Mt. Evans

Not intentionally Spike. I was going to leave out the Crest House shot all together, if not for Gary's discussion about it. I did intentionally leave off several shots including the sunrise serenade primarily because I thought it was too many shots to post at once. It wasn't so much saving the best for last.....besides, who says I'm done? Getting out of bed at 2 AM is a bit difficult, but once you're at your destination it is so worth it! One of these days I'm going to learn how to camp. Thanks again for your comments!

No issues Gary. When you said it was a home and not restaurant it got me wondering too. I drove by Squaw Mtn to get to Mt. Evans. Both of their access roads are off of Squaw Pass Road and I'm guess they are about 20 minutes from one another by car. In my last shot in the OP the peak directly above the far right corner of the rock the survery disc sits on is Chief Mtn. Squaw Mtn is the peak just to the right of that.

Great series Jon! The only thing that would have made them better would be if you had invited me up for the trip. LOL

I wish Pikes Peak would open up early enough to get shots at that time. I guess I will have to come up there to get shots like these.

Thanks Tyler. Are you sure Pikes Peak isn't open? Mt. Evans wasn't either, in that the guard wasn't on duty, but we were still able to purchase the pass through the unmanned station. SImilar to how you pay for parking downtown. I would think that they would be run in the same manner.

Jon...
Took a little while, but by looking from one to the other in Google Earth, I was able to come up with the right peak. Here it is from your shot. It was an interesting exercise. Looks like I need to go down and renew my familiarity with some of these.

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You may be right Gary. I thought it was the peak to the right of that one, but I could be wrong.

Oh alright Spike, since you asked so nicely

J-Blake wrote in post #13033217
Thanks Tyler. Are you sure Pikes Peak isn't open? Mt. Evans wasn't either, in that the guard wasn't on duty, but we were still able to purchase the pass through the unmanned station. SImilar to how you pay for parking downtown. I would think that they would be run in the same manner.

Nope, they have posted hours. It doesn't open until 7am. I know because one of my favorite fishing spots is North Catamount Reservoir and I have asked multiple times about getting in before 7am to fish and they tell me the same thing each time.

Wow, I just checked their site, and now the opening time is 7:30. http://www.pikes-peak.com/Attraction/22​.aspx I have not been fishing up there this year, or else I would have found that out the hard way. LOL

They have a gate and there is no option to self-pay for access. I have had to wait in the line before until they would open the gate and start letting people in.

Beautiful light on your last image Jon. I love the seperation of the different mountain ranges by shading.

I'm torn as to whether I like the small lake in the image or not. Part of me says it stands out too much and distracts from the overall feel of the shot and the rest of me says it's part of the natural scene and should be left in. I'm curious if you went through a similar thought process when you did the editing of this image.

Thanks Gene. I did think about it for about 10 seconds and then dismissed it. While it is a bit distracting, it's also a point of relief for your eye to rest on. At least according to some experts, this is a good thing. I think if I were to do anything to it I would mask in one of the dark exposures and try to lessen it's impact.

#2 is exceptional cool and good shot. The light in the horizon – and the starts make this picture stand out.

ooohh very nice Jon, but I am with Gene lose the lakes

J-Blake wrote in post #13035105
You may be right Gary. I thought it was the peak to the right of that one, but I could be wrong.

I could still be wrong, but I tracked it using Google Earth from a pretty good resolution pano someone shot from Mt Evans. When you zoom up on it, you can see the observation tower and the antennas.

Back to HDR!

J-Blake wrote in post #13035126
Oh alright Spike, since you asked so nicely

Jon, what is the observatory-looking building up there? Who uses it?

It's the Meyer-Womble Observatory operated by Denver University.