It has been said that failing to plan means you are planning to fail. Well, in my case, I planned, and planned, and planned, but still failed. Hahaha!

I started out the trip planning to spend Saturday scoping out Windy Ridge. I was looking forward to the upcoming Geminid Meteor Shower Sunday night into Monday morning. I’d previously shot An Evening With The Bristlecones there and knew it to be a good spot for Astro with a decent foreground. With the recent snows, we were unsure if we’d be able to get up the mountain backroads. Spending Saturday determining the road’s “passability” seemed a sensible thing to do before a Sunday night’s shoot.

As previously mentioned, my original plans were to shoot the meteor shower from Windy Ridge, CO. Unfortunately, I never even made it to the ridge to determine its passability. The weatherman said that shooting in this location was no longer a good idea as the skies were supposed to be cloudy. Previously, the skies were predicted to be quite clear, but as the big day approached, the forecast grew gloomier and gloomier.

Having cloudy skies was 100% not what I wanted. With that, I made a late decision to head south and try to get geographically below the clouds. My new ‘initial’ destination became the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. With that, Saturday’s day trip to scope out the Windy Ridge area took a turn South, literally, as I drove into New Mexico in an effort to get out from underneath the clouds.

See my other available Prints (Opens in new window)
Landscape Orientation | Portrait Orientation | Square Cropped

Snowblind: Braving The Elements | Prints Available

I was beginning to get slammed with snow as the afternoon approached. Even still, the weather was expected to clear up nicely for meteor-shower-peak-eve. Regardless of the snow, I did my best to keep an eye out for photo opportunities. I am always scanning for a couple of things, solo subjects, and separation. The above opportunity gave me both.

Alongside the road, I noticed a tree standing alone in the middle of a field. This is just the kind of thing that I look for when driving around. I quickly pulled over and took advantage of the conditions as this tree would not normally be a subject that I’d shoot. After the shoot, I pressed on; nightfall was fast approaching and it didn’t appear as if the snow was going to let up anytime soon.

Snowfall on the night’s drive

Just as it appeared to be the case earlier, the snow didn’t let up a bit as night approached. As a matter of fact, the snow began to fall even heavier. We pressed on regardless of the spun-out vehicles, the accidents surrounded by emergency personnel, or other cars driving 10 MPH with their flashers on.

Come to find out, the road closed just behind us. I barely made it through ahead of the closure! This seems to be a theme of my road trips as it also happened to me on my Scouting The Tetons trip as well but for many different reasons.

Fajada Butte and the trip’s first meteor!

I finally made it to the Chaco National Heritage Site! There is so much here to learn and explore. I'll have to make a trip back and spend more time. As it was, I would only be spending the night in the hopes of shooting a nice sunrise.

The snowfall passed and gave way to mostly clear skies and some of the strongest winds I’ve experienced while out on a photography trip. I managed to crawl out of my warm sleeping bag long enough to snap a single image of Fajada Butte off in the distance under the night’s sky. Lucky for me, a meteor happened to be passing through the atmosphere at exactly the same time. Foreshadowing? Let’s hope so!

The next morning I found myself still staring at Fajada Butte, only this time I was waiting for a nice sunrise. Remember all of that planning that I said I did before the trip? Well, none of that was for this site and I’d pay dearly for it. “Sunrise on Fajada Butte, huh?,” I thought to myself. Mother Nature said, “Not hardly.”

This time of year, the sunrise light is blocked to the East by the shadow of a nearby butte. The best light I could get was easily thirty minutes after sunrise and therefore a brighter white vs the golden color that I was hoping for. With that being said, the morning shoot was a bust and it was time to move on.

Next stop, Shiprock!

The drive to Shiprock was uneventful; just like I like’em. Approaching the town of Shiprock had me in high anticipation as Shiprock Peak could be seen off in the distance proudly standing tall above the surrounding areas. Arriving in the town of Shiprock was a bit sad though as the entire town was shutdown as the result of Covid-19 hitting the Navajo Nation so hard.

After gingerly working my way to Shiprock Peak, in an effort not to get off the trails/roads or disturb anything, I set up to shoot both the sunset as well as the meteor shower. As can be seen above, the clouds were quietly making their way in. This gave me hope for a nice sunset shot. Unfortunately, this was not going to be conducive for shooting meteors.

Landscape photography and clouds are a mixed bag. On one hand, landscape images that include the sky can often seem bland without some nice activity going on in the sky. On this particular sunset evening, there was plenty of activity in the sky but, unfortunately, it was all behind me. This was unfortunate for a few reasons. One, the sky in my image was bland. Two, the sunset behind me was being blocked out by the cloud activity on the western horizon.

Cloudcover at Shiprock During Geminid Meteor Shower

The cloud cover eventually moved from the western horizon behind me over towards the eastern horizon in front of me. This put the clouds directly in the path of the evening’s Geminid meteor shower.

Eventually, I was able to squeeze in a few images in-between gaps in the clouds and a few naps.

I was eventually able to get 19 images with meteors in them. They differ in length and brightness with only a few being of decent length.

Throughout the evening, the apparent “source” of the meteors, the constellation Gemini, drifts across the night’s sky as the Earth rotates. I took the time to clock the meteors back to their approximate location as if that source point was stationary throughout the evening.

I ended up getting a few star trails to show up through the clouds. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll take the time to properly edit the image. As for now, I’ll let it sit on the back burner for a while. ;-) With that, here it is (above) full of airplanes, stars, meteors, and those pesky clouds. ;-)

The next morning, the skies were socked in with clouds. I decided to go ahead and attempt a sunrise shoot. After all, I was here. May as well shoot.

Gap on the horizon (Image credit: Ben Huseman)

Sunrise was not looking promising as there was only the slightest of gaps on the eastern horizon for the sun to sneak through. Though, if the sun did indeed squeeze through that gap, the effect would likely be awesome! We would have to wait and see how it played out.

I am not quite sure what I expected out of the sunrise, but, whatever it was, I got more than that! It was simply amazing! The sun did indeed squeeze through that gap and beamed straight onto Shiprock Peak and the clouds behind it. To say it was stunning would be putting it mildly! But, as fast as it appeared, it was gone. The gap on the horizon closed up and the morning’s light went flat. The show only lasted a few moments, but they were some of the best sunrise photography moments I’d ever seen!

I packed up my gear and drove away having felt honored to have visited such a special place and under such spectacular conditions. Sure, the meteor shower was a bit more cloudy than I would have liked it, but the morning’s sun more than made up for it!

From here on out, there were no scheduled stops. I, having a little bit of time left in the day, decided I would stop in and shoot The Dunes on my way home.

I’d seen enough snow for three trips, but it was not to be the last of the snow I’d see on this trip. Wolf Creek Pass was getting its fair share of snow. This didn’t bother me too much as I hoped it would offer up a few shooting opportunities along the route.

Perched Red-Tailed Hawk - Can you find it?

This tree (above) caught my eye on the drive. I was drawn to it by how it was glowing with the fresh snow on its branches and how it separated itself from the background which was much more green. It was only later, during post-processing, that I realized there was a hawk perched up in the very tip-top of the tree. Bonus!

Quite opposite of the previous scene was the scene above. Here, the trees stood out from the background not due to the amount of snow on their branches but due to the lack of it. This peaceful scene depicted a typical Colorado mountain farm setting on a cool day after a recent snowfall.

Having enjoyed the drive so far, it was time to press on to the day’s final shooting destination and a hopeful sunset shot.

On my way to The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, I bumped into the San Juans and Blanca Peak. While there, I did a bit of scouting for a future photography trip. Hopefully, I can return here in the Spring as I’ve got an epic shot in my mind.

According to Wikipedia, Blanca Peak (Navajo: Sisnaajiní) is the fourth highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The ultra-prominent 14,351-foot (4,374 m) peak is the highest summit of the Sierra Blanca Massif, the Sangre de Cristo Range, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

I moved on from Blanca and set-up shop at The Dunes. The clouds were setting up nicely behind the mountains and all seemed well…, until I looked behind me. The clouds on the western horizon were definitely going to snuff out this evening’s sunset.

Oh, darn! I guess I will have to come back! ;-)

This was a rather long and unexpected trip. Prior to it, I did a lot of planning and watched the weather crumble up my plans and toss them into the trash. Almost on the fly, Ben and I threw caution to the wind and attempted to drive to where the clouds weren’t. As you no doubt read, and as Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Well, the weather punched me in the mouth.

On the other hand, many of the shots I was able to take would not have been possible without the weather passing through. Just goes to show, get up, get out, and go shoot. You will always miss the shots that you don’t take.

I can’t wait to do it again!

Road-trip 2020 III: Geminid Meteor Shower

Upcoming Events

Road-trip 2020 III: Geminid Meteor Shower

"You've Got Ten Minutes!"

Road-trip 2020 II: The Southwest and Northwest

Upcoming Events