Fall 1979

The Twin Sisters

When the weather cooled in Boulder and I woke to a fine morning, I decided to take a bike trip along the Peak-to-Peak Highway and view the changing aspen leaves. From the sequence of photos, it appears that I rode up to Estes Park first, and then headed south. 

Long's Peak and Mt. Meeker

I recorded views of many of the places that were familiar to me along that roadway. I completed that loop in a single day, which -- after my 480km bike ride through Italy, Austria and Germany -- must have seemed easy.

Chapel in the Woods

Although I sometimes went off on gravel roads, my long bike tours were typically on paved roads. I would need a specific goal (for example, visiting the Moffat Tunnel) to endure the bumpiness and elevated risk of a pinch-flat while riding on a dirt road.

In the fall of 1976, I borrowed Angela and Norman Ford's white station wagon and drove over Trail Ridge Road in the moonlight. Above Rainbow Curve, I wanted to see if I could stay on the road using just moonlight for illumination. So I turned off the headlights. A bit further on, I passed a car going the other direction which also had the headlights off. On that trip, I did not have a camera along, so I had to record what I saw mentally. 

Horseshoe Curve

That same weekend or the following one, when the moon was full, I had an opportunity to back-fill my recollections with photographic images. I loaded my camera, tripod and cable release into the Mazda, and drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

At this point, I was still using the old Argus C-3, so I had to adjust the exposure manually. My light meter would have recorded zero when pointed at the moonlit scenes, so I just had to guess what the exposure would be. I thought that opening the shutter for 20s to 30s would be about right, so that's what I did.

Mummy Mountain and Hagues Peak

I drove up over Trail Ridge Road, and recorded a few of my favorite scenes in that way. To my surprise, the moonlit scenes came back looking like somewhat fuzzy versions of a daylight shot. Most notably, the sky -- even at night -- is actually blue. When poets talk about "the purple night", they are correct: at least to the extent that a very dark blue can be construed as purple.

Hayden Spire

On this trip, I did not complete the loop over Berthoud Pass. After driving for some distance along Trail Ridge, I turned around and headed back to Boulder.

Sprague Mountain and Mt. Ida

 

 

 

A week or two later, Paul had the idea that we should ride our bicycles to Fort Collins and spend the night there. It was late in the afternoon when we started, so it was pretty clear that we wouldn't make it the whole way before darkness fell. I was concerned, because I didn't have a light for my bike. But we chose our route as we went, to avoid as much traffic as possible. Although we were racing the clock, we did enjoy views of the golden-leaved cottonwoods in the setting sun.

North of Longmont

I don't recall if it was Kristi Barton or some different CSU student he planned to meet. But after Paul and I had dinner, he and she went out while I stayed in her apartment and listened to records.

Paul, adjusting his pack

 

 

 

I remember none of the details from the rest of the trip, but evidently we made it back home the next day and I continued with my studies. 

Sunset behind Long's Peak