Impression Evergreen

Queen of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado East out of Ridgeway, Colorado, the quiet countryside is a subtle landscape of lower hay fields that give way to a riot of colorful wildflowers and quaking aspen. Rising above tree line is a sweep of rugged terrain composed of sharp pinnacles and serrated ridges. A scenic sub-range of the San Juan Mountains, this confusion of untidy crags is an everlasting remnant of an ancient volcano. Positioned majestically amongst these picturesque peaks is Mount Sneffels, also known as the "Queen of the San Juans". I've photographed Mount Sneffels from every direction, during different seasons and in all kinds of weather so attaining the summit was an awesome experience. This region is one of the most beautiful destinations in the west and probably my favorite place on earth.

Pikes Peak, Colorado Dominating the view at Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak has been inspiring explorers, gold seekers and artists for over 200 years. It’s named after the accomplished adventurer Zebulon Pike who first beheld the majestic, purple mountain in 1806. When gold rushing 59ers set out for Denver in a quest for mineral riches, they emblazoned their wagons in fresh paint with the famous words "Pikes Peak or Bust!" The rocky monolith still commands the southern skyline and has become a lasting symbol for the entire Front Range. American songwriter Katharine Lee Bates was so influenced by the extraordinary vista from the summit that she wrote the lyrics to America the Beautiful . The popular anthem is actually a superb tribute to the unique beauty and vastness of the Colorado landscape.

Longs Peak, Colorado Longs Peak is a monstrous beast brooding over the northern Front Range near Estes Park. The sheer, east face is a diamond-faced dilemma forcing most climbers to take a grueling detour around the backside of the mountain. Making it just to the Boulderfield is no easy task, where the tundra environment looks like something from another planet. Passing through the unique Keyhole formation delivers the determined to a new dimension named Glacier Gorge. A quick traverse ends at the bottom of the Trough, a steep, rocky slot leading towards the crest of an exposed ledge. After negotiating the frightening tightrope known as the Narrows, the final push up the Ramp is a piece of cake. From the flat, football-field-sized summit, there is a celebration of spectacular scenery that rewards your strenuous effort. That exhilarating sense of accomplishment you feel after earning the top is what mountain climbing is all about.

The majestic, purple mountain Towering over Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak has been inspiring artists, explorers, gold seekers and presidents for over 200 years. In 1806, from out on the fruited plain, Zebulon Pike first beheld the majestic, purple mountain. He named it Grand Peak but early trappers and soldiers refused to call the megalith anything but Pikes Peak. Zeb felt compelled to climb the challenging alp as he led a party of trailblazers in a failed attempt to reach the summit. Upon his return, he wearily admitted that the mountain would probably never be climbed. The half-marathon distance from base to the summit was finally attained in 1820 and by 1873 the U.S. Army had established a military installation at the top of Pikes Peak. President Ulysses Grant hoped that meteorological data gathered from the summit of the high peak would assist in predicting volatile weather patterns circulating toward the east. He believed the valuable information would be critical in forecas...

Mount Sneffels is the Queen of the San Juan Mountains At the Dallas Divide, a restrained landscape of lower hay fields gives way to riotous slopes of quaking aspen and colorful wildflowers. Rising above tree line is a sweep of rugged terrain composed of banded layers of rock, steep crags and serrated ridges. Positioned majestically amongst these enormous peaks is the "Queen of the San Juans". Mount Sneffels is one of the most beautiful peaks in Colorado. The diamond-shaped, east face of Longs Peak is spectacular and the Maroon Bells are picture-perfect, but my favorite mountain is Sneffels. The odd name comes from the Hayden Survey of 1874. They thought the peak resembled the Icelandic, Snaefell volcano featured in Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth . My two brothers and I reached the top of the world when we summited Mount Sneffels a few years ago. We bypassed the standard route that ascends a steep, scree-filled gully. Instead, we chose to s...

"Mount Evans Winter" Colored Pencil It's a cold, windy day on Upper Bear Creek. Mount Evans is buried under a blanket of fresh snow. The sturdy evergreens are built to withstand winter storms like this. Heavy snow clings to the blue spruce creating an interesting pattern of dark and light. The landscape is expressed with mostly cool blues and greens but there are some pinks and yellows woven into the foreground. Being outside on a morning like this can be uncomfortable, although the mountain scenery is a beautiful reward. We've trampled all over the Mount Evans Wilderness Area exploring places like Chicago Lakes, Gray Wolf Mountain and the Sawtooth Ridge. The diversity of wildlife above tree line is amazing. We've seen coyotes, elk, bighorn sheep, marmots, pikas and my favorite, the white-tailed ptarmigan. The herd of Rocky Mountain goats that inhabit the summit are fascinating to watch. The goats tolerate human presence and seem to be curious and intellige...

Summit Lake After a delicious Father's Day breakfast served in bed by my two boys, we decided to drive to the summit of Mount Evans. To get to the top is a 30 mile drive from our front door. As we ascended the highest paved road in North America, our first wildlife sighting was a herd of elk, grazing high above timberline. In the summer the elk move up to higher elevations and cooler temperatures. Rocky Mountain Elk are built for the cold and don't tolerate heat very well. Our first stop was Summit Lake nestled high in a glacial basin just below the summit. This cold, clear lake is the headwater for Bear Creek and flows down into Evergreen Lake and then all the way to Denver. We really got our blood pumping by ascending to the top of Mount Spalding and looked down into the beautiful Chicago Basin. After getting some pictures of the lake, we drove the treacherous, winding road up to the summit parking lot. At the top, we explored a rocky structure know as the castle in ...