Vestal Basin Sunset

The Weminuche Wilderness, in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, has long been known as a wildflower paradise.  I made plans to visit in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but wildfires and drought always made me cancel my plans at the last minute. Finally, in July, 2004, after a winter and spring with near-normal precipitation, I made plans to visit the Weminuche and do the most audacious, off-trail, solo backpacking trip I'd ever done with 70 pounds of camera and camping gear on my back.  My route led straight through the heart of the Needle Mountains and the Grenadier Range.  On the first day, I climbed east from the Needleton stop on the historic Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge railroad and camped in Chicago Basin.  From there, over the next three days, I went north, over 13,080-foot Twin Thumbs Pass, up Noname Creek and over the pass between Peaks Five and Six, down to Balsam Lake, then over the pass between Vestal and West Trinity peaks and down into Vestal Basin to camp for my last night.  The morning's ominous weather had cleared, and I found a beautiful group of columbine growing improbably from a desolate and unstable scree field.  A quick compass check showed that the sun would set straight down the valley of Vestal Creek.  I set up and waited, hoping against hope for the dead calm required to make sharp, two-second exposures of the delicate flowers, which stirred in the slightest breeze.  Sunset came, and with it a few brief lulls that let me expose several sheets of film while holding my breath.  Of all the photos I made on my journey, this image invokes the strongest memories of a very special place.