Rocky Mountain National Park - Moraine Park
Moraine Park
Moraine Park is located on the east side of RMNP, and is at an elevation of 8,160 feet. The area was formed as part of the Pinedale glaciation that occurred some 30,000 years ago. Ice that was part of the 13 mile long Thompson glacier, carved out the meadow.
Moraine Alpenglow
This is one of my favorite panoramic images I’ve ever captured. I captured this photo the same morning as Morning Light above. I took this just as the sun was starting to peak above the horizon, with a soft pink Alpenglow shining on Stones Peak. The clouds from the extreme cold were hugging the mountains, and added a bit of mystery.
Intimidation
Notchtop Mountain as seen from Moraine Park. The early morning light was just catching the mountain on this cold winter’s day. The clouds were clinging to the peaks. Or perhaps the peaks were holding on to the clouds.
Light To Dark
A surreal morning in Rocky Mountain National Park. The fog rolled around Moraine Park, and as the sun rose the landscape began to glow. The mountains id their best to keep the land dark, and the fog in control. But eventually, the sun won its daily battle with the dark.
Morning Light
A cold winter morning after a brief snowfall, was the host of my favorite sunrise in the park to date. I got several good pictures on this morning. The skies were a perfect pink color, and the snow on the ground started to absorb the color before the sun came over the horizon.
The Moraine After Dark
This was from the first time I shot the Milky Way in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a September evening, and another time I stood under the stars listening to the Elk bugle. The way the Big Thompson leads your eye into the scene, even giving you a sneak peek of the Milky Way, really caught my attention when I lined up for this shot. Another memorable experience, just basking in the amazing piece of nature that RMNP is.
Going With The Flow
The fog was not incredibly thick this mid spring morning, but it kept flowing around the edges of the Moraine. I captured this image about ten minutes before sunrise. There was not a lot of color in the landscape, but the contrast of the Big Thompson River and fog against the subdued landscape really stood out to me. I processed the photo as black and white to try and help those two distinct elements stand out.
Moraine Moonset
Another picture from that fabulous sunrise. For this I took a larger field of view, because I wanted to capture the full moon setting over Beaver Mountain. It is a bit hard to tell from this photo, but if you zoom in you can see how the East Troublesome fire burned through the valley after it jumped the continental divide at Mount Wuh. The snow restores a bit of normalcy to the scene, as it covers the burn scars in the meadow.
Untouched
Another spring morning in Moraine Park. I had originally set up elsewhere for a sunrise shot, when a heard of about 50 Elk in the Moraine took a sharp right turn, and moved me out of my spot. The sun was rising, so I hurried to find another composition, and I saw an island of trees lit by the sun, but backdropped by the fog. One lonely elk remained, grazing on her breakfast.
What Lies Beneath
I love the fog in Moraine Park. The way it wisps and flows over the landscape is mesmerizing. Delicate and graceful like a ballet dancer, yet powerful like a flowing river. I captured this picture about 10 minutes before sunrise one spring morning. The grass covered in frost, greener in some spots where it is growing in the burn scar from the East Troublesome wildfire of 2020.