Bull Elk

Ron NiebruggeColorado, Photos, Rocky Mountain N. P., Travel 12 Comments

Bull Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Bull Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

The are lots of elk here!   In my opinion, this a a better place for photographing elk then even Yellowstone or Jasper.  And the rutting behavior is sure fascinating to watch.  Large bulls round up a groups of cows, only to be repeatedly challenged by other bulls, sometimes losing their cows, other times not.  The process is repeated all day long, played to the amazing bugle sounds ringing out from each of these magnificent animals.

This guy almost crossed right here where he is looking – it would have been an amazing setting with the stream and mountains in the background!  Instead, he walked right towards me and crossed so close I couldn’t include him in the frame with my 100-400 at 100!  Who would have thought I would have needed my wide-angle lens for these guys.

See more of my Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado photos.

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

Ron NiebruggeColorado, Photos, Rocky Mountain N. P., Travel 13 Comments

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This was the result of a early morning hike in the dark -I think it was definitely worth it!

Janine was given a bit of a bad time for not being up for our first morning here in Colorado at Mount Evans – all in fun of course.  To be fair, my super model has been there every morning and evening since, I thought I should add some photo proof!

Janine at Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Janine at Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

I used a two stop hard edge graduated neutral density filter for both images.  The top image was captured at ISO 100 and f/11 for .5 second.  The bottom one was ISO 100, f/16 for .8 second.  I stopped down a bit more for the lower image since my subject was much closer – I needed more depth of field.

Take a look at more  Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado photos.

Rocky Mountain Elk

Ron NiebruggeColorado, Photos, Rocky Mountain N. P., Travel 16 Comments

Bull Elk at sunset, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Bull Elk at sunset, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

We finally made it into Rocky Mountain National Park last night – this place is great!  We arrived just in time to enjoy this wonderful sunset.  I had no idea there is so much elk activity here – this is as good as Jasper/Banff or Yellowstone, two areas I love.  My time spent with elk in those National Parks really helped me anticipate this guys movement so that I could be in the right spot in case there was a sunset – it sure all came together!  I also have some sunset photos with the whole harem of elk.

It is going to be nice to be in one place for a week or so.  We have only driven the first few miles of the Park road – I’m really looking forward to driving and hiking more of the park.

This was captured with my 24-105 at 58mm along with a 3 stop hard edged graduated neutral density filter.

Here are more Colorado photos.

Summit Lake, Mount Evans, Colorado

Ron NiebruggeAsk Ron, Colorado, Photos, Travel 14 Comments

Summit Lake, Mount Evans, Colorado.

Summit Lake, Mount Evans, Colorado.

This lake sits at 12,830 feet – and there is a road to it!  In fact, the road continues to the top of Mount Evans in the distance at 14,264 making it the highest paved road in North America.  Unfortunately it is closed beyond Summit Lake after the Labor Day weekend.
When I was hiking around, the elevation really wasn’t noticeable – but at one point I realized my battery was going to die, so I ran back to the truck for another one, and wow – that air is thin!
My super model slept in this morning, so you get stuck with a rare photo of me today!

Pika

Ron NiebruggeColorado, Photos, Travel 12 Comments

Pika, Mount Evans, Colorado.

Pika, Mount Evans, Colorado.

Finally able to spend some time outdoors after a long week of travel, and it felt good!  The colors in the high country are beginning to turn, I think our timing is good – I’m very excited about the upcoming weeks.  Colorado is a beautiful state!

Stormy weather made it hard to find mountain goats on Mt Evens, so I spent some time photographing these cute little guys!  I have seen them on numerous occasions in Denali, but not at the concentrations as I saw on Mt Evans.

Here are more Colorado photos.