Week 107 — Sunrise at Sky Pond

I was catching up with Mark, a friend from college, at a wedding reception last night. Mark and I had climbed Longs Peak together while in college and we share a love for travel and the outdoors. Hearing Mark talk about his recent adventures rekindled some of my dormant wanderlust, and as I sat down to my computer this morning to find an image for this week’s photo I found myself browsing through galleries of last year’s hikes through the mountains of Colorado.

I didn’t post too many images from those hikes, so maybe I’ll put together some very belated photo adventures posts this fall and winter. Getting to the mountains is a rare occasion now that I’m living in Omaha, so maybe reliving last year’s hikes through images will help satiate some of those cravings…

Anyways, this week’s photo was taking during a sunrise hike to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park almost exactly one year ago. Seeing a sunrise at Sky Pond isn’t an easy task, as the trail to the pond is over 4 miles long with a ~1700 foot change in elevation. There’s also a scramble up a waterfall at the end that isn’t exactly straightforward when it’s still dark out. But all that struggle is completely worth it, and actually has the effect of enhancing the experience. Plus you’ll probably be the only one crazy enough to be up there for sunrise, so you’ll have the place to yourself for a couple hours!

p.s. I actually have another image from this hike as the background on my desktop right now. I much prefer it to this image, but you’ll have to wait until the photo adventures post to see that one… 🙂