Early morning hike on Inner Basin Trail, San Francisco Peaks.
2009-05-30: Saturday evening, we were sitting on the front porch after our evening walk, enjoying a cup of chai and watching the sun set. There had been rain during the late afternoon, and heavy clouds had descended over the Peaks, hiding the mountain from view. The clouds had lifted in time for our evening ritual, and we noticed there was new snow on the upper tips of the Peaks. As we sipped our tea, we joked “If we were really motivated, we’d get up early, hit the Inner Basin Trail at dawn, and get some good photos before the snow melts off…”
2009-05-31: …so, at 4:00AM we stumbled out of bed, grabbed some coffee, got dressed, grabbed more coffee and rolled out the door around 4:30AM. We drove up the mountain, and hit the trail around 5:15AM. There was a bit of a breeze making the hike rather chilly. Everything was wet and green, and the aspens created a delectable aroma. Past Jack Spring (1.5 miles from the trailhead) we hit the frost line, and the vegetation sparkled (and the air was noticeably chillier). We arrived at the Inner Basin (the point where there’s a shelter and pumphouse, and all the Peaks are visible) around 6:45AM. We’d expected some shade still at that hour, and were delighted to discover the sun was shining right up through the low point in the Peaks (the north-eastern side, where the wall was blown out during an eruption), lighting up the entire Inner Basin for us. We wandered around a bit capturing various shots, then headed back to attend to our day’s activities.
