The last time I spent much time photographing in Colorado was nearly two years ago during the autumn. It was a spectacular fall, especially in the San Juan Mountains. The aspens seemed especially vibrant, with a rare mix of golds, oranges, and reds in some places. An early storm came at just the right time, leaving the peaks and aspens with a perfect dusting of snow. After so much time exploring so many other places over the last two years, I started to miss Colorado so we added a few trips around here to our list of summer plans.

Spending some time photographing wildflowers in the San Juan Mountains seemed like a good place to start. We planned to start by spending a long weekend in the spectacular American Basin area, located about twenty miles up the Cinnamon Pass road from Lake City. I had a more rugged SUV the last time I visited American Basin but still thought we could make it with Ron’s RAV4. In the last few years, the road has deteriorated quite a bit and we decided to turn around before getting anywhere near the basin. (After hitting a large rock disguised as a sagebrush coming out of Toroweap in the Grand Canyon and getting stuck in the mud out on the Alvord Playa in Oregon, we are trying to make better driving-related choices.)