We were exploring Piney River Road north of Vail and it was getting near sunset. The light broke through the heavy clouds and cast beautiful light on the mountains in the distance. These special scenes make it all worth exploring the backcountry of Colorado.
Momma Porcupine in a Tree
For the second time in as many weeks we ran into a porcupine on a trail north of Vail, Colorado. She was huge and a mamma walking toward Teig and I. She couldn't recognize us until she was about 25 feet away. Luckily, Teig was on leash at the moment and their was no altercation. I let her move to a nearby tree and climb up about eight feet before getting this photograph of her where she felt safe. She was gorgeous.
Stars, Milky Way and and Night Eyes
The Milky Way is amazing, especially viewing it above 11,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. On this summer evening I was shooting the night sky in complete darkness. I was out in the forest alone and heard a bunch of rustling near me, totally freaking me out. I booked it back to camp which was a couple of hundred yard away. I came back a got my camera a short time later with a extremely bright headlamp. When I got home and processed the shots I found out it was just a few deer feeding in the grass on the mountainside. When you are out in complete darkness by yourself, you can get rattled and spooked by noises in the dark. By the way, Teig was asleep in the truck back at camp.