My Mountain Morning

My day started out iffy… Dang I was tired when the first rays of sunlight began to pierce the darkness, and I seriously considered devoting the day entirely to catching up with my computer work. I’m a bit behind with my uploads and with the high wind warning and real feel temperature of -4 this morning it was looking like a

good day to catch up.  But as the morning light descended upon the Sangre de Cristo I could see there was a storm brewing over the rugged peaks and I sure didn’t want to miss that!

So I scrambled to gather my gear and get dressed for extreme cold and wind. A thick layer of frost had to be scraped off the windshield and I was off. Fortunately I arrived at the trailhead in time to capture the alpenglow on the Sangre de Cristo and I was able to just sit and photograph them in all their glory until the phenomenon passed.

I glanced at the trail to the south where it winds back down the mountain and spotted a lone buck crossing the high meadow. Soon there was another buck and I sneaked around a pine tree to capture a few images of them crossing the meadow in the beautiful light of dawn as they made their way to the dense forest to the south.

A beautiful clear mountain morning met me at the summit and I stopped for a panorama. It required about a dozen images to capture the entire range which I hoped would be successfully stitched in Photoshop using the auto merge function. As you can see my efforts have been rewarded by a beautiful wide image of the northern section of the Sangre de Cristo Range.

It was still early when my trek brought me back to my truck so I decided to continue on to Victor in hopes of seeing a fox or hawk to go along with the amazing mountain images I was collecting… No luck there but by the time I found myself in town hunger pangs were starting to get my attention. Nothing better than an order of coffee with biscuits and gravy at the Gold Camp Bakery. I was happy to find that I was the first one there and I had the place to myself for quite a while. I love just sitting and staring out the window at the historic old west Victor downtown area while sipping a cup of coffee 🙂

From there I journeyed on to the top of Victor Pass and an excellent view of the south face of Pikes Peak. It wasn’t the most spectacular scene I have ever encountered there, but well worth the stop for a few more captures.

On the return trip I discovered an even better view of the Sangre de Cristo Range than I have previously discovered. From the Mollie Kathleen road past the top of the big mine there is a spot where you have an unobstructed view of the entire range. Most views I have found so far have a mountain or hill obscuring part of the range. In fact the view was so wide I decided not to even attempt a panorama, I think it would probably require 30 images or more. With that degree of complexity involved, I’m sure I am going to want my best tripod. I’ll wait for just the right day and go directly there for such a major capture! I did grab a few more frames of the magnificent mountains, my favorite of which is shown below 🙂

As always, the best of these images and hundreds more are available for purchase on my website as wall art on glossy metal or acrylic sheets, stretched canvas and traditional matting and framing. Tons of cool household and gift items are also available with any image you like including coffee mugs, t-shirts, blankets and pillows, battery chargers, phone cases, stationary and much much more! Just click on any image you like and all the choices, sizes and prices will appear! For my viewers interested in images for commercial use, please visit my image licensing portal!

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