Bierstadt in the Morning

I went out to get a sunrise shot -- ate the porridge at 3:30 am this time and hiked a mile with flashlights-- but the clouds diffused the light and put the kibosh on that effort! Maybe another day.

Thwarted, we trudged upward to Flattop. Stopping to breathe -- this hike had us gaining nearly 3,000 feet in elevation over 4.5 miles -- we noticed a very fine view of Bierstadt Lake.

Albert Bierstadt really visited the lake to paint it. (At that time the lake was called Whyte Lake.) If you've ever wondered about what romanticism means in art, just look at the real lake and then Bierstadt's rendering. They look nothing like each other. Nothing, except they both contain water.

And that lake to the right? That's Sprague Lake.