Regensburger Photography

Category: Landscape

  • Pear leaves

    Pear leaves

    I walked around the neighborhood today taking pictures of the last vestiges of fall color. Some pear trees and one oak still had some leaves left. I used my 85mm to blur the background on a handful of shots. I like how the background melts away with this lens.

  • Kodachrome State Park

    Kodachrome State Park

    I visited Kodachrome Basin State Park near Cannonville, UT on my recent trip to southern Utah. I had been there once before but the weather let me down. This time it was perfect. I went to Chimney Rock, Ballerina Spire, and Angel’s Place. Kodachrome features some pretty reddish sandstone spires so it was a the perfect place to be near sunset to watch the rock glow red.

  • White Pocket 2023

    White Pocket 2023

    I first went to White Pocket in 2012. It was a surreal experience as the swirls in the rock formation s defy explanation. I had a chance to go back this week and was not disappointed. While White Pocket has surged in popularity (as have many things in the desert southwest), it is still a place worthy of a visit. Although I would have loved to have spent the night and photographed in the -golden hour and at night, a day tour was all I could muster. It still is a magical place, even at midday. A young woman on our tour from Ho Chi Minh City even posed in a red dress for me. All in all, it was a beautiful day.

  • Fall Color Steamboat 2023

    Fall Color Steamboat 2023

    It was a beautiful fall in Steamboat Springs, CO this year. All of the winter snow paid dividends this fall.

  • San Juan Mountains of Colorado

    San Juan Mountains of Colorado

    I spent a few days in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado recently. I love the area because lakes abound as do wildflowers. I started my trip in American Basin near the summit of Cinnamon Pass and ended up hiking the Blue Lakes basin near Ridgway. The wildflowers were abundant this year which made the trip even more rewarding.

    American Basin

    American Basin is best known for being located at the trailhead for Handies Peak, one of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners. It also boasts some glorious fields of wildflowers in late July. I had lasted visited the area in 2009 and was greeted by an explosion of columbine. While the snowfall was tremendous this past winter, the rain has not come to southern Colorado this year so the columbine were mainly absent. However, fields of larkspur and orange sneezeweed were everywhere. Also, flowers lined the stream draining the basin. The route into the basin is relatively easy until about a half mile from the Handies Peak trailhead. A high clearance vehicle of any sort will get you to this point. It is located 18 miles west of San Cristobal Reservoir near Lake City or 2 miles east of the Cinnamon Pass summit. However, above the dispersed camping area in the basin, the road becomes much rockier and all-terrain tires become helpful. If continuing over Cinnamon Pass to Silverton, I would say the same applies. The road is generally passable with high clearance but there two spots, one just below the summit and one at the junction of the Cinnamon Pass and Engineer Pass roads that more aggressive tires would be most helpful. I survived in my X5 equipped with highway tires, but not easily.

    Alta Lake

    I next ventured to Alta Lake near Telluride. The lake is located at the end of a rough road off of Highway 145 about 5 miles south of Telluride. I reached the lake and its abundant dispersed camping area after a few miles driving along the rough road. The lake boasts fishing for small rainbow trout and is a popular camping location. It is also a photogenic spot for sunset photography as a large mountain sits just behind the lake to the east. I also explored upper Alta Lake which is a quarter mile or so up a trail. It is not as photogenic and is too shallow to support a good fish population.

    Hope Lake

    The next morning I hiked to Hope Lake which is located off another dirt road past Trout Lake. Hope Lake is one of the prettiest lakes in Colorado. Its turquoise blue water stands in stark contrast to the mountains directly behind it. The lake is reachable via a 2.5 mile hike from a trailhead located at a sharp bend in the road. The trailhead is about 2.5 miles from the turn off Trout Lake road onto FR 627. The hike itself is easy for the first mile and a half and then gains most of its 1,130 foot elevation gain in the last mile. The trail begins by ascending a moderate slope for a quarter mile. It then crosses a stream and drops all of that elevation as the trail routes around a huge rock fall. The trail crosses this sharp slate field and then descends to a larger stream crossing around the 1.5 mile mark. The trail then beings its steep ascent up 22 switchbacks. Views of Vermillion Peak open up here. Across the valley, you can see Trout Lake below and Wilson and Sunshine Peak in the distance. The distinctive lizard head can also be seen. As you ascend the last of the switchbacks, fields of wildflowers are all around you. Paintbrush is the dominant flower found here. Finally, you reach the lake after a short quarter mile ascent. Hikers can continue another .7 mile to the pass above Hope Lake.

    Blue Lakes

    Not far from the town of Ridgway is the trail to the Blue Lakes in the Mt Sneffels wilderness. The trail is located at the end of County Road 7, a few miles west on Highway 62 from Ridgway. The 9 mile dirt road is normally passable by passenger car, but this year the road is in terrible condition. It is suitable for high clearance vehicles only, especially the last 1.5 miles. Huge ruts pock mark the last 5 miles of the road. I went 10 mph along this section. Once reaching the trailhead, be prepared for a steep hike. The trail is 3.3 miles to lower Blue Lake, but it feels far longer. The trail begins climbing steeply after about a .25 mile. The trail has many wooden steps through this section. After a mile, it begins to flatten out. The trail undulates here for about a half mile before crossing a large stream. The trail opens up here and features a large field of flowers, mostly cow parsnip. It then ascends steeply once more via a series of switchbacks. You reenter the forest and then come to a waterfall about mile 2.75. A small trail descends to the creek here. You pass another small waterfall before passing through a small grove of trees before coming to the lower lake. The dispersed camping is located here for the numerous backpackers that use the trail as a base to climb Mount Sneffels. Bring your fishing pole as there are large brook trout in this lake (I stupidly left mine in the car). Hikers can continue to the left of the lake and ascend the steep ridge to the middle and upper lakes. Three stream crossings are required. This year, the first requires debooting and crossing the outlet stream. Bring sandals as this area is full of sharp rocks. I found crossing right at the outlet the easiest spot. The trail veers leftward and then crosses another creek in about .2 mile. Some logs are set up here to cross but are useless. Just cross on the slightly submerged rocks. After crossing the creek, veer right. The trail was underwater here so was hard to spot. The trail ascends steeply before recrossing this small creek. With so much snowmelt, this crossing was challenging in boots but doable. The trail now makes a very steep push up the hill. A field of purple larkspur flowers grows in abundance on this hillside. Views of the lower lake and Mt Sneffels begin to open up here. The middle lake quickly comes into view on the left. The trail continues past the lake to the right to the upper lake and then the pass. Caution. I’ve hiked up toward the pass before, and the trail becomes faint through the rock scree and is impossibly steep here. A helmet and trekking poles are a must. For the truly adventurous hiker, you can take the pass over to Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray. If wishing to see Yankee Boy, my recommendation is to drive up from the Ouray side and hike through the fields of wildflowers en route to the pass from that side. See below.

    Yankee Boy Basin

    One place to see huge fields of wildflowers without doing much hiking is Yankee Boy basin. The basin is located about six miles from Ouray along the Camp Bird road. The raid is easy for the first three miles to the mine, but then steepens and requires 4 wheel drive. A large dip prevents travel for lesser vehicles as you come to a couple of large waterfalls. I parked here and hiked a couple of miles up the road. The views and flowers are impressive. Again, columbine were mainly missing this year but the huge fields of larkspur made up for it. The trailhead for the Sneffels Pass is about 2 miles from the waterfalls. My advice is rent an ATV or Jeep in town if you don’t have one and drive to the trailhead.

  • Crested Butte Wildflowers 2023

    I took a quick trip to Crested Butte to check out the wildflowers this year. The flowers weren’t as ever-present as they have been in the past but in areas that had them they were in abundance. Some of the fields of lupine and Mules Ears were resplendent. I was even treated to a sunset lighting up Marcelina Mountain at the end of the evening. The areas with the most flowers seemed to be one hillside at the start of the Brush Creek Road and then the very start of the Gothic Road leading into the East River Valley just north of town. I did not see as many flowers around the Slate River Road as I had see in the past. But all in all, this appears to be a good year for flowers in Colorado. I can’t wait to check out the high alpine flowers over the next couple of weeks.

  • Moab Wildflowers 2023

    Moab Wildflowers 2023

    The winter rains in the west brought some pretty wildflowers this spring to the Moab, UT area. I visited Arches and Canyonlands along with Grandstaff Canyon on this trip. Mountain Pepper plant was by far the most prolific flower in Arches while evening primrose was exploding near Green River.

    Arches had an incredible bloom of mountain pepper plant near Balanced Rock, It seemed every bush was in full bloom. Meanwhile, Canyonlands had nice displays of lupine and desert paintbrush. Grandstaff Canyon is a verdant canyon located just 4 miles east of Moab along Highway 128. The canyon used to be named Negor Bill Canyon for those of you who remember that name. Huge patches of globe mallow and primrose were blooming in the canyon.

  • California Wildflowers 2023

    California Wildflowers 2023

    I did a quick trip out to California to check out the remnants of the 2023 wildflower season. I was not disappointed. Both Carrizo Plain National Monument and Mt. Figueroa has tremendous displays of flowers. The poppies were as thick as I have ever seen them at Mt. Figueroa. All that rain earlier this season really proceeded a stunning display of flowers.

    The Carrizo Plain is located near Bakersfield, CA on one end and about 1.5 hrs from San Luis Obispo on the other. I drove the 45 mile dirt road from end to end. The best displays were air the northern part from Soda Lake northward. The tidy tips and hillside daisy were blooming in profusion at the southern end of Soda Lake. Large fields of owl’s clover could also be seen nearby.

    At Mt. Figueroa near Los Olives, the poppies were the star. I have never seen such thick carpets of poppies there. Grass mountain had a good display going near the top but the best spot was right at the entrance station. The fields there were radiant orange. Lupine and bush lupine were also mixed in giving the area an orange and purple glow. What an amazing sight to see.

  • Arizona Wildlfowers 2023

    Arizona Wildlfowers 2023

    I flew to Arizona to check out the wildflowers for a short trip this week. I saw a few great shows of wildflowers but it took some driving to find them. Some areas are experiencing a superbloom of flowers while others, especially near Tucson, are barely green. The best areas I found were the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction just east of Phoenix, Organ Pipe National Monument near Ajo, and Highway 77 south of Globe.

    I began my trip by driving down to Organ Pipe. I had come too early to see the great show in 2019 but this year was also worth the trip. Brittlebrush is blooming like crazy in some spots of the park and a field of lupine was blooming in profusion near the park entrance. There was not the variety of wildflowers seen in other years like 2005 but it was still pretty to see. Brittlebrush is booming along the mountain loops. The Coulter’s lupine in particular were right at their peak bloom. I took a hike on the Arch trail and found a few poppies blooming as well.

    Lost Dutchman State Park between Phoenix and Superior was lush green this year. It made for quite the sight. Unfortunately, the weather was rainy the morning I was there so not much time to explore. The rain stopped by the time I got to the Peralta Trailhead on the backside of the park and it was full of brittle brush, I also found a ton of lupine atop one of the nearby hillsides. I then traveled to Globe and headed a little ways down Highway 77. Some nice fields of poppies were blooming on the hillsides.

  • Utah Fall Color

    Utah Fall Color

    Since the color in Colorado was a bit muted this year, I drove over to Utah to check out fall color there. I’m glad I did. It was much more vibrant than Colorado, and the maples were still putting on a show. I drove up through Price on 191 to 6 and then took a turn toward Strawberry Reservoir. Strawberry Ridge had some nice color. There were many fishing boats out on Strawberry Reservoir which made me wish I had brought my kayak. I then drove onto Heber City where I headed up the Cascade Springs road toward Mt. Timpanogos. The maples were beautiful along this stretch. I camped at Mill Canyon overlooking Mt. Timpanogos. The sunrise on the peak was the highlight of the trip. I hiked a couple of miles up Mt. Timpanogos and stopped to admire Timpanogos Falls. The view overlooking the valley from here was awesome. I wish I had more time to hike further up the mountain. On the way back to town, I tried to drive the dirt road leading through parts of Wasatch Mountain State Park but the road was too rough to keep continuing on. I finished my trip by going through the portion of Wasatch Mountain Park that is north of Midway and headed up to Park City. The aspens there were fabulous. The trail at the summit went through some extraordinarily tall aspen. All in all, this was a very good trip.

    Strawberry Ridge

    Cascade Springs/Mt. Timpanogos

    Wasatch Mountain State Park

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