Mountain Photography
by Jack Brauer
Trip Reports: Lightning Disco at Blue Lakes - September 2009
On Saturday I hiked up to Blue Lakes for a quick overnight backpacking trip in the Sneffels Range of southwest Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The alpine tundra has turned a beautiful array of autumn colors, and even a few aspens are starting to change. My pleasant evening of photography turned into a restless night as I endured one of the most tremendous lightning and thunderstorms I've yet experienced!
Fall is in the air! The first yellow aspens of autumn signal the changing seasons. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
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Summer's gone, Autumn in the air, Winter right around the corner. This withered flower waits to be buried under snow for the rest of the year. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Brilliant red autumn tundra, looking down at Lower Blue Lake, September. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
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The fourteener Mt. Sneffels rises over Lower Blue Lake and colorful autumn tundra. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
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Colorful Mt. Sneffels, 14,156', illuminated by the post-sunset glow, September. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
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Lightning strikes repeatedly in a big thunderstorm somewhere in the vicinity of Montrose, as seen from treeline in the Sneffels Range. This is a stacked exposure, showing six separate strikes within 5 minutes altogether (some of the strikes were double-strikes).
This storm continued full-blast for over 5 hours, and as I lay in my tent I could hear the lightning slowly moving closer towards the mountains until it eventually moved right up into the basins around me. Though I've had a few scarier lightning moments in the past, I've never before experienced such a long lighting storm with so many bolts. Lighting would flash every 2-10 seconds, and this lasted half the night! Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Fine Prints available.
The constant flashes of lighting, along with the terrifying booming of thunder and racket of hail and rain, kept me awake for most of the night. Here's a picture of me cowering in my sleeping bag with the lightning outside illuminating the tent. Several times the bolts were close enough to actually see through the tent!
Even when I did finally fall asleep just before morning, I slept a fitful sleep and dreamed of plane crashes. My plans to get up for a sunrise shoot were thwarted by howling winds, so I slept in and then packed my stuff and got out of there! Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Despite the weather and lack of sleep, this quick trip was a hell of an experience. It was the backcountry equivalent of watching a good horror movie!