Vail, CO...Places for Landscape & Wildlife?

MyLifeThruLenses

I'll be in Vail, CO for two weeks after December the 15th.
I'm looking for suggestions of interesting places for Landscape and Wildlife photography while I'm there. I have a 4-WD vehicle therefore I'll be quite mobile...
Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

System

Rocky Mountain National Park has loads of wildlife. The road has been closed in June due to snow so it may be closed due to too much snow now.

ontherivet

If you look at a map you'll see that there aren't that many roads off of I-70 and 4WD might not do you much good on the forest service roads in the high country at this time of year...the roads will have several feet of snow on them.

A decent option might be to head south toward Leadville via route 24 and do a loop that brings you back to 70 at Copper Mtn. To the best of my knowledge the road is fully open all the way around.

Since you are going to be there for 2 weeks another option might be to head west on 70 then south on 82 toward Aspen and check out the Maroon Bells. It's a bit of a drive but might be worth it if you are sure the weather will be good. Go early or late...catch them right and they are spectacular. I haven't gone down there specifically to shoot, so I'm not sure where the best spots are...and you'll be highly dependent on the weather of course.

Another option that I just thought of is to go shoot the ice climbers in East Vail. There is some great ice there and if the ice is in good condition there will be people on it.

Oh, and in terms of wildlife...at this time of year I think you'll be hard-pressed to find too much aside from the random marmot and maybe a deer or 2, possibly a few raptors. Elk will be hard to find. You'll have as much luck seeing a bighorn along route 70 as you will in the backcountry. I would focus on landscapes.