Independence Pass

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Matt Hunt

The word independence means a lot to me. I’d consider myself a pretty independent person, going on all of these trips alone, and absolutely loving it! It’s also a goal of mine to reach financial independence so that I can take even more trips. And my evening at Independence Pass was one of my favorite evenings in Colorado.

It was really a spontaneous decision to go out to Independence Pass on my final night in Snowmass Village, as I had already captured all of the other spots that I wanted photos of. So with a free evening, I decided I’d head out east for sunset.

In Goggle map searches, I found there was a trail that led out from the parking lot to an even higher peak. There were a couple 360° pictures along this path, and the view looked pretty good. I wanted to get a sea of mountain peaks in front of the setting sun.

The drive out was gorgeous! One of the most scenic roads I’ve ever driven, with the bright yellow aspen trees, dark green pines, and snow-capped peaks amidst deep blue skies and sunshine.

I still wasn’t very well adjusted to the elevation, and in this case I was starting from an even higher elevation of 12,095 feet! While the view from the paved overlook area was good, I was in search of better.

Frequent breaks along the hike were necessary, as I was getting short of breath after about 10 seconds of hiking! Seriously, that thin air is no joke! No big deal, as I had given myself plenty of time before sunset, and there were some great spots for photos along the way.

I made it up to the peak I was shooting for about an hour and a half before sunset, so I had time to just enjoy the views, and hunker down to try to stay warm! It wouldn’t have been that bad if not for the wind. I had left my heavy coat in the car, so all I had was a sweatshirt, light jacket, and hat & gloves. On the eastern edge of the peak, I was able to escape some of the wind, especially if I laid down flat!

The thing I enjoyed most about this spot was… there were no other people anywhere to be seen! All week I had been in the more popular touristy spots, including the Maroon Bells, which was absolutely packed. Here was a different story. Two guys had passed me on the trail, but I’m not sure what happened to them, and they may have even turned around and gone back to the parking area, and I just didn’t see them as I was snapping photos.

The scene to the west at sunset wasn’t actually all that great. The foreground was nice, but there was not a cloud in the sky in this area to add interest.

No big deal, however, as the clouds to the south and east lit up after the sun had set! I was literally pumping my fists with excitement as I captured these images! What a great call to come out here for sunset!

That first photo is one of, if not the favorite sunset photo of mine that I’ve ever captured. It’s funny how my favorite photos rarely get the most likes on Facebook and Instagram, but I think there’s a different perspective when you are the one who captured it, and actually witnessed that scene in person.

While I prefer to stay behind the camera, I decided to record a little vlog during this hike:

In my next few posts, I’ll cover the Maroon Bells, Crystal Mill, Capitol Peak, Kebler Pass, McClure Pass, and Rocky Mountain National Park. So check back if you want to see some of the beautiful fall colors!

The Elk Rut

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Matt Hunt

Back when I was a kid, and still to this day, I loved watching nature shows on TV. I didn’t have cable growing up, so it was always whatever was on PBS. I specifically recall Marty Stouffer’s Wild America. Growing up in the suburbs, however, I never had the opportunity to observe wildlife in its natural habitat.

Since getting into photography, I’ve been drawn to wildlife as one of my subjects. Many have just been chance encounters on visits to National Parks, but on this trip to Colorado I made the plan to spend two nights in Estes Park with one sole purpose: to witness the elk rut.

Fall is mating season for the elk. The bulls are hormone-crazed, and for the most part the females don’t seem to pay much attention. Bugling is non-stop, though outright battles are few and far between. While watching these bull elk, you may see them digging into the ground by swinging their antlers side-to-side, urinating on themselves and the ground, then rolling around in it and the mud, covering the lower half of their bodies in dark brown sludge. I don’t think human females would find any of this attractive, but then again, I’ve never tried it.

I felt like odds were pretty good I’d see some elk, but I didn’t know that it would be such a given. I had rented this monstrosity of a telephoto lens for the sole purpose of getting some great shots of these majestic animals!

I arrived around lunch time and went straight to Moraine Park, a meadow area of Rocky Mountain National Park, not very far from Estes Park. This was center stage for the elk rut, and indeed I found a bull with a large harem of about 20 cows on the far side of the meadow.

They slowly worked their way closer to the road, and I had walked out away from the road to a little rocky area where I ended up sitting down to observe this bull and his harem. There were quite a few people behind me watching this group as well, but aside from that I wasn’t totally aware of my surroundings. I hadn’t seen any other elk in the meadow, so my focus was on this group.

Then I hear this guy yelling, “Toni! Toni!” I didn’t even budge, but then I hear this Toni speaking to two ladies that were behind me, telling them to walk slowly over to her and sit down. I looked behind me, and I see this young bull no more than 20 yards away heading right for me!

Alright, I decided I’d head over to huddle up with Toni and those two other ladies! Toni seemed to be pretty knowledgeable in elk behavior, stating that she hunts elk. The idea was that this young bull likely would not charge all four of us close together, and that we should sit still, and NOT start running! This young bull walked around to the other side of the rocks, picked at the brush for a little while, then walked no more than 10 feet behind us and off into the meadow! Wow!

At this point there was another bull headed this way from the other side of the meadow. He wasn’t as young, but he still wasn’t as big as the bull who controlled this large harem. At one point it looked like he wasn’t going to mess with big daddy, and walked off a bit, but he lingered. And he lingered. And gradually he worked his way closer and closer to the harem. Big daddy had enough. He got up and started chasing the young bull off!

There was no battle, as this younger, smaller bull knew he’d be no match for big daddy. So he finally decided to wander off.

After getting checked into my hotel and getting some food, I ventured back to the meadow. I observed a few more bulls, only one that was very close, but there didn’t seem to be much going on. I had read the elk are more active in the evening, but to this point, that didn’t seem to be the case. So I began driving back as we had just about reached dusk.

When I got toward the front of the road, I came upon pure madness! There were at least 3 or 4 bulls and maybe 100 cows! Bulls were chasing each other and bugling, the females were squealing, and cars and people lined the road watching the show!

I ended up running into my buddy again, the same young bull I saw earlier. Some of these bulls were easily recognizable due to distinct features, and for this young gun, it was his beat up antlers. He must have engaged in a battle at some point during the rut, because he was missing the end to his right antler. This time I was in the safety of my vehicle, and he walked right in front of it.

I noticed how heavy he was breathing! You can see here his mouth is open; poor guy had his hormones going bonkers, and just couldn’t find a female to link up with! Maybe next year!

Day 2 started out near mid-morning, as I made the hike to Dream Lake for sunrise. I was told when I got there that I had missed some action, and that there was almost a battle. No big deal, as there was still plenty to see the rest of the morning, and I was able to get some great close-ups with much more favorable light than I had the previous day!

Such an amazing animal. I wish I’d had more time to spend watching them, and I wish I could watch them year-round! That evening I had hiked to Alberta Falls, and didn’t get back to the meadow until it was just about dark. There didn’t seem to be much going on, anyway, so I kept the camera in the bag and just observed with my own eyes.

The final morning brought rain showers, and for me I was actually trying to find some bighorn sheep. No such luck with that, but there were still plenty of elk. I saw this guy outside of the park, but close to the entrance.

After that I went to the Sheep Lakes area, looking for sheep, but finding more elk! This guy was walking away from the road, but I was able to get a couple good shots in before he was only displaying his backside to my direction.

I took a drive down Fall River Road, still looking for sheep, but finding another elk that was actually behind a fence, so I was able to get VERY close to him and remain safe! He didn’t seem to be to interested in finding a mate, as he was just grazing through the grass.

And with that, I was off to Denver! I have hundreds more photos of these awesome creatures, but these were some of my favorites. I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Chasing Zebras

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Matt Hunt

In the medical field there is a thing called chasing Zebras. A Zebra represents those rare, but serious conditions that a patient could have, but more than likely doesn’t. If you’re chasing a Zebra, you may end up running a ton of unnecessary tests, and get nowhere. Or if the patient actually has a Zebra, you may end up saving a life!

In this case, I’m referring to a different Zebra, but I’m still not referring to the animal. When I was at the Bryce Canyon visitor’s center, I was browsing through the books, and found one titled Photographing the Southwest. This was the first volume in a series, and was focused solely on southern Utah. In this book I found this amazing slot canyon called Zebra Slot Canyon. I had seen pictures of this place before, but I didn’t really know where it was. I looked it up, and it was only an hour and a half from Bryce! It left a 4-hour drive to Moab, where I was headed next, but I HAD to go visit this place!

This is well off the beaten path. To start, you’re in the small town of Escalante, UT, population 779. From there, it’s an 8 mile drive down a ROUGH gravel road. A 4WD vehicle is not necessary, however, and my Accord got there just fine.

When I got to the parking area, there was one other guy who was just leaving his vehicle and heading out on the trail. I’d end up catching him later on and passing him, and then I never saw him again.

The hike out to Zebra Canyon is really pretty easy and flat. There are some sections that get a little confusing, but you can always look around and find the trail.

My feet were still in bad shape from my hike through the Zion Narrows, so the hike was a bit painful at times. I found it was worse in sand, because I couldn’t really keep the pressure off those wounded areas. There were several sections where I had to cross the Halfway Hollow creek, and while it was muddy, there was no water running through it, so I would get some mud on the sole of my hiking shoes, but it wasn’t a big deal. Then I came up to this…

What would you do? I walked up and down the bank here, and while some sections became more narrow, there weren’t any narrow enough that I could jump over. I had to cross it. I thought I may be able to throw some rocks down and create a little bridge, but the rocks were just sliding in the mud on the bottom, not to mention covered with slippery mud on top! The risk of a fall was high, so I decided to forego that. Alright… off with the shoes and socks! Yep, I crossed that sucker barefoot! When I came out on the other side my feet were caked with mud! I knew I was close, so I just continued on barefoot, but that became an issue shortly as the sand was filled with spiny little twigs that were getting stuck to the bottom of my feet. Ouch! I eventually sat down and scraped off as much mud as I could, and put my socks and shoes back on.

It wasn’t much further until I finally came upon the mouth of the slot canyon. Hooray!

I had read that there could be pools of water at the beginning of this canyon, their depth of which would depend on how much rain had recently fallen. This water was stagnant, dirty, and disgusting! There were tadpoles swimming in it, and these huge water bugs on the surface. But there was no other option if I wanted to get to the sweet spot of the canyon, so into the nasty water I went! I was at least prepared for this by wearing swimming trunks. I had hoped it would only be knee deep. Well, that hope vanished about 4 feet in. It was clear I wouldn’t be able to wear my backpack, so I came back out and took all of my stuff off, took my cell phone and keys out of my pocket, and went back just to test how deep that water was.

It got deeper. A lot deeper! All the way up to the top of my chest! Did I mention it was dirty water? I know I didn’t mention it was also cold! I’m not sure if it was the fact it was cold, dirty, or that it was in this narrow space, but for whatever reason it literally took my breath away. I was afraid it would continue to get deeper, which would not have allowed me to bring my camera in, but luckily it did not.

It did, however, get more narrow. VERY narrow. To the point where my feet wouldn’t even fit on the bottom, so they were getting scrunched and scraped all the way through that joint! I was still angry at my water shoes from Zion, so I did not have them with me. I wasn’t going to get my hiking shoes wet either, so I continued to do this barefoot. Finally I hit the point where the water ended, but there was still a very narrow section to navigate. The best way to do it was to “sit” against one wall with my hands behind me, and put my feet (bare feet, I remind you) up on the other wall, and… I’m not sure what you call this… spider walk? Whatever you’d call it, it takes a lot of energy to do! And at one point I slid down the face of the walls, giving me rock burns on my right palm, and left sole.

It’s certainly not easy to get to the back of the canyon, where the magic is located. But in the end, it’s worth it. I scraped up my feet quite a bit, particularly my right foot, where the wounds had been healing, but they were both opened back up, and would prove to be an issue for the remainder of the week as a result. Anyway, I had finally reached the sweet spot, and this is what I saw…

WOW, was it beautiful! That wasn’t even the best view, however. After going further in and looking back, the view was even better!

Because of the difficulty in getting back there, I had only brought my camera, which I just carried above my head through the water, and hung around my neck for those sections requiring use of both hands. I really wanted to go back and get my tripod so that I didn’t have to shoot at ISO 2000, but after going a little ways I decided it was too much trouble, and I’d just come back some time in the future and be better prepared!

I was also somewhat pressed for time, as I had a 4-hour drive to get to Moab, check-in to my room, and then get up to Delicate Arch for sunset, or really well before sunset for the photos I wanted. So I didn’t stay any longer.

When I got back to the front where all of my stuff was, I realized… I never took my wallet out of my back pocket! Oh, goodness. It was soaked, of course! So on the drive to Moab, I came up with a decent way of drying it out…

I was so dirty and gross, and I’m sure I smelled terrible, but it was all worth it! I’ll definitely go back sometime, but this time I’ll be better prepared! Perhaps the best part was that I had the canyon to myself the entire time! On the way back, I passed a group of four who asked me if they were on the correct trail to Zebra Canyon. It was a young couple with two older women. I informed them what they were about to encounter, and showed them pictures as motivation, but I really doubt the two older women were able to make it back there! Then when I was almost to the parking area, I passed a large group of boys and a couple men. I’m not sure if they were headed all the way to the canyon or not. But chances are good if you head out there in the morning hours, you’ll be all alone, or will only see a few others!

The Narrows

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Matt Hunt

Ahhh, it sure was good to be back at Zion National Park! This is without a doubt one of my favorite places, even though I had previously spent all of one day there! After a long drive out from Dallas, I had spent the previous night in nearby Kanab, UT, about an hour away. I arrived at Zion relatively early in the morning, and planned on heading to the last stop on the shuttle, the Temple of Sinawava, which was where The Narrows hike began.

Before I got through the east end of the park, however, I ran into a huge group of bighorn sheep, so I had to stop and take some photos! I originally only saw one standing on top of a rock, so I turned around, and by the time I got back in that area several cars had stopped, and I noticed quite a few. Then more showed up. Then more showed up! They were all females with the exception of one male ram. Of course I focused on snapping pictures of him, because those big horns (hence the name) are pretty impressive!

This has to be one of my favorite animals. And sure, you can see bighorns and other animals in an enclosed space, like a safari drive, but there’s just something so much more magical about seeing them out in the wild. Obviously these animals have been around for a long time, as they can be seen in petroglyphs throughout this area of southern Utah. What a magical creature!

Moving on through the park, I got to the visitor’s center and got my bag put together and caught the shuttle. It takes quite a while to get all the way to the final stop in the canyon. I’d recommend getting there much earlier than I did, and catching the very first shuttle out. I had to wait in line for a while just to get on the shuttle. It was mid-morning, I forget what time, but this seems to be the busiest time of day for the park shuttle.

The trail starts on the Riverside Walk, which is a well-maintained path, so that part is easy. This goes for about a half-mile I believe. Where this ends, it’s time to go straight into the Virgin River! I purchased a pair of water shoes with a pretty thick sole on them a few days prior to leaving, however I was never able to find any neoprene socks. I noticed that many others had the same shoes on, with sizes noted by markers. They were rentals. I should have done more research! Those shoes (and socks) looked legit, and much better than my $25 water shoes. As it would turn out, I really could have used those! The insoles in my shoes came loose, and were shifting all around inside the shoe, and rubbing against my feet. I ended up with skin scraped off in four different areas, two on each feet. The most problematic of them all were on the inside “corner”, if you will, of each foot right at the ball of the foot. This spot on the right foot in particular would end up being an issue for the entire duration of the trip! So if you do the Zion Narrows hike, be sure you are properly outfitted for it! I’d recommend using one of the local outfitters to rent those shoes. I couldn’t tell you which one those people got them from, but I’m sure a little research would reveal that!

At any rate, I’m not sure how far out I went, but I hiked for about 3 hours before deciding to turn around and come back. The water was never even waist deep, and most of the time was only ankle deep. In this 100-degree weather, it was much more pleasant hiking in the mostly shaded, cool waters of the Virgin River! I heard one guy saying you could go as far as 14 or 15 miles down the river if you are so inclined. Obviously I didn’t go quite that far! But it’s a good hike for the family, and you can make it as long or as short as you want.

As far as a photography standpoint, well that was tough. The river was absolutely packed with people, so I had a hard time finding spots where I could get a clear shot. On many occasions, just as I thought I had a clear shot, a group of 10-15 more people would start hiking through. At one point right after I had set up my tripod, this kid literally sat down RIGHT in front of my camera. Ugh, really kid?! I just glared at him, and after a minute or so he started moving out of the frame. I’m sure it wouldn’t be so packed during the cooler months, but at those times a wet suit may not be a bad idea!

Enough words, on to the photos! Contact me for prints or canvases of any of these photos!