Is there any place better than Colorado in September? I know, I have been to New England and shot their fantastic hardwoods with their red leaves, barns, covered bridges and meeting houses. Not yet to upper Michigan or upper Wisconsin. Of course there is the Southwest desert in October or November with yellow cottonwoods blended into the red SW geology, but Colorado is special. It has its golden Aspens that radiate against the blue skies and complimented it’s 58--14ers.

So, pre-pandemic, I met up with 5 of my fellow photography buddies, otherwise known as the Breaking Wind group, BW Tours to some. We settled into Ouray for a week of shooting the Divide, The Million Dollar highway, Crystal Lake, The Sneffels Range, Telluride and points in between. Tony, our sarge, lives in Ridgway and is quite intimate with the area so we had a great productive time. At the end of 4 days, a couple member dropped out and the rest of us headed over Owl Creek Pass to the Silver Jack Recreation area.

During the previous time we had decent to excellent weather but with our arrival at our Forest Service cabin in the Silver Jack valley, the weather had turned cloudy with occasional rain. After exploring the area around the Reservoir Tony took us to Rowdy Lake the next day which is where this image was shot. An amazing location, shooting across a small lake with an amazingly brilliant stand to Aspen stretched along the opposing shoreline and the ridge line to High Mesa as a backdrop. Even a couple cows thrown in.

A wonderful productive trip, but with the elevation there at 9,300 ft I find my aging body is more favorably disposed to sea level these days and it is doubtful that I will visit Silver Jack again.