Last Saturday, I was looking for the spare set of car keys — looked all over the house but could not find them. So all that pile of empty boxes and other stuff in the basement got my attention. Maybe they are somewhere around there? After sorting the stuff out, most of it went into the recycle bins. But still no keys. I got the camera bag and headed up to Mount Evans, the closest 14’er to Denver. Also, the highest paved road in the US.
By the time I got to Mount Evans, storm clouds had moved in. There were still snowbanks at the side of the road with interesting textures that were picked out by the mountain light. I got out of the truck and proceeded to hike back to the snowbank. Along the way, I was distracted by the reflections of the clouds in Lincoln Lake, a few hundred feet below the road. The clouds were moving from right to left, reflecting off the deep dark blue of the water.
Cloud Reflections In Lincoln Lake
The skies were filled with amazing atmospherics. A gap in the clouds allowed the sun to shine on the city — that’s Denver in the distance.
That's Denver In The Distance
Back to the snowbanks… The snow was gradually melting, forming long laminar streams of water running off the snow. This was one of the more interesting images that I managed to capture.
Mountain Snow Melt
Back towards the summit, the storm clouds had been building up, with patches of blue sky. That white line near the bottom of the image is the route that the road takes up the mountain, accompanied by a snowbank.
Distant Storm At Mount Evans
I proceeded up to Summit Lake, which was still partially covered by ice. There were few open patches of water. I maneuvered around to an open patch to pick off reflections from the clouds in the blue sky and waited until the evening breeze calm down, to capture the golden reflections from the approaching sunset.
Cloud Reflections In Summit Lake
By this time is was getting late. I did manage to capture this image of the sunset on the back of Mount Evans. The low angle of the sun at this elevation allowed for some golden red light to reflect off the storm clouds. We don’t often see the deep reds of the sunset in Denver, because the mountains obscure the sun before we get the red colors when the sun sets.
Sunset Behind Mount Evans
It would be about an hour to drive back home, delayed by construction work. Highway 6 was closed for construction of a bridge.