Regensburger Photography

Author: Derek Regensburger

  • Colorado High School Softball Playoffs 2021

    Colorado High School Softball Playoffs 2021

    The Colorado high school softball playoffs were exciting as usual in 2021. Holy Family defeated D’Evelyn in the 4A final while Legend blanked Horizon in the 5A final. It’s always a fun 2-day tournament that’s filled with emotion.

  • Fall Color Colorado 2021

    Fall Color Colorado 2021

    I traveled around a few points in the state of Colorado looking for fall color this past weekend. It has been a really nice fall with good weather for a change. No major snow or freeze to kill the color so far. I drove a lot of back roads. I started at the Castle Creek Road in Aspen and then drove over McClure Pass. Then I took Forest Road 250 around to Paonia and then went over Kebler and Ohio Passes near Gunnison and Crested Butte. Then due to the closure of Highway 50, I drove the North Rim of the Black Canyon. I even ended up at Vega Stat Park near Calhan.

    The fishing was also excellent. I caught 7 fish in limited time. I caught my first Cutbow (a mix of a cutthroat and rainbow), all six pounds of her. It was nice camping although I am not a fan of cattle grazing on the National Forest. I got kept awake by bellowing cattle most of the night. They also trashed the trail to the beaver pond.

  • Boulder Legacy Boy’s Soccer 2021

    Legacy defeated highly ranked Boulder 2-1 Thursday afternoon in boy’s soccer. The game was close throughout and Boulder appeared to have tied the game with 1:21 left but the goal was waived off after it was determined Boulder was offsides on the play. I’m sure both teams will go deep into the playoffs in a few weeks.

  • Flattops Fall Color

    The Flattops wilderness in western Colorado is one of the best places to see fall color in Colorado. There are large aspen forests seemingly all through the wilderness. I recently drove from New Castle to Buford and then across the Flattops on County Road 8 to Yampa. I also drove a long section of the Deep Lake ROad near Dotsero. Despite dire predictions of a poor fall in the northern half of the state due to lack of moisture, the colors are some of the best I’ve seen in recent memory. Ripple Creek and Dunkley Passes were both particularly vibrant. I even saw a beautiful sunset atop Ripple Creek Pass. The trees have turned about 50% and many are still green so hopefully the show will last another 7-10 days.

    A word of caution should be issued. Wear bright colors if you go. Fall is hunting season and the Flattops is full of hunters this time of year.

    Getting there:

    There are several roads into the Flattops. County Road 8 runs between Yampa and Meeker for about 75 miles. A detour to Trappers Lake can be made about 30 miles from the Meeker end. Roads also run to Deep Lake (5 miles north of Dotsero) and YamColo Reservoir (also from the Yampa end).

  • CU Minnesota Football

    CU Minnesota Football

    After nearly beating the #5 team in the country, Texas A&M last week, Colorado’s football team put up no fight this week in getting shut out by Minnesota 30-0. The Buffaloes offense looked as bad as it has in a decade and freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis looks lost on the field.

  • Wedding show Thornton Double Tree

    I had a booth at the Rocky Mountain Bridal Show event at the Double Tree in Thornton this past weekend. It was great to talk to a bunch of prospective brides and learn about their weddings. I’m glad to see people back in the marrying spirit! COVID was such a shock to the system. It was a little tough fighting the wind outdoors but the weather for the most part was great. I hope to attend more shows in the near future.

  • Fort Collins vs Legacy High School Football

    Fort Collins vs Legacy High School Football

    I photographed the craziest high school football game I’ve ever seen yesterday between Legacy and Fort Collins. Legacy jumped out to a 23-0 lead in the third quarter only to lose 30-29 behind a furious comeback by Fort Collins.

    Fort Collins’s starting quarterback was injured on the first play of the second half. Ez Campos relieved and promptly was strip sacked in the endzone for a Legacy touchdown. His next play went for an interception. However, Fort Collins would rally as Legacy fumbled on its next two possessions. With Fort Collins trailing 23-16 with 3:45 remaining, Campos hooked up with Dorion McGarity for a 66-yard touchdown. Legacy answered on their next drive. Facing a 3rd and 25 from its own 47, the Legacy quarterback found Sam Winter over the middle. Winter broke several tackles on his way to the end zone for the go ahead score with 1:16 remaining. Unfortunately for Legacy, a bad snap spoiled the PAT. Then it was time for Campos and McGarity to work their magic again. With 45 seconds left, Campos heaved a pass deep over the middle that McGarity snared for another long TD, this one 67 yards. With the extra point, Fort Collins went ahead 30-29. Nicky McGuire sealed the win win an interception.

  • TSRA Softball

    TSRA Softball

    I had the opportunity to photograph the Affiliated team participating in the TSRA softball tournament this weekend at Aurora Sports Park. Each member of the teams is an active participant or a family member in a 12-Step Recovery program. Teams from the Rocky Mountain region and Southwest were participating in the tournament. What a fun and positive way to promote sobriety. I hope to be able to photograph future games in this tournament. It was a lot of fun and the players looked like they were truly enjoying themselves.

  • Pear Lake Rocky Mountain National Park

    Pear Lake Rocky Mountain National Park

    I backpacked to Pear Lake in the southern most part of the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday. Pear Lake is a beautiful alpine lake and apart from the scenery offers the chance to catch native greenback cutthroat trout.

    Getting to Pear Lake is something of a challenge. The lake can be reached via three different trailheads (Wild Basin, Allenspark, and Finch Lake), the shortest of which is just over 6 miles. I choose to depart from the Finch Lake trailhead, putting the trek at 6.5 miles. This trail is the most physically challenging of the three. Immediately, the trail soars 800 feet in the first .8 miles along a narrow, rocky trail. No switchbacks here as the trail climbs unrelentingly until it reaches a small saddle. The trail then meanders through a large aspen forest and wildflower meadow, a rare treat in Rocky Mountain. This is a chance to catch your breath for the next ascent. Just after intersecting with a spur of the Allenspark Trail about 1.8 miles in, the trail climbs steadily again, this time up a series of rock stairs. Just who thought it was a good idea to use 1.5 foot tall boulders as trail building material? Needless to say, this section presents a grueling uphill section.

    At mile 2.5, the trail comes to a Y with the Allenspark trail and a connector to the Calypso Cascades. Over the next two miles, the trail continues to ascend but at a much more gradual pace. After some pretty views of Mount Meeker and Long’s Peak in the distance, the trail enters the forest and is fairly nondescript. Just before the 4 mile mark, the trail takes a steep descent of 300 feet into the Finch Lake basin. Nothing bad about a descent except that this section has to be climbed on the return. Finch Lake sits at 4.5 miles along the trail. It is a pretty lake surrounded by forest with a couple of peaks poking up in the distance. Follow the trail to the right as it crosses the creek and then ascends again. This section is steep but thankfully short. After reaching a lily pad pond in another mile or so, the trail flattens out before making one last ascent into the Pear Lake basin.

    Here is the reward for this hard hike. Pear Lake is surrounded by mountains and is one of the prettiest in the park. It used to be much larger thanks to an earthen dam but the dam has since been removed. The lake is now about 30 feet less wide and about 6 feet less deep. And yes, there is still evidence of a bathtub ring even after the dam was removed in 1988. The lake holds a small but feisty collection of Greenback Cutthroat trout. I managed to hook a half dozen or so in my couple hours of fishing. They ranged in size from 3″ to 11″. There is one campsite above the lake which I was lucky enough to snag in the backcountry lottery in March. Photography is best here in the morning. Because Pear Lake is situated nearly east to west, the sun disappears two hours before sunset. Conversely, almost the entire lake was in sunshine just after sunrise.

  • Boundary Waters Canoe Area–Northern Tier Scout Camp

    Boundary Waters Canoe Area–Northern Tier Scout Camp

    My boys and I recently completed a five-day trip through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as part of the Northern Tier Boy Scout Camp. It was a fabulous trip but not without its challenges. The area is beautiful but portage trails are harder than they seem. Carting a 45 lb canoe or a 60 lb gear pack on your shoulders for 1/3 mile up steep, rocky terrain is definitely a hard task. Paddling a canoe for 8-12 miles a day is also a physically demanding job. But the scenery was worth the difficulty.

    Our trip started with a stop at Kawishiwi Falls just outside of Ely, MN on our way to the Northern Tier Scout camp. The falls is an easy 1/2 mile hike and a surprisingly pretty waterfall. Then it was on to the scout camp. After a discussion with our interpreter, we elected to try for American Point as our end goal, a point 30 miles from base. We picked up our gear, grabbed dinner, and hit the cabins for a well-needed night’s sleep.

    We headed out on the water the next morning at 9:15. Luck of the draw had us at the boat barn at 8:30, too late to get an early start on the day. Our destination was Robbin’s Island, an island located in Knife Lake, about 13 miles from base camp. We made surprisingly good time and arrived at camp by 5:00. Thank goodness! The muscles between my shoulder blades were starting to burn a five-alarm fire. We saw several loons and a couple of turtles along the way. Clouds had started to roll in mid day and partially obscured the sunset by that evening. We woke up to overcast skies the next morning at our 4:30 am wakeup call. We hit the water by 6:00 and stopped early on at Thunder Point. A short, steep hike brought us to commanding view of Knife Lake. I would have loved to have seen this view on a clear day!

    Next, we took a detour through a series of small lakes to the south known collectively as the scenics. Our first lake was Amoeber Lake, an amoeba-shaped lake. The water was still here and produced some of the finest reflections of the trip. Next, we portaged into other scenic lakes before ending up at Cherry Lake for lunch. This required us going over the aptly named portage, the “Stairway to Heaven.” It is a grueling 110 rod portage that required a steep ascent from Topaz Lake and descent into Cherry. What we didn’t know is that we would have to come back this portage the following day. What was supposed to be a half hour stop at Cherry for lunch turned into 3.5 hours due to a series of small thunderstorms rolling through. We learned that the best laid plans would have to be changed sometimes. It became clear that we would not reach our destination of American Point but instead would have to alter our plans and create a shorter trip.

    We settled on camping at nearby Ester Lake. Ester is a beautiful lake with a tree-lined shoreline characteristic of so many of the lakes in the Boundary Waters. From here, we paddled up to Monument Portage, where shortly up the portage trail a steel obelisk marks the boundary with Canada. We then retraced our route back through the scenics this time entering through Gijikiki Lake, its large island providing the perfect stopping point for lunch.

    We now had 6 difficult portages ahead of us as we made our way to our camping spot in the South Arm of Knife Lake. The worst portage was between Gijikiki and Rivalry Lake. A large bog guards the entrance to Rivalry Lake (as well as a snapping turtle). Unfortunately, more than one member of our team fell into hip-deep muck trying to enter Rivalry Lake. Not a fun thing to encounter with a 17 foot boat on your shoulders. We then paddled through Lake of the Clouds, Lunar Lake, Cherry, and Hanson before hitting our final portage over to the South Arm. This one was one of the prettiest as it contained a beautiful creek and small waterfall along the way. But after this series of portages, we made it to our destination in the South Arm and camped near Eddy Falls.

    After a night of well-deserved rest, we hit the water at 9:00 the next morning. Our first stop was to see Eddy Falls. This was the highlight of the trip. This large waterfall features a wide waterfall with moss-covered trees and rocks. It is a sight to behold. And sit in. Several of our members turn the opportunity to cool off on a hot day to sit in the cold water. We then hit the water for another long day of paddling. I would catch our only fish on the trip, a smallmouth bass on the South Arm. This day featured another highlight of the trip–the steep but beautiful portage from Vera to Ensign Lake. I dubbed this portage the Top of the Trees as it features a commanding view of Ensign Lake after a steep ascent up a rock face from Vera. We finally reached our campsite in Ensign Lake at 7:30. I might have enjoyed the open views on Ensign were it not for my bout with motion sickness. I found out the hard way, even a canoe can cause sea sickness.

    This left a relatively easy paddle back through Knife Lake and the Moose Lake chain to base camp. Our portages totaled only 40 rods which was a welcome relief after the past two days. We even had a bald eagle fly over our boats on our turn to camp. We also got to see the downside of this area, the constant stream of water taxis hauling crews back from the junction of Splash and Newfound Lakes. This is one of the few spots motor boats are allowed in the BWCA and the steady stream of taxis seemed totally out of place in this pristine wilderness.

    All in all this was great adventure and well worth the effort.

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