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Rocky weather

Double rainbow over Moraine Park.

Double rainbow over Moraine Park. (Click on images to enlarge)

 

Monday

The atmosphere is changing constantly at Rocky providing sublime to spectacular landscapes. As the late afternoon rain continued Sunday, the sun peaked through some clouds. Going down the hill to check on something in my car, I looked to the east to see part of a brilliant, almost fluorescent rainbow and a second, lighter rainbow. I ran back up to the cabin to grab my camera and ran back down the hill to see almost the whole arc over the trees and mountains. The clouds behind it were very dark and the contrast was stunning. The rainbow lasted quite a long time and it seemed to be almost a solid beam. After a while it began to fade so I headed back to the cabin. Looking out a few minutes later I see again a small slice of color in the sky and run back out with my camera. Only part of the arc is seen but it’s as bright at the first sighting. It’s an amazing sight against the deep green trees and the dramatic lighting on the background mountains.

I had a couple of busy evenings as part of the Night Sky Festival. Friday I gave a talk about the night sky photos at the Moraine Park campground amphitheater and a hands-on photo workshop Saturday at the Glacier Basin campground. Both outdoor amphitheaters are a real experience as the sky darkens during the program. At Glacier Basin we went out to a meadow in the campground to photograph the Milky Way and the distant mountains.

My friend Richard Haro from Ft. Collins visited Saturday. After the workshop we drove to Sprague Lake, he wanted more practice at the night sky photography. We were surprised to see several cars in the parking lot at around 10:45 p.m. People on the trail around the lake turned out to be “students” from the workshop who apparently took my advice to shoot from Sprague, one of my favorite spots in Rocky.

Touches down just beyond the cabin.

Touches down just beyond the cabin.

Another picture from the alpine adventure on the tundra. Giant rocks illuminated by the rising moon.

Another picture from the alpine adventure on the tundra. Giant rocks illuminated by the rising moon.

 
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