Wildflowers- Clear Lake
Tech Info (all images): Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens.
Clear Lake is reached by a 4 wheel drive road that splits off the South Fork Mineral Creek Road just off Highway 550 near Silverton. According to my map, the lake is at an elevation of about 13,100 ft. On the afternoon that I visited, it was windy and rainy and the shore of the lake itself was lined with families that were fishing, so I didn't find the lake itself to be particularly worthy of posting photos. The surrounding basin, however, had some nice patches of wildflowers, as you can see above and below.
As you can tell from the sky in the above photo, it was on the verge of raining during my stay at Clear Lake. Since I remembered that high elevations like this are not wise spots to be standing in the event of lightning strikes (especially not leaning over a conductive tripod!), my visit to this spot was fairly brief.
Paintbrush- Clear Lake
bluebells after rain shower
Clear Lake is fairly close to Ice Lake Basin (at least as the crow flies), and also at similar elevation. It sure is easier to achieve several thousand feet of elevation gain by riding in a four wheel drive Jeep than it is to hike it on foot!
Fireweed at Gold King Basin
Gold King Basin lies on the Telluride side of Ophir Pass. Despite the fact that it is not frequently mentioned as one of the most prolific producers of wildflowers in the area, during my visit there I found it to have one of the better stands of wildflowers. I suspect that this may be due to its tendency to shade heavy snowpacks for much of the day, and perhaps this spot was one of the later areas to melt out during this unusually hot and dry summer, hence the better stand of wildflowers that remained relatively late in the season.
Tech Info- (all images) Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens.
I found the wildflowers to be abundant at this spot- the biggest difficulty in photographing them was keeping from sliding down the relatively steep inclines of the sidewalls of this basin. More than once I got all set up, only to slide down the hill before I tripped the shutter!
Paintbrush- Gold King Basin
During my visit to Gold King Basin, I had the entire basin all to myself. No worries about people walking into the frame of my photo as I was preparing to shoot. Sometimes I really enjoy photographing in seclusion- just me, the mountains, and the flowers. However, at my next stop (Alta Lakes), I did run into several photographers who had not been to Gold King Basin yet, and I was happy to recommend it to them as a worthwhile spot for finding stands of wildflowers.
Pond at Alta Lakes
Alta Lakes are located only a short distance from Gold King Basin (or perhaps I should say vice-versa, as there were quite a few people busy fishing and camping at Alta Lakes during my visit there.) I've seen a nice image taken at one of the Alta Lakes, with a clear blue sky and a mountain peak reflecting in the clear blue water. During my visit there, it was windy and the sky was overcast, but I found the nice group of flowers above beside one of the small ponds, leading me to capture the above image.
