I was thinking ahead to summer this weekend and what locations I might like to visit and it reminded me of a camping trip I took last July. I had studied the maps around my area and my goal was to explore more places close to home that could provide good photo opportunities. I had seen some pictures from Harrison Flats which is along the Continental Divide just to the west of my house and decided it would be a good candidate. I packed up the camper and headed up Clear Creek Canyon road to spend a couple of nights.

After a couple of grueling hours of slowly driving up some of the worst washboard around, I set up camp close to the Lake Ann trail head. I finished getting the camper set up just in time for the normal afternoon summer storm to roll through. I sat for an hour and read waiting out the insistent rain. As the skies began to clear, I grabbed my gear and headed down the trail which follows the South Fork of Clear Creek. I knew I didn’t really have enough time to get up to Harrison Flats so I concentrated on trying to find a composition using the creek. There was a lot of brush covering most of the creek but I did come across this area that was filled with beaver ponds. I slogged around and managed to find this location in time to get setup for sunset. The clouds moved quickly from the west and at times the sun was totally obscured. It even insisted on sprinkling on me occasionally as I waited. Fortunately the clouds broke up enough to let the last rays of sun dance across the Three Apostles. The winds subsided and the surface of the beaver pond settled down to allow for a perfect reflection. A beautiful mountain sunset.

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