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!
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Fall is in the air! The first yellow aspens of autumn signal the changing seasons. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Fine Prints available.
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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.
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Brilliant red autumn tundra, looking down at Lower Blue Lake, September. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Fine Prints available.
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The fourteener Mt. Sneffels rises over Lower Blue Lake and colorful autumn tundra. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Fine Prints available.
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Colorful Mt. Sneffels, 14,156', illuminated by the post-sunset glow, September. Photo © by Jack Brauer.
Fine Prints available.
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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.
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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!
