Sapphire Point Overlook

Author's Comments

The walk in is almost nothing. Six tenths of a mile through lodgepole pine, gentle enough that you barely register the elevation, and then the trees step back and the Tenmile Range is just there, unreasonably close, with Dillon Reservoir holding the sky below it. The first time I came here I understood within thirty seconds why couples keep getting married on this rock. It is not a secret and it does not pretend to be. On a July weekend the parking lot is full by nine and there is a rotation of tripods at the obvious spots. I have made my peace with that by coming early or coming late. Before eight in the morning the water is often glass and the range still has shadow in its folds. After five the light begins to warm and the peaks turn the color they are supposed to turn at this altitude in summer. Fall is shorter here than people think. The aspens on the lower slopes go gold in late September and the show is over within two weeks, sometimes less if the wind has opinions. Winter is the version of Sapphire Point I love most and almost nobody photographs. The reservoir freezes and goes white, the range stands in blue shadow most of the day, and the light at three in the afternoon in January is so clean it almost hurts. Bring a wide lens for the obvious frame. Bring something longer for the range itself, compressed against the water, which is the photograph I keep coming back for.

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