Slate Lake - A fall overnight
Since I got off of the PCT, I’ve been able to go on some adventures in Colorado before winter descends! The first trip I took was to Slate Lake, a remote lake in the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness. The weather forecast looked quite bad, with rain forecasted for both days I would be out and temperatures near freezing, but those are exactly the kind of conditions that I love to take images of in the fall! On the first day, I started out from the Rock Creek Trailhead. I found this first scene within a half mile of the trailhead, and had to stop to take it in!
The first 7 miles or so of this hike were on the Gore Range Trail, and it was generally uninteresting trail. This trail had a lot of up and down as it traversed north towards the Slate Creek Drainage, with few open views. The most notable part of the first morning was an encounter with a bull moose that thankfully gave my dog Koda and me a wide berth (I didn’t manage to get any pictures). By the early afternoon we got to Slate Creek and were able to see why we had gone on this trip: an incredible open meadow with huge aspen groves on both sides.
As I worked my way up this drainage, the predicted rain finally happened. The skies had been getting darker for a while, and I decided to stop for a bit and take cover under some trees before climbing higher. There was a break in the weather and we were able to make the final push to our camp for the night, Slate Lake! This lake was stunning, with large mountains towering above it on either side and golden aspen trees lining the cliffs above the lake. After setting up camp, I started to scout the lake to find the best spots for photography, and I was able to find this nice patch of grass for a foreground. It would rain on and off all night, and I took this image in between showers. I love the atmosphere and how you can see one peak breaking through the clouds!
After a cold night spent at 10,000 feet, Koda and I woke up the next morning to snow dusting the peaks above us! It was just incredible, pretty much exactly what I had hoped for in terms of weather. Below is my favorite shot from the whole trip.
It quickly began to warm up as I hiked back out, and once again I got to marvel in the fall colors of the Slate Creek Drainage. I kept taking pictures, even of some spots that I had already shot the day before, because the snow on the peaks and lighting were just incredible.
After making it back to the Gore Range Trail, Koda and I just had to knock out the remaining miles to the car. That’s a tough mindset to have when you’re about to hike 7 miles though, so I decided to take a side trip that would give me something new to see! We made the short detour off the Gore Range Trail up to Boulder Lake, which ended up being well worth it. The combination of yellow aspens, snow capped peaks, and a beautiful reflection made for a great image.
The conditions were so good on this day that the photography didn’t end once I got back to the car! As I was driving back home I couldn’t help but find myself looking at the clouds and fall color all around the town of Silverthorne. I ended up stopping in a Target parking lot to take some images with my telephoto lens, the best of which you can see below!