I went hiking yesturday up at Fourth of July Trailhead. This trail system is located in the Indian Peaks Wilderness just west of Nederland, CO. To get to the trailhead you have to drive 5 miles up a pretty rough dirt road, although not quite a four wheel drive road, it is none too smooth.

This is a pretty high set of trails which takes you up above timberline, so if you try it, be sure to bring plenty of water and get acclimated first.

All shots taken with my Pentax K20D and RMC Tokina 17mm F3.5 lens.

This is pretty typical of most of the trail. Pretty steep with exposed slopes.


Fourth-of-July-Trail-1 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-2 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-3 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Up towards timberline, there is an old mine site. Plenty of holes and some equipment are still left up there. The trail system gets its name from this mine, the Fourth of July Mine.


Fourth-of-July-Trail-4 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-5 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-6 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

I took a snack break while hiking up the Arapaho Pass Trail. This trail takes you over the continental divide and the scenery is breathtaking.


Fourth-of-July-Trail-7 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-8 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-9 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-10 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-11 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-12 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-13 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Fourth-of-July-Trail-14 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

Well that's it. I got a late start today, so the sun really wasn't in the right place for most of the photos (shooting into the sun), but after around 10 miles of high country hiking, I'm pooped.

I kind of like lens flare, if it's just a haze not so much (although occasionally it can set a scene), but in small doses, this kind of lens flare can be kind of cool. You do have some nice light in a lot of these. number 3, was that a ND filter on the lens, or did you do something post? A couple of these images I'd be tempted too crop, some have an inkling of that too wide without a strong foreground effect, of course, a nice gneiss in the foreground always helps.

A couple of images didn't come through, at least for me.

Most excellent series, CJ. Looks like a great hike. I love the old mining junk and you had some nice cloud cover to shoot against. All the other shots look great too in what appears to be mid-day light. I too am guessing you use a polarizer on the blue-sky shots. Processing looks to be very good too with excellent colors. Really good job all the way around.