About This Photograph
High above the valleys of central Colorado, morning light breaks across the rugged landscape of the Colorado Trail’s Collegiate West. The rising sun crests a mountain ridge and sends rays of golden light across the alpine basin. Small pools below catch the blue of the sky, while successive mountain ridges disappear into the distance.
This photograph captures the wild character that makes the Collegiate West route so memorable. Rather than following the lower eastern side of the Collegiate Peaks, this route travels through higher and more exposed terrain. The result is an extraordinary combination of alpine tundra, sweeping valleys and seemingly endless mountain views.
I photographed this scene while backpacking the Colorado Trail between Cottonwood Pass and Monarch Pass. Here, the Colorado Trail also follows the Continental Divide Trail through the heart of the Sawatch Range. The early light transformed an already expansive landscape. Golden highlights appeared across the ridges while much of the basin remained in cool mountain shadow.
Explore more of Colorado’s mountain landscapes in the Colorado Gallery, or discover additional wilderness scenes in the Mountains Gallery.
To learn more about this spectacular high-country route, visit the Colorado Trail Guide to the Collegiate West.
Sunrise Over Collegiate West celebrates one of the defining experiences of Colorado’s high country: standing above treeline as the first light reaches a vast and quiet mountain landscape.
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