Here are a few pics from a trip to Shrine Pass and Piney Lake yesterday. Kind of a last minute decision - vasilating about the weather - but boy am I glad we went. It rained off and on (mostly on) all day, the flowers were gorgeous in the overcast conditions and there were hardly any other people. The road was slicker than snot on a linoleum floor which made things a little exciting in places, even with 4wd, but it was all good.
The flowers on Shrine are looking great, and I think next weekend will be even better - especially with all of the rain. There must have been a dozen different colors of paintbrush, and the white/yellow ones were just starting to come out. Lots of lupine, too.
We had planned on hiking Shrine Ridge, but lightning made that a risky proposition so we stuck to driving the road. Occasionally clouds would clear revealing the Gore Range to the north and the Sawatch to the west. Then the clouds would drop low and blanket the forest; 2 minutes later it would be sunny and 5 minutes after that it would be raining again...
After shooting most of the day along Shrine Pass Road, we headed over to Piney Lake. The drive in was pretty interesting. We came across 3 separate groups of moose - a cow and her calf, then two cows and a calf, and then one calf and two cows. Up until then, I had never seen even one moose in CO. In between those sightings, there were 4 or 5 deer that were meanding about, and finally a beaver lounging in a lazy stream until he saw us and laid on a wicked loud crack with his tail before taking off under the water. I think that tail could do some serious damage to anyone that got too close!
Sunset at Piney Lake didn't develop into much, but the weather was interesting with fog and clouds appearing and disappearing repeatedly over the hour we were there. We got about 30 seconds of minimal light, then it was all over.
My wildlife photography skills need some work; it would have been nice to get the rest of the legs. I shot about 20 or so images - mostly full-frame like this one. They look slow, but they move quickly and I have about 19 other (blurry) images.
Piney Lake and the misty trees are my favorites of the bunch. Wonderful work!
I also spent some time in the company of 4 moose (mooses?) last night. Amazing animals.
Discussion
12 repliesThe flowers on Shrine are looking great, and I think next weekend will be even better - especially with all of the rain. There must have been a dozen different colors of paintbrush, and the white/yellow ones were just starting to come out. Lots of lupine, too.
We had planned on hiking Shrine Ridge, but lightning made that a risky proposition so we stuck to driving the road. Occasionally clouds would clear revealing the Gore Range to the north and the Sawatch to the west. Then the clouds would drop low and blanket the forest; 2 minutes later it would be sunny and 5 minutes after that it would be raining again...
After shooting most of the day along Shrine Pass Road, we headed over to Piney Lake. The drive in was pretty interesting. We came across 3 separate groups of moose - a cow and her calf, then two cows and a calf, and then one calf and two cows. Up until then, I had never seen even one moose in CO. In between those sightings, there were 4 or 5 deer that were meanding about, and finally a beaver lounging in a lazy stream until he saw us and laid on a wicked loud crack with his tail before taking off under the water. I think that tail could do some serious damage to anyone that got too close!
Sunset at Piney Lake didn't develop into much, but the weather was interesting with fog and clouds appearing and disappearing repeatedly over the hour we were there. We got about 30 seconds of minimal light, then it was all over.
All in all, a really nice day.
Ken
I also spent some time in the company of 4 moose (mooses?) last night. Amazing animals.
Guy
Great images, especially the nice mist and pastels in your evening shot.
(Note to self – Piney Lake, another place I have not visited, yet!)
I REALLY like that 2nd shot with the mist in the pines. Very cool! Looks like I need to visit Piney Lake as well some day!