Fall Exploration in Golden Gate Canyon State Park
In mid-October, I decided to explore a state park in Colorado that I hadn’t ever been to, Golden Gate Canyon State Park! Everything I had read about this area said that the aspens here were great, and it lived up to the hype for me. On a midweek trip, I started off by hiking the Burro Trail to Windy Peak. This first image came early in the morning, and I was drawn to this scene because of all of the colors in the undergrowth on each side of the trail.
As I climbed higher towards Windy Peak, I ran into other small pockets of aspens. This image has the full spectrum of fall color, and I was able to perfectly position the sun to create the sunburst affect that I was looking for!
After summiting Windy Peak (which lived up to its name) and finishing the hike back to the trailhead, I decided to do a little bit more exploring before heading home! I knew I wanted to check out a section on the Mule Deer trail, and here I found some of the biggest aspen groves I’ve seen in any of the foothills!
This image captures a less photographed side of fall, the last leaves hanging on. I loved the dark shadows in this scene, with small flashes of gold as the few aspen leaves remaining caught the sun.
Finally, I took some portraits of my dog, Koda! While I was shooting some other scenes he decided to lay down in the grass, and I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of him. I’m definitely not a pro portrait photographer, but I still enjoy shooting images like this from time to time.
After having found so many compelling images on my first trip, I ended up returning later that week with a few friends to get out for an early morning shoot! We started on the Mule Deer trail, and it was fun seeing this area with completely different conditions. Earlier in the week it had been bright and sunny, but on this day it was very overcast. This first image stood out to me because of the shapes of the aspen trees, and the colors in the willows at the bottom of the frame.
After seeing a large mule deer buck (on the Mule Deer Trail no less!), we began to retrace our steps and hike back to the car. I had seen this area of aspens earlier in the morning, but on the way back I decided to stop here and take a few shots. I loved the symmetry of the tree trunks, the range of colors in the grasses, and the deep shadows in the background that really helped the trees to stand out. I always enjoy getting out to shoot with other photographers because it allows you to see and approach things differently, and this trip was no different for me.