James Peak is a beautiful 13,294 foot peak in the Front Range, about 12 miles south-west of Nederland. This past weekend I had the pleasure of joining a great group of people for a trip to the James Peak Yurt. The yurt sits just over 5 miles away from James Peak and rests at 10,618 ft upon the southwest slope of Colorado Mountain (10,870 ft). Four of us snowshoed up to the yurt at midnight, meeting others who had gone up earlier in the day. It was an exhausting and single-digit cold 2-hr hike, but it was a beautiful night and the tracks left by the others made it easy to find our way in the dark. Despite the biting cold, I had to take advantage of the clear starry night, not knowing if a storm might roll in the next night and spoil my chances of getting some star shots. I spent about 10-15 minutes taking photos, and that was all I could handle at 2:30 in the cold, cold morning.
After a good hardy sleep, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day, had a delicious bacony breakfast, and then a few of us headed out for some snowshoeing.
The snow was very deep in places and made for an exhausting hike to the top of Colorado Mountain, but the views were well worth it.
This panoramic shot of James Peak was put together from 7 vertical photos, so it’s huge. The size limit here isn’t doing this photo any favors
Back at the yurt, the sun is getting low and the group is now relaxing into some conversation, games, drinks, and the warmth of the wood-burning stove.
Dinner was served by lantern light. We ate well.
I just think the mantle of the lantern looks really cool up close.
After dinner, as things continued to wind down, I got back outside with my tripod and camera and got some more shots of the beautiful mountain night sky.
This was an awesome group to spend the weekend with. We decided to get a group shot as we suited up to trek back out.
A couple of us stopped along the way to check out an old cabin in a beautiful setting.
A beautiful hike out and that wraps up an amazing weekend enjoying the fruits of the Colorado life. Hope you enjoyed the photos!
Great Job Ron, you are truly talented.
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