If you keep going back, eventually the fickle finger o’ fate will smile upon you and drape the landscape with wonderful lighting and spectacular skies.
Friday, I had gone up to the Sugarloaf Mountain trailhead at the appropriate pre-dawn hour, but massive winds and too much cloud cover made it obvious that the photographic situation would be worse than poor. So I left without even getting out of the truck and returned this morning.
Today’s dawn was much, much better. I suppose for every two, three or four trips up the Sugarloaf trail, one turns out to be well worth it and the rest are so-so. This morning was the former.
I hiked up into the fog and darkness with the knowledge that the forecast was for a clear, calm day in the foothills below. That–at least to me–meant there was a good possibility I would either: 1) get to see the sunrise over the top of a spectacular undercast, or 2) get some wonderful light as the clouds and fog dissipated in the first warming rays of the sun.
Today I got #2…windless, and constantly changing wreaths of clouds all over the foothills and the Continental Divide, and a fresh light snow above about 10,000 feet.
Waiting for the sunrise…the clouds begin to break up:
Sugarloaf Sunrise #1. Sugarloaf Mountain, Colorado, 2013
Setting up on the tripod at the summit:
Self-Portrait. Sugarloaf Mountain, Colorado, 2013
Indian Peaks Wilderness #2. Sugarloaf Mountain, Colorado, 2013
Longs Peak through the clouds:
Longs Peak. From Sugarloaf Mountain, Colorado, 2013
And a stop along Boulder Creek on the way back to town. The high water mark from the recent flooding is obvious:
Boulder Creek, Post-Flood. Boulder Canyon, Colorado, 2013
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