The drive, the view

If you don’t work in the mountains then you need to drive down the mountain each day.

Early in May 2014 I was making my usual trek down the mountain when Windy Point offered this lovely sunrise. It’s an added bonus for living in the mountains, that ability to see sunrises before anyone else on flat ground.

There’s little traffic on my way either up or down the hill. The worst traffic up U.S. 285 is during the summer when the Vacation Yahoos speed to their destination and speed home again. In May, it’s still quiet and there’s time to pull over and get a quick pic of the day’s start.

Though I miss my big cameras my iPhone does a fair job of capturing color and clarity. It’s the way things are going, the ability to take excellent pictures without having to know about ISO/shutter speed/aperture combinations. I love this image because the contrast of white balance means you have to get it right or you lose the warmth of the sun or you wash out the coolness of the road and rocks. It’s a fair image but any Nikon with manual settings could have done better.

Windy Point is a vortex of bad things; the worst weather is worse there, accidents are more plentiful and the few hundred yards of road reminds me Raton Pass or Monument Hill, two places known for accidents and mystical weather moments. That morning it’s a beautiful sunrise that lasted only for a few moments before the day became gray from thick clouds.

Though my view at the Bar B is well, basically just trees, at least I know the place and time to find a moment of beauty.