August was an incredibly productive month for my photography, in part I believe because the month had 5 weekends (which happens more than ya think). There were five weekends with three sets of visitors – and a lot of camping in between!

Let’s revisit weekend by weekend and see what made the month pop.

The first weekend was dominated by two distinct outings, the first a sunrise hike in a hereto unexplored part of the National Forest and a second sunrise hike in a frequented part of Rocky Mountain National Park – but with a unique wildlife encounter along the way.

We reached the trailhead early on the morning of August 2nd, along the way being treated to wonderful sunrise views without even needing to leave the car! We saw a lone deer and eventually it was time to begin the hike.

The early morning frost (it was 38º) offered a phenomenal texture on the the white flowers keeping our feet company. We were making good progress and enjoyed watching the sun begin to melt the frost and warm the landscape. That warmth wouldn’t last for long.

Quickly fret about the clouds we saw filling the horizon began to dominate conversation. The distinct lack of noise that was washing over us in waves we knew could only be coming from a storm.

As we exited the treeline the storm clouds opened up. It sleeted and hailed heavy and hard for the next ten minutes of the hike. We kept trekking and reached a set of trees which provided a moments reprieve but by then the storm was nearly gone.

As we reached the top of the hill we’d been climbing we were granted a stunning view outlined ahead of us, all the mountains you could ever dream of and more.

Eventually it was time for us to begin heading back down and along the way I noticed a grove being lit in a way that the storms earlier had fully prevented.

I got down low and framed up the flowers in the foreground of the scene behind it. The picture speaks for itself, I’d love to go back and take a new shot with a wider lens on my main camera (this was a still from the primary video camera I have).

All in all, the day was phenomenal and it wouldn’t be long before I went back and explored that area again with a new set of visitors, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

We still have one more outing from the first weekend to discuss. The time I saw an Imperial Elk.

As I learned recently, an Imperial Elk is one with 7 “points” on either side. After reviewing the photo carefully with my friends we came to the conclusion that this magnificent beast was in fact an imperial elk, something incredible rare to see in the animal kingdom.

After that, we went to a Rockies game but I didn’t photography that. It was a great way to wrap up the weekend and to start off August.

The second weekend was filled with a visit from my aunt and cousin on Saturday we spent time near Golden and along the wonderful clear Creek river.

Then on Sunday, we got tickets to visit the ever-stunning Trail Ridge Road. Along the way there we saw two male elk, but it was too dark to get a picture. For sunrise, we drove up to the top of trail Ridge Road and were consistently blown away by the incredibly unique Alpine tundra.

On the way back down at Forest Canyon Overlook we were lucky enough to see the marmots of RMNP out bathing in the rising sun. The blue hues in the background are stemming from a combination of atmospheric refraction (may be diffraction but it’s the phenomena where far off objects look more blue) and haze and smoke in the atmosphere from wildfires nearby.

With a rare by-week Sophie and I took to the National Forests once again for some dispersed camping! After work on Friday night we drove up to the mountains and setup camp. After a camp dinner of re-hydrated Chicken Dumplings and a river cooled Natty Light it was time for bed.

We had seen forecasts for rain over the evening for thunderstorms and our views of heat lightning on the horizon only accentuated our fears. Luckily for us – God was on our side and by what can only be described a a miracle even without cell signal we managed to call a good friend of ours Shishir.

Acting as the unofficial “Man in the Chair” he honed in our exact coordinates, checked the radar for the evening and confirmed that (from the online data) we were good to sleep without a care in the world for our safety (weather wise).

With that we managed to get a whopping three hours of sleep!

The views the next morning were without a shadow of doubt worth every inconvenience.

This is the only non “headline” picture of the whole post which is full-width. It’s likely my favorite photo of the month. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. The sunrise at first had not manifested much and I was accepting it and then all the light kicked off and was there to stay.

I managed to get a few different compositions from near where we’d been camping and left a very happy camper!

We had planned on hiking near Butler Gulch but decided after the lack of sleep the night prior that we weren’t anywhere near ready to do a hike. Instead we opted for some morning coffee amongst the mountains and then went home to rest for the next day’s hike!

And hike we did.

We explored three Alpine Lakes this morning and the results speak for themselves. It was a great way to get out and get the blood pumping. I can’t believe we managed to get up after such little sleep the night prior, but we made it work and were better for it.

The fourth weekend found us hosting guests for the third time that month!

My cousins and and their parents had flown out to visit – and I wanted to show them how much fun hiking was!

I took them to the part of the state I’d discovered earlier that month (the national forest from the first hike in weekend one).

The kids were blown away and loved every second of it. The conditions that morning were spectacular with a nice bit of fog adding some much needed atmosphere to the scenes we walked through.

The weather was far less dynamic than the first visit – with us not getting a surprise sleet storm instead just getting progressively warmer and warmer temperatures. We saw marmots and pica plenty, but this time around there was no deer who wanted to be seen.

And last but certainly not least, the final weekend of the month. We made it!

We made some impromptu plans to celebrate Labor Day camping with friends, and on the way visited Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak.

This image is the other contender for favorite photo of the month. It’s a stunningly simple image (just a crack in the sandstone) but it really works for me. I think it’s got lovely color and the detail in the texture is wonderful to let oneself get lost in.

After the mornings hike we drove to another Rock Formation that Sophie found on the trail map and hiked out there, where I got the below picture. After that it was time to visit Pikes Peak and then head to our campground.

The drive up Pike’s was filled with a thick fog and we only got visibility at a few select moments throughout the whole drive. It was gorgeous what we did see though. I have a feeling we’ll go back at some point soon to explore the park in the sun.

After that we drove down to our campsite and met with our friends. We went antiquing for pans to cook dinner with and got a stainless steel pan which we’re still using at home! With our pan in tow we cooked some burgers and salmon on the camp stove with it.

It was eventually time for bed (after s’mores of course) and sooner than we realized it was time to wake up again. We drove up to a scenic one lane road along a local mountain top and got out to explore the geology nearby.

The rocks and views from the area were grand and acted as a wonderful capstone for the trip. On the way out after leaving the rock-shop (stones not music) I got the final picture below of an abandoned storefront. Something about it just works. Probably a combination of the composition and the lighting.

But isn’t that every photograph?