A Sunday Stroll to Rainbow Lake

After the half-day trek from Copper Mountain to Frisco on Saturday, I decided on a shorter hike to take on Sunday. The walk to Rainbow Lake from Frisco was perfect - it was easy, for which my legs were very thankful. I think I walked away with more mud on me than was on just my shoes!!

Happy Tails...

Emily and her poodle, Ollie were great companions for the beginning of the Tenmile Canyon Trail from Copper. I couldn't ask for a better dog and a more beautiful woman to share the walk with!

Summer Has Arrived!

Saturday was a beautiful, perfect summer day in the mountains! The first thought that came to me when I woke up was, "I have to go on a walk today!" So I started down Tenmile Canyon Trail, and ended up walking the 5+ miles from Copper to Frisco. Well worth the trek!

Snow Day!

The excitement of a new snow storm shifted as quickly as the weather blew in. Right as the day was winding down at Copper Mountain, the snowflakes kept falling, getting larger and heavier by the minute. Before we knew it, I70 was closed. And I70 is the ONLY way back east, the ONLY road leading to Frisco, Dillon and my home in Silverthorne. (Yikes!)

Needless to say, I spent the night at work. (Good thing I work at a resort!) I can't express how thankful I was to be surrounded by such great people - friends and coworkers alike. As it turned out, our apartment was shelter to our friend, Nicole, who couldn't make it back to Breckenridge. Nobody was going anywhere Tuesday night.

I did make it home the next day, after spending half an hour cleaning and shoveling the car out. There's nothing better than a complete stranger lending you his shovel in a time of need!! 

Once I got home, I could finally enjoy the fluffy white outside our apartment:

Not so black and white

I finally made it out to capture some Aspen trees, on what may likely be the last weekend their leaves are intact:

As I followed the trail back to the car, something more intriguing caught my eye. Sections of the trial were closed off due to clear-cutting. Stumps stuck up all over what once was a lush expanse of trees. On the other side of the trail, piles of lodgepole lay across the now barren land. A sad sight, to say the least, no doubt attributed to the pine beetle. No solution to their infestation is better than another, but one manner of attack has been eliminating the dry, dead trees altogether. On one of the most beautiful Fall mountain days, the Aspens were definitely a strange contrast against the stumps of dead Pines.

I watched the sun rise...

...on my day off.

Instead of sleeping in on a recent day off (which, believe me, I wanted to), I decided to wake up before the sun, get dressed in the dark and make my way once again towards Frisco Marina. It's the first time this season that I put on boots and a winter hat. Too bad I forgot a photographer's best friend in the cold - a pair of gloves. Oops.

The lake has dropped considerably in the last month - at least four feet - which means I can get closer to the sailboats anchored in the bay. Between the low sun and the cold weather, I finally got the conditions that I wanted as well. The fog even rolled in as the sun peaked over the first mountain top.

After the sun had completely risen, I started to make my way back to the car. I found a pleasant distraction, and despite my dry, red, cold hands, I stayed a few more minutes to capture the morning dew that had formed on yellow fall leaves:

Where am I going, and what will I find?

Three weekends ago, I woke up on a beautiful Saturday morning and decided I wanted to go for a drive. Didn't know where or how far. So I started driving farther north on Highway 9, the only other direction in Summit County I hadn't yet explored. Perfect day for a short road trip: warm sun, cool air, and pretty empty roads. The land became more and more flat - and brown - and about 1/2 an hour in to the drive I started looking for somewhere to turn around. And then, as the road curved west, a beautiful blue caught my eye. I had found Lake Heeney, a refreshing sight among the otherwise monotone drive.

On my way back I shot some photos. The road trip was, in the end, worthwhile: I drove somewhere new and found something I liked. A lot.

Fall has arrived

As I sat at work on Wednesday and watched the afternoon rain fall, I thought to myself, "Fall has definitely arrived." Then, as the sun came out and dried the wet ground, I started counting the minutes until I could jump in my car and rush home to grab a camera. I was anxious, to say the least. Finally, as I pulled out of the post office close to home, I caught a glimpse of color in the corner of my eye: it was a rainbow! And not just a small, half arch of color. A huge, full rainbow right above me. Needless to say, I might have blown through the last stop sign on the way home (it's not a terribly busy street, anyway) in the race to capture the beautiful arch...

And I made it! To the other side of our apartment was the other sign of Fall:

Early to rise...

As it gets colder in the mornings here, frost forms on the car and I can see my breath outside. And every time I drive to work, undoubtedly in a hurry, I watch as steam rises off the corner of the lake. When the clouds are low and the morning sun shines on the water, it's unbelievable. Hard to put into words. So last Saturday I decided to suck it up, wake up extra early to make my normal commute to work and finally catch this beautiful sight.

...but it wasn't very cold on Friday, nor was it very chilly that morning. In turn, there was no steam rising off the lake. *sigh* So I made the most of it and went to one of my favorite spots, Sapphire Point off Swan Mountain Road. I was already up and out, I couldn't very well go home without any photos.

The first and last shots were my two favorites:

The simplicity of each image drew me to them. They're both dependent on light. Without having been there at the right moment, they'd be just another snapshot. All in all, the morning was not wasted, though I'm pretty sure I went to be earlier than normal that night!