Colorado National Monument - Cold Shivers Point

Author's Comments

The name is honest. You feel it before you reach the edge, that small involuntary tightening that comes from knowing the ground ends and does not slope but simply stops. Five hundred feet of red rock falls away into Columbus Canyon and there is no railing, no suggestion of one, nothing between you and the long view down except your own willingness to walk close. I came in late afternoon in October, which is when this side of the monument earns its keep. The west-facing walls across the canyon hold light long after the rim itself has gone into shadow, and the contrast is what makes the photograph - the cool blue of the near rock against the burning orange of the far wall. Straight-down compositions are the obvious move and they work, but I found myself more interested in the angle that catches both the drop and the canyon mouth opening toward the valley beyond. There is depth there that a purely vertical frame cannot hold. The point is reached by a spur off the Liberty Cap Trail and most people do not make the full walk. That is part of why it stays quiet. Bring water. Bring a wide lens and a longer one both. And when you reach the edge, sit down before you look. The photograph will still be there in a minute, and the canyon is patient in a way that rewards a slower approach than the name might suggest.

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