendering them as just pretty pictures by comparison. And it's not even a picture of the falls!
Well, yeah - B&W - I am biased.
P.S. If you have time, visit Great Sand Dunes NP - a massive dune complex with the 14K' Sangre de Cristo range as a backdrop - a place I never tire of visiting.
Have fun!
-Chris -

[windpointphoto]

This is an outstanding park for picture making with the LF. Crowds will be a little higher in July and the peaks may not have as much snow. There are many turnoffs to park and photograph. Hikng is easy but you can make many photos right from the side of the road. The evening light is great. Lots of Aspen trees but most if not all have the ugly black spots from the elk. If you have lots of time a drive to Aspen, stay in Balast, will get you to the Maroon Bells in the predawn. Drive over Independence Pass to Buena Vista and vist St. Elmo the ghost town. Then on to great sand dunes as mentioned but this requires more walking. OTOH Rocky Mtn Park can keep you occupied for many days!

[lenser]

One of my favorite spots was Emerald Lake. Fairly short hike and several locations around the shore as well as on the trail up to the lake.

Just in case you are not familiar, from Denver to nearly Kansas City, I-70 is a ribbon through one vast prairie broken up by a very few gullies with some small trees and a smattering of huge grain silos that become very repetitive. That part of the trip I always make starting at about sunset.

[Michael Roberts]

Dream Lake, Nymph Lake, Bear Lake, Mills Lake, Sprague Lake, Lake Bierstadt, Rock Cut, Dear Mountain--and these are just the cliche (read, classic) locations. All of the above at or just after sunrise, except Sprague Lake which I prefer at midday, and Rock Cut in the afternoon. Be aware Trail Ridge Road locations are usually very windy and storm clouds may start up as early as 11AM. When the afternoon storm clouds start, direct sunlight can be gone for the rest of the day within minutes. Bring warm, waterproof clothing--more people die of hypothermia here in the summer than in the winter.

IMHO, RMNP is a damn difficult place to photograph. It's all very scenic, but the scenery doesn't necessarily result in stunning photographs unless you happen to get some unusual weather conditions. It's not Yosemite or the Grand Canyon or Grand Teton, which are impressive under almost any conditions. In RMNP, the mountain peaks don't usually stand out much from one another and don't really show off their height.

I second Leonard's suggestion of the Bells (I assume he is referring to Basalt); there are three campgrounds on Maroon Creek Road (Silver Bar, Silver Queen, etc.). Check the White River National Forest site: http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fs...l&position=Not Yet Determined.Html&ttype=detail&pname=White River National Forest- Special Places

[David Lobato]

If you're willing to hike, the trail to Dream Lake above Bear Lake is spectacular. Or head up the Glacier Gorge Trail just less than a mile to Alberta Falls. Sprague Lake has easy access and is fairly scenic. Ouzel Falls, 2-3 miles up the Wild Basin Trail, is a very nice place to visit with a camera. The trail there is moderate and non-technical. Avoid the Longs Peak Trail, it's very crowded and strenuous, though Chasm Lake is extremely scenic a few hard earned miles up the trail.

One little spot where I've always seen LF photographers is on the Bear Lake Road, there's a small creek with numerous large rounded rocks and water trickling between and around them. Look for a small highway bridge on the Bear lake road shortly after the junction with Moraine Park Rd. There was a small pull out for parking right after the bridge.

[John Jarosz]

Great comments so far. Keep them coming. I leave for RMNP and Allenspark/Meeker areas on this Friday.

John

[Jim Jones]

. . . Just in case you are not familiar, from Denver to nearly Kansas City, I-70 is a ribbon through one vast prairie broken up by a very few gullies with some small trees and a smattering of huge grain silos that become very repetitive. That part of the trip I always make starting at about sunset.

Kansas does seem like that, but sometimes flaunts its photo ops. This was taken at about mile 229 on westbound I-70, a little more than 20 miles west of Salina. Alas, it is not a large format capture. Before I could set up the real camera, a friendly highway patrolman advised me that stopping along the interstate is illegal except for emergencies

[clay harmon]

I have a place near RMNP that we have been going to for the last twenty years for a few weeks each summer. I will echo the earlier comments that it is a very beautiful place where it is exceedingly hard to make a picture that goes beyond the scenic postcard cliche images.

First, there is quite often a very nice early morning alpenglow on the peaks as the sun comes up over the plains to the east. This will occur about 5-5:30 AM that time of year, so if that is what you want to capture, get up early and use a headlamp to start hiking in the dark to your destination that you have scoped out earlier.

The topography of the park is such that many of the steep and craggy parts of the mountains are on the eastern and northern sides of the mountains. Often the western slopes are just that - slopes with a lot of tundra type terrain, but not very interesting if you are looking for dramatic landforms. Which is the reason that many recommendations for catching great light involve very early starts to be in position when the early AM sun catches the east side of the peaks.

Bear Lake is a short walk from a very crowded parking lot and has some nice early morning views of Hallet's Peak. Because of the small size of the lake, you will probably get some very pretty shots that are just like a million other shots taken from the same place over the years. If you are inclined to do a little more hiking, go on up to Emerald Lake and you will be much closer to the base of Hallet's.

For the more aggressive hikers, a hike to Chasm Lake below Long's Peak very often provides some very pretty early morning shots of the sun hitting the vertical east face of The Diamond. This is about a 5-6 mile (one way) hike that gains about 3000 feet or so from the trailhead. If you are coming from the lowlands, you may want to acclimate for a few days before attempting that.

For the even more aggressive, a 2-3AM start for the 7 mile hike to Boulderfield on the Northwest shoulder of Long's Peak can provide some amazing early morning views of the Diamond when viewed from Chasm View. If you don't like heights, this is not recommended. The best vantage point is near the edge of a 500 foot vertical drop to the Broadway ledge on the east face of Long's. Again, this is not for the unacclimated hiker. Boulderfield sits right at about 13000 feet above sealevel, so you probably will not be running up the trail.

An often overlooked area of the park is the south end of the park accessed from the Wild Basin ranger station. There are some very nice trails in this area that pass by some some interesting steep creeks and waterfalls. Again, if you get up early enough you can take some beautiful shots of the east face of Mt Alice after a nice bracing 8 mile early morning walk in the dark.

[dagabel]

Just a heads-up; the Colorado Rockies this year have had record snowfall and snowpack levels, so be prepared. According to the Park website, Old Fall River Road is still closed, and Trail Ridge Road just opened last Monday 6/6. I'm sure by July it will be drier, but I believe many trails are still at least partially snow-covered, and I've read of some trail bridges that are out due to the rapid runoff.