Mount Ida Birthday Hike (Sep 28)

I have to admit, I saw my looming 60th birthday as something of a major milestone. Certainly an age that sounds "old" for me, even though I don't feel much over 35 (and I'm probably in better shape now).

At first, I wanted to have a big party to celebrate with all my friends. Or commiserate. You know, lots of cake and ice cream. And black balloons. And "old guy" over-the-hill jokes made at my expense. :-)

But because we've been so busy this year, we reconsidered the party idea and decided I would most enjoy being outside, hiking to the top of a mountain, preferably one I'd never stood on before.

I thought back to my birthday last year. We were recovering from the Colorado Flood of 2013 and though our house wasn't directly affected, Estes Park's sewer infrastructure was severely damaged, and we were one of 1,900 homes without a flushing toilet for several weeks. So we hit the road to see other parts of Colorado. During this trip I celebrated my 59th birthday outside, photographing the Maroon Bells at sunrise from Maroon Lake, and then hiking with Susan to nearby Crater Lake. It was a fantastic birthday!

Mike at Maroon Bells for Birthday #59 last year

Sunrise on Tombstone Ridge (Aug 14)

I've been up to Tombstone Ridge more than once for sunset and have really enjoyed it. I'd been wanting to get up there for sunrise for awhile and I finally made it up there.

You can click on any of these images to enlarge them.

The sun breaks above the clouds over the plains

There was quite a bit of light in the sky by the time I made the 30 minute drive, so I set a pretty fast pace on the 1.5 mile or so hike on the Ute Trail. It was around 35F degrees and a little windy -- I had the tripod's legs extended and I could feel the wind buffeting the tripod.

On the way up I saw three bull elk on the trail and as I lifted the camera, I realized I still had the wide angle 24mm prime lens on the camera. I snapped this picture anyway and am quite happy with how it turned out!

Crop of a wide angle shot

I managed to make it to some interesting rocks as the sun broke out of the clouds and I enjoyed the nice light on the rocks, tundra, and distant mountains.

Longs Peak with tundra

Nice light on the northern ridge of Longs

As I was scrambling around the rocks, to my delight, I found a happy cluster of columbine. 

As I hiked back out, I saw that the skies to the west were completely clear. 

Blue skies over Forest Canyon

I definitely would like to return to this spot for sunrise and morning light! 

Evenings on Mt Chapin and Ute Trail (July 21-22)

Last year, after climbing Chapin, Chiquita, and Ypsilon peaks (aka CCY), I really wanted to get Susan up there to see what she was missing. So on Sunday, we decided to hike up at least as far as Chapin and enjoy the moonrise and sunset from the trail. We had a really beautiful evening up there!

Looking north to the Chapin Creek area

An elk grazes on the tundra nearby

Looking southeast from near the summit of Chapin; Longs Peak on horizon at center right

A cooperative Yellow-bellied Marmot posed for us near the summit

Tundra wildflowers on the rocky slopes of Chapin

A pika near the trail on the way down

We had beautiful color at sunset

The next evening we decided to go out again at one of my other favorite spots, the Ute Trail and Tombstone Ridge, just off Trail Ridge Road in Rocky. As we hiked up to Tombstone Ridge we saw another person coming out and as we got closer, we realized it was our friend Lyn. We seem to run into her everywhere! She told us to watch for a herd of elk farther up the trail.

Rocks on Tombstone Ridge frame Longs Peak in the distance

We spent quite a bit of time scrambling around on the rocks, using them to frame Longs Peak. The light on the rocks was exquisite.

After the sun had set we started looking for the full moon, which was rising in the east about the same time as the sun was setting.

We hiked around a bit more, and began to see that the herd of elk that Lyn mentioned was up on a nearby ridge. Susan suggested we maneuver ourselves to catch the moon behind them. I wasn't enthusiastic at first, as we weren't that close to them and we would have to hike even farther in, plus it would be dark soon and we still had to hike out. Soon she had me convinced and we began working our way over to get them between us and the moon. I didn't expose the details of the moon very well, but I like the rim lighting on the elk a lot! I'm so glad I listened to my wife! :-)

Surprisingly, the elk herd began to move toward us and it was getting pretty dark and hard to keep track of them. We kept retreating back down the trail, but they seemed to keep moving toward us and we were sure they knew we were there.

Rising moon with elk herd moving on the trail and Longs Peak in the background

Susan kept suggesting all kinds of interesting and fun shots, so we hung around a bit more before deciding to head back down the trail to the car.

Our moon-shadows on the trail :-)

Forest Canyon by moonlight with car headlight on Trail Ridge Road

Two cars make their way down Trail Ridge Road

Even though it was pushing 10pm and the sun was long gone, the moon was so bright we didn't really need our headlamps. It was a really fun evening at a really fun place!