With all the fires ravaging the state of Colorado, I decided to head to an area away from them all to avoid the smoke and do some shooting. I figured if I dropped over to the other side of the Continental Divide things should be in good shape, so I planned a trip back over to the Crested Butte area. I was there last month but had spent most of my time out on Kebler Pass road. This trip I decided to concentrate on valley above the town of Gothic.

The timing was just right as a front was moving through which provided for a variety of weather and cloud conditions. This shot was from the last morning there. When I got up before sunrise, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was tempted to go back to bed because all I need is another sunrise shot with bald blue skies. Luckily I reminded myself that you just never know what Mother Nature is going to dish out and got myself and my gear down the road. I bounced around to a few different locations and watched as the clouds started to spill over the mountain peaks to the west. I setup a shot looking south with Crested Butte in the distance since it had clouds around it. After a few shots, I turned around and realized things were really changing behind me. I ran through the brush and setup this shot with Mount Bellview at the end of the valley. It sure paid off to be out this morning!