More from outside CO (summer)

I've been working through some of my photography from this past summer, now that I'm back teaching again and feeling wistful about the extended trips. Now I'm back down to once or twice a month until Thanksgiving break, which is of course months away...

I thought I'd share some work from Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. You know, just so you guys don't forget that the Rockies encompass more than Colorado...


First, a few from the Sawtooths in Idaho. Some of the most amazing twilight-light I've ever seen.

[1] Alice Lake in rich twilight.

[2] Toxoway Lake, deep twilight.

[3] Toxoway Lake pines, morning light

From the Sawtooths, I headed down through the Tetons to the Wind River Mountains. They're one of my favorite ranges in the western US, alongside the Sierras in California. I just love glaciated granitic mountain ranges, particularly when you can get above timberline into the really alpine country.

[4] Island Pass, late evening

Titcomb Basin is justifiably famous among climbers. I was solo and photographing, but being there definitely made me want to come back and climb. A little imbalanced left-right here, but this was the best one that I got with any decent clouds in the sky.

[5] Titcomb Basin cascade

[6] Titcomb Basin alpenglow

[7] Titcomb Basin twilight

Ice patterns on one of the small tarns. Saw this as I was walking out and up to Indian Basin; this was the morning of July 30th. Focus-stacking using four images; looks like I should have shot six or eight.

[8] Ice Patterns

Island Lake, the last night. You can see into Titcomb Basin from this viewpoint; the collection of peaks right-of-center marks the top of the basin. All of the images from the Winds were shot within only a few miles of distance. It's a remarkable collection of peaks.

This particular spot is pretty popular with backpackers and climbers, such that a few horse-packing companies offer to carry in food and gear. I'm toying with the idea of trying to organize a group next summer to split the costs, if anyone's interested. It's about a 10-mile hike in, starting at almost 9000' at the trailhead and climbing to 10,500'. It would be fairly easy to stay for a week and make "overnight" trips up to the surrounding areas with relatively light packs. Let me know if that sounds intriguing...

[9] Island Lake, cloudy evening

Those clouds stuck around and solidified overnight, so that when I woke up the next morning, I didn't think I was going to get anything. But there was the tiniest little gap coming in from the East and I got one single amazing sunbeam lighting up the clouds before it disappeared.

[10] "Ray of Light", Wind River Mountains

Okay; the last section is from the Uinta mountains in Utah. The "closest big" mountains to me, meaning higher than the Wasatch Peaks. I went in to explore, and to climb King's Peak (13,600'-ish), the highest peak in Utah. It's surprisingly different country up there. It's slightly similar landforms to the Uncompahgre mountains, but the geology is quite unique. At any rate, there are lots of flattish peaks forming ridgelines, surrounded by big open meadow-like valleys. Disappointingly, the area has been hit hard by bark beetle infestation, so whole areas of the pine forests are decimated.

[11] Scudder Lake, with a few lit clouds

I call it "don't camp here", and I include it in sympathy for everyone else who was out there this summer. Worst summer for mosquitoes I've ever seen. Perhaps it is true that backlighting makes everything look better...


[12] "Don't Camp Here", Uinta Mountains

[13] King's Peak Panorama, twilight

Lastly, a panorama of the upper Henry's Fork Park. King's Peak is the relatively inconspicuous peak just to the right of center. Stitched together from eight images in twilight, with each RAW file double-processed to bring back the details in the shadowed foreground. Sadly, I did camp at location #12, above, because I was just too beat to walk any farther, and I liked the composition for this piece better than anything else I'd seen that day.

I know this is a little too long, and a few too many images, but I hope it gives people some ideas about some lesser-known ranges. These aren't "secrets", not by a long shot, but I think they're off the beaten path for photographers. Or at least I didn't see any other tripods or people awake before sunrise... Hope it's been interesting, at least. Thanks for looking.


And now, on to fall!

What a terrific series, Mark. I agree about #1; sky colors are gorgeous. I also like the lighting in the #3 pano.

Sweet series Mark! 3 and 4 stood out for me.

Great work, Mark! #4 screams, "Hike here!" I really like #7, too. Love all those jagged peaks!

Mark, 1, 3, & 13 are my choices of the series based on lighting and scenery. 1 looks like it could use a little rotation based on the shoreline and lean of the distant trees.
Those water falls into Island Lake seen in 9 look intriguing.
I aborted a summer hike into the Winds once due to the massive numbers of skeeters. This was years ago when I had the summers off from teaching HS chem and physics.

Cool Stuff. I love the granite peaks of the Winds too. Those mosquitos look like what we had last summer in Big Sandy - drove us out after two days.

Thanks for the great collection!

Great stuff Mark, its hard to pick a favorite one.

Impressive series. My favorite is #5. I love the clouds, peaks, low angle and flow of water through the composition. Not imbalanced at all IMO. #4, #13 and the ice image are also really, really nice. Good to see some shots from these under-represented ranges.

Love em! #4 and #5 are super nice.

Glad you had a good summer. BTW-You have great courage showing something from outside Colorado to this group...........

Thanks everyone!

Doug, I'm going to start wondering whether I'm stalking you, or you're stalking me. I teach physics and math; I have for about ten years now. It's the only career I can find that allows me the time off to photograph, backpack, and climb. And I lived in Sedona for a couple years and went up to Flag pretty often to get into a bigger town... #1 is a panoramic and the light was better a little off-center, so the apparent tilt in the waterline is an illusion because the left side is closer. I'll have to check out the tilt of the trees, though.

I'm bummed by the size of #3 here; it's a long stitch, like fifteen or sixteen frames. It's a huge file at its native resolution, something like 22"x80"... I need to find a way to make updating my website easier, so that I can post there as well. #10 suffers from the same thing, I think.

Kalin, were you up in the Cirque of the Towers in late July (2010) ? It was so bad there that we retreated up to the pass after two hours, then hiked all the way out the next day.

Josh, thanks. I like #5, but having the clouds all off to the right bothers me, somehow.

Darren: gotta keep reminding the CO guys that the Rockies don't end at the state line (even though they seem to like southern Utah just fine ...). Seriously, though, I love seeing the stuff from Colorado, and I do recognize that that's where the forum started. I probably shouldn't give them too hard a time about it. Heh. If I lived there, it would probably be pretty hard to get me out of there, too.

Mark, this is just so much eye candy! Makes me want to ditch CO for one summer and explore these amazing places. Great set. That sun beam is the best I've ever seen.

This is really a great series Mark. It's nice to see some work coming out of Utah (and Wyoming and Idaho). It looks like you had some nice summer excursions. I'm anxious to see where you find to shoot fall shots in Utah. I just drove from Vernal to Orem this morning and saw just the beginning flush of yellow in a few aspens near Strawberry.

Very nice Mark! Great that you got a lot of travellin' in. 4 is pretty sweet and the last one with the Kings Peak evening is extra sweet.


*oh yeah, those mosquitos are insane!

Love your Titcomb Basin stuff, Mark--that's why that place is high on my list, guess itll be next summer now at the earliest.
I think pretty much all the pine forest in the West have been hit hard by the beetles--they certainly decimated the Winds over the last 5 years--and Grand Teton is browning up fast...sad.

This is a beautiful collection of images, Mark. I really like them all - except for the mosquitoes! I have officially added this location to my list for next summer. Images 2 through 5 are my favorites from this collection, but I really do like them all. Nice work!

Awesome collection Mark. 7, 11 + 13 are my faves....Let me know about the details regarding the trip to #9. I'd possibly be interested in a July or August trip... Fantastic work...

Michael

Stan, Sarah -- If you want any advice on the Winds, I'd be glad to offer what I can. It just won't be much more than you would find in a good guidebook. If you're used to backpacking and acclimated to the altitude, it's not a bad hike to get in to Island Lake. The trailhead starts out all the way up at around 8800' and so, while there's ups and downs along the way, there's not a massive climb to get in there. The main "problem" with Titcomb basin itself is that it's pretty deep, and runs almost due north. It seemed hard to get good summer light on the peaks. I'll definitely head back next summer to explore more of the area; I may try to coordinate a gear and food drop with one of the local horse outfits and stay for two or three weeks.

Michael -- Thanks! I just love the mountains, so I get twitchy when I haven't been out recently enough. There's not too much happening down here in Sanpete county at 6000'. We're probably a week away and two or three weeks from peak. Since I'm back to teaching again, I probably won't get any farther north than Timpanganos, although I'd like to try the area near Brighton. I'm a lot closer to Mount Nebo, so I'll focus on that area before working my way down to the Boulder Plateau, Capital Reef, and Zion. Should be a couple of months of busy weekends...