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19 images Created 6 Dec 2020

20 for 2020

It was a rough year all around. While our family has weathered it without major disease or disaster, we've all lost something and/or someone we cherished. And the shutter counts on my cameras have advanced far fewer digits than in any recent turn of the calendar. Jobs were canceled, trips put on hold. Events didn't convene. I found myself surrounded by masked people — even as I cinched tight my own. But I sought light and beauty where and when I could: on long bike rides through our amazing landscape, hikes in the wilderness and lonely nights under the Milky Way. I skied until the lifts closed March 14, continuing to add to a collection of what I call "chairlift pictures" (more of which you can see in another gallery on this site). And a few creatures - particularly some Wilson's warblers who sought refuge in our sage bushes during a freak, early-September blizzard - touched me and my cameras' sensors. That snow melted, but more followed, if slowly, offering just enough to make the Beckwith Ranch shine under the stars in early December. As the year ends, I'm back on the chairlift - with a balaclava pulled up over my nose.
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  • A snowboarder cuts a line through still-fluffy powder on a January afternoon at Monarch Mountain.
    0120_0330-RidingFieldOfPowder.jpg
  • Skis on a chairlift frame a spruce tree in the Prospect Basin at Telluride on March 14, the last day of the 2019-2020 season. The governor shut down Colorado ski resorts, due to covid-19, that evening.
    0320_0437-SkisAndSpruce.jpg
  • A wooden bear looks out at the uncrowded base of the Coonskin chairlift from a balcony at the Cimarron Lodge in Telluride on March 14, the last day of the 2019-2020 ski season - due to COVID-19 concerns.
    0320_0220-CarvedBear.jpg
  • A masked employee of Nature’s Medicine in Salida brings an order to a customer at the curb outside, early in the covid-19 pandemic. Marijuana stores were deemed essential businesses during the state's shutdowns.
    0320_0553-CurbsideWeed.jpg
  • The evening sun lights up the historic Beckwith Ranch north of Westcliffe on a May evening.
    0520_0059-BeckwithRanch.jpg
  • Hal Walter and son Harrison train for burro racing with Boogy the burro on Haven Road near Round Mountain.
    0520_0086-BurroRaceTraining.jpg
  • A couple years back, I rounded a bend on Oak Creek Grade, several miles from our Wet Mountain Valley home, to discover an interesting profile of Round Mountain. And I laughed. From a northwest angle, she resembles a prominent feature of human female anatomy. I made a few frames, but I found myself coming back to pair the crusty-topped dome with the right sky and season. Puffy clouds and reflected sunsets looked nice. But inspired by our Dark Sky community status, I figured the Milky Way was her perfect background. This past winter, I played with a night-sky simulator to learn the Milky Way would rise behind the peak on late-spring evenings. Moonrise/-set charts told me when a crescent or quarter moon would offer a gentle fill light. I set out on a June evening when the rising stars and setting moon coincided with a relatively clear sky and little wildfire smoke. My luck came in passing low clouds, a couple of airplanes flashing lights up high and some faint meteor streaks to form my Decisive (13-second) Moment.
    0620_0145-RoundMtnMilkyWay.jpg
  • The Rev. Dr. Wayne Ewing leads a small gathering in the yard of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, during a summer service during the covid-19 pandemic.
    0620_0573-CovidSermon.jpg
  • A white pelican flies over the Grape Creek headwaters of Lake DeWeese.
    0620_0356-PelicanInFlight.jpg
  • Comet Neowise a passing airplane and a meteor streak over the Mission at Mission Plaza.
    0720_0219-CometAndMission.jpg
  • The Milky Way and a meteor shower streak across the sky above Silver Jack Reservoir on a smoky August night.
    0820_0207-MilkyWayAndLake.jpg
  • A powered paraglider soars past Horn Peak, over the Wet Mountain Valley, as a morning fog rises on July 4th.
    0720_0028-ParagliderAndPeak.jpg
  • The abandoned Bull Domingo Mine looks out on the Wet Mountain Valley.
    0820_0056-ViewFromMine.jpg
  • A Wilson’s warbler shivers in a rare September snow during its migration, forcing it to seek refuge in sage bushes at La Hacienda de Smith. Many warblers died in the storm.
    0920_0131-WilsonsWarblerSnow.jpg
  • Water, photographed at a slow shutter speed, spills over rocks in Swift Creek, lined with yellow fall foliage.
    0920_0301-SwiftCreek.jpg
  • Yellow aspens shine among blue-green spruces viewed from the Rainbow Trail near the Comanche Trailhead.
    1020_0295-AspenStreaks.jpg
  • A beautiful fall sunlight glows over CO 69, north of Westcliffe.
    1020_0377-HighwaySunset.jpg
  • A long lenticular cloud stretches down the Wet Mountain Valley on a November evening.
    1120_0014-CloudAndLamp.jpg
  • The Historic Beckwith Ranch stands in the snow on a frigid evening beneath the stars, Milky Way, passing airplanes and a meteor shower.
    1220_0080-WinterRanchAndMilky.jpg