Bierstadt Lake Sunrise (Oct 16)

It's not easy getting up early enough for a sunrise photoshoot, especially when you have to hike up almost 600' of gain in the first mile. In the dark. And in the wind. But that's what Susan I did this Thursday morning.

Pre-dawn light on windy Lake Bierstadt

We hiked up from the Bierstadt trailhead along Bear Lake Road in Rocky. There's was one other car in the parking lot, but we had the trail and the lake to ourselves the entire time.

Bierstadt and Sprague Lake along Bear Lake Road

It was very windy, and we just had to accept we weren't going to have a glass-like surface on the lake for reflections. We wanted to be at the east end of the lake so we'd have the morning light on the peaks of the Continental Divide.

But this also meant that the wind was blowing right into our faces. And the front of the camera. And even though we were using a heavy tripod, the wind was strong enough to cause some of our shots to be blurred.

Looking southeast across the lake; Longs Peak at far right

We took a few shots of the Divide, before and after the light, plus a few to the south with some light on Longs Peak. But clouds in the east knocked out the sunlight, so the best light was gone. We'd had enough of the wind and decide to head back down.

The last good light we had before the clouds ate the sun

After we got back to the car, we warmed up a bit and then decided to go see what was happening at Sprague Lake. In the past, we'd seen elk, moose, and even Belted Kingfishers at the lake. But not this day.

Continental Divide viewed from across Sprague Lake

By now the morning light had mostly faded, but it was still nice walking around the lake. Near the end of our walk, we spotted a couple of mule deer, but that pretty much it except for a couple of waterfowl on the lake.

Mule Deer 

We headed on home to warm up with some breakfast and more coffee. Not a bad way to start the day.

The classic view of Otis, Hallett, and Flattop peaks from Sprague Lake

Weekend Water (June 15)

Susan and I had been wanting to get up to Glacier Gorge and Alberta Falls to see Glacier Creek and the high water flow of the spring melt-off, so on Sunday we headed up into the park.

Alberta Falls

We don't usually choose to hike on weekends, especially in the summer, but for some reason this day we did. Knowing the Glacier Gorge and Bear Lake parking lots would be full, we just parked at the shuttle parking area and took the bus to Glacier Gorge to begin our hike.

Glacier Creek

I brought the tripod and other gear so we could shoot the flowing water along the way, and we enjoyed our frequent stops to take in the fast-rushing water along Glacier Creek.

Glacier Creek below Alberta Falls

As expected, there were quite a few people at Alberta Falls, so it was a challenge to get a photo without people in it.

Near the top of Alberta Falls, looking down/east

The top of Alberta Falls

Alberta Falls detail

After climbing to the top of the Falls to take more pictures, we descended and decided to hike down to Sprague Lake to add a couple of miles to our hike for a total of about 4.4 miles.

The "classic" view of Alberta Falls

Looking down on another part of Glacier Creek

Arnica along the trail

Along the trail to Sprague Lake

When we reached Sprague Lake, we caught the shuttle back to our car and headed home. We definitely accomplished our goal of seeing some creeks and waterfalls, plus we got some exercise!

Sprague Lake with the Continental Divide

Lunar Eclipse at Sprague Lake (April 15)

We were keen to see the relatively rare total lunar eclipse aka "Blood Moon" on April 15, so after our Bluebird Morning outing, we tried to nap so we could stay up late to catch the peak of the eclipse at around 1:45am MT.

We were fortunate to have clear skies for the night.

We had planned to both go back to Sprague Lake, but the wind had picked up a lot and Susan decided to stay home and watch the eclipse from our house/deck, and I went on to Sprague Lake at about midnight. I found only one other car in the parking lot.

I gathered my gear bag and tripod and began the 5-10 min walk to the fishing pier on Sprague Lake. The full moon was so bright I didn't even need a flashlight to see the snow-packed trail.

The first thing I did was take a wide angle shot of the mountains to the west.

Pre-eclipse moonlit scene (about 12:20am)

For reference, here's a daytime shot of this same scene.

Daytime (just before 10am) shot looking west from the fishing pier at Sprague Lake

Then I switched to telephoto lens. I wanted as much "reach" as possible, and after the first few shots I decided to add the 1.4X tele-converter (TC) to my 100-400mm lens. Unfortunately, this combination resulted in a maximum aperture of f/8.0, requiring a noisier high ISO setting, plus the TC makes the image sharpness pretty soft.

So overall, I wasn't that pleased with my results, but it was a lot of fun. I learned a few things, and I'll practice until I get better. My goal next time is to get something like this, shot by my friend Pat. :-)

But here are a few shots of the progress of the eclipse.

12:50am

1:03am -- the star to the right is Spica

1:26 am

1:45am at the peak of the eclipse

As the eclipse progressed, I was noticing how much darker everything was compared to when I arrived. Many more stars were visible, plus the light on the snow was less blue and more reddish.

So I took a wide-angle "after" picture to go with the "before" picture, above.

View to the west just after the peak of the eclipse, at 1:53am

And I made a few exposures of the night sky in different directions.

2:06am, looking mostly east, towards the lights of Estes Park, Longmont and Boulder

Looking mostly north at 2:07am, now dark enough to see some of the Milky Way

And here's a wide-angle shot looking west, with the "Blood Moon" at the upper left.

Looking west at 2:12am; moon is bright spot at upper left

I'd been outside standing around in the cold and wind for over two hours, so I decided to head home rather than stay and watch the "other side" of the eclipse. It was now dark enough that I used a flashlight and walked back to the car in the empty parking lot.

When I got home I learned that Susan had a very good experience watching from our home. And she stayed warm, too! :-)

There will be another total lunar eclipse on October 8th, so maybe we'll watch that one too!

Sprague Lake Morning

Sunrise at Sprague Lake

A benefit of getting up early to catch the sunrise is that you may find yourself in place to observe birds and other wildlife when they are at their most active at daybreak.

We heard the first chatterings of kingfishers while it was still dark, and soon enough we saw at least two birds flying through the woods, around the lake and hunting from low, and surprisingly, high tree branches. One of them was a young female, we knew because her "rusty bra" was not yet complete.

Belted Kingfisher

Something inexplicable about these birds appeals to both of us. Wikipedia says there are over 90 species so we have a ways to go. Besides the Belted Kingfisher, we have seen only the Sacred Kingfisher in New Zealand. But I have my eye on the Laredo Birding Festival in February, as Laredo, Texas is the only place in the US where four kingfisher species have been seen (Belted, Ringed, Green and Amazon).

Kingfisher getting breakfast

Kingfishers on a favorite perch

We also saw other bird species and elk at Sprague Lake, and apparently moose have been hanging out there in the mornings, though we didn't see them when we were there. It's definitely a beautiful (and very accessible) place for a sunrise or sunset!

Yawning? Or calling out?

Morning light on the Continental Divide