Sky Pond from today

I have been fascinated by Erik's sunrise shots at Sky Pond and I finally pulled the trigger today. Just came back from 11 hrs of hiking+photography+nap on the trail. Somehow I managed to drop my water bottle somewhere above Sky Pond so I was super dehydrated on the way back, plus I am breaking in a new pair of boots, not fun! But the scenery really blew me away! Here are a couple of them, comments welcome! (The 200k size limit is killing it)

#1. Took the wrong path up to the Timberline fall, so I barely made it to Sky Pond when the light show began. It's the only composition I can find within 5 minutes of arrival. The light was really intense (and the use of grad ND intensifies the contrast), I can probably dial it down a notch. TS-E 24mm f7.1 1/30s and ISO 1000, the wind was blowing!

#2. An Elk family (4 of them) followed me up to the Pond so I took a quick shot for them. The light turned from red to yellow-ish.

#3. Later on I found some reflection.

#4. Rocks leading to the glowing lake.

#5. Scrambled up and found these little flowers. I waited an hour here until the entire lake was in the light and turned green. On my way back I tried a new route covered by snow and that's when I used tripod for some little self-rescue.. That's it!

I like all these, especially the comp in #5. #1 is a bit dark for my taste. What a beautiful area. Thanks for sharing.

Great collection. It's probably not uncommon to lose the way around Timberline Fall, the "trail" there is confusing especially in predawn darkness, but I think you found some great comps with enough time to spare. #2 is my favorite. The elk in the distance adds a unique touch that no one else can replicate. The reflection and the comp on #5 are also very well done.

I like the composition of #5 the best and the lighting of number #1. Combining the two would be huge dynamic range but doable. I may have to try that shot some day.

Number #1, is that a hard stop GND? The exposure seems a bit sudden.

Kane

Nice set - liked the light in #1.

All are excellent work. Great light and control of the exposure. I'm leaning toward #2 and the reflection shot.

Thanks for all the comments! Kane, I was using a soft .6 GND.

All nice shots but #5 really grabs my attention.

All are nice, but #1 stands out to me. The early light on the spires and the flowers are very nice. The light in #2 is nice as well.

Great collection. Well done.

They're all nice, but #1 and #3 are the standouts to me. The pattern of spires in #3 is incredible!

Yeah, a very nice series with 1 and 3 as real standouts. The first seems a little stron on saturation and I agree with JB about the spires in 3. Awesome!

Killer series. I absolutely LOVE your perspective in #5. All of these look a tad dark to me, but maybe it's time for me to calibrate my monitor.

Definitely dark/contrasty, but a really nice series. I'm partial to #3. One great benefit of the ts-e ... faster shutter speeds in windy conditions. Good work.

Great images! Love the intense light and color in the first image.

Great stuff! Love that reflection in #3.

Nice series--that last shot is fantastic!! Gotta love the blue skies we're gonna get....all summer long...