Shadow Mountain Lake, Rainbow and Sunset, Rocky Mountains National Park 2008

I spent two days in mid-September 2008 driving through the Rocky Mountains National Park. The Park received its first snow only a few days before, closing Trail Ridge Road. Rather than spend the day on the eastern side (in the Estes Park area), I drove to the southern part near the Grand Lake entrance, hoping the Park would open Trail Ridge Road the next day (more on this in later posts).

I spent the evening attempting to view and hopefully photograph the wildlife in this area of the park. After not having much success, I headed back towards the hotel area for the night when I spotted this rain cloud over Shadow Mountain Lake. As I waited, sitting beside the road, the rainbow formed (between Mount Bryan, in the foreground, and Mount Craig, the snow covered peak in the background) and the golden light, reflected from the setting sun, intensified. The word "vibrant" is meant to capture this mood but words are a poor substitute for the view I experienced.

Achieving the best balance between the clouds and the rainbow was not simple. The raw photograph did not reflect the actual intensity of the actual view but a simple increase in saturation restored the image to the actual view.