Last night I drove from Boulder up to aspen after a mostly full day of work.  I ended up going the back route that takes you up to Leadville and on some smaller back roads and drops you down into Aspen.  I beelined straight for the Maroon Bells campground.  I ended up getting the last campsite available.  Thank Goodness …. I didn’t want to spend all night searching for a place to sleep.

I woke up at 4 AM to start hiking around and finding a suitable place to take some sunrise pictures of the Maroon Bells.  I settled on the north edge of Crater Lake.  I didn’t pay enough attention and don’t quite like the distracting foreground on my shots.  I need to wake up and look at my screen a little more when setting up shots.  Oh well .. ya live and learn.

Here is my bad attempt at HDR.  Maybe when I get home I’ll give it more time.  I don’t like the unrealistic look to it.

After hanging out there for a while I made my way back down to Maroon lake and wandered around there taking a few pictures.

Now I’m sitting at the Ink Coffee shop in Aspen letting my camera batteries recharge before I head into the wilderness tomorrow.