Colchuck Lake - Overnight backpacking trip 9/15/2012

My good friend Ben Blood received an overnight permit for the Enchantments in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.   The camping permit was for the Colchuck Lake zone.   He invited me to join his party.   We seven made our way up to Colchuck and spent the day hiking, jumping in the lake and taking photographs.    We hiked out early the next day as a forest fire had picked up on a nearby ridge and was moving in the direction of our parked cars.     The smoke created some interesting and beautiful light during our overnight trip.  

As we were hiking a forest fire started on the ridge behind us.  

Colchuck Lake.   We arrived at the campsite.

Vanja Horonic

Smoke from the nearby fire began to grow throughout the evening. 

Ben Blood

Arie Voorman and the geologist magnifying glass. 

Dinner

Roald Chetty

Sunset.

The smoke created a beautiful drifting swatch of color across the sky.  

Throughout the night the reflection of the fire painted an amber hue across the 30 second star exposures.   This is one of the brighter frames from the night.  

An example of what the scene looked like when the fire died down.  

collecting water

The growth of the forest fire

The hazy sky provided soft fall lighting even around 1pm in the afternoon.