When it comes to iconic mountains in Colorado, Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park is near the top of the list. "The Diamond", a 900 foot sheer wall of granite on the eastern face is an impressive sight, and the hike to the summit is one of the most strenuous of Colorado's "14ers". When I started looking for places to photograph Longs Peak from, the easy choice was the view from the top of Twin Sisters.
Twin Sisters sits by itself off to the east and from the top the views of Longs and the Diamond are incredible. It was winter when I first started researching this possibility and one of the first things I noticed was the bright star Sirius sets right beside the summit of Longs. Sirius was really bright, but what I really wanted was Venus or Jupiter to do the same. They are orders of magnitude brighter than the brightest stars, but they were not lining up well at the time. I plotted out the view so that I could easily reference and place objects in the sky. Sirius would always set in the same spot, I just needed to be there at the proper time to catch it on the way down. With the planets, it was much more difficult because they wander around and their setting points change significantly. But, I saw several opportunities for Jupiter over the next couple of years, though Venus kept setting too far to the north for the time being. Maybe some day.
The hike to the top of Twin Sisters is often used as a warm up for climbing 14ers, and it is no joke. With a summit at 11,428 feet and 2,475 feet of elevation gain over the 7 miles round-trip, it's not an easy hike, especially with heavy camera gear in tow. The view from the top is the real deal, though there are two decent overlooks at 1.1 miles and another one just past that where a gigantic landslide removed the hillside during the 2013 floods. On my first couple of scouting trips I only made it up to the landslide, which produced some incredible photos when using medium zoom.
This first section is also fairly mild compared to the rest of the hike. In May of 2018 an opportunity presented itself and I loaded up my backpack with the telescope tracking mount and headed back up for a third time. Carrying 60 pounds of gear, I slowly made my way up to the landslide and set up my cameras. An alignment of perfect conditions came together this night, making the brutal load worth every bead of sweat. Jupiter was near opposition and shining bright, it would finally be setting almost directly above Longs Peak, and there wasn't a cloud in the state of Colorado.
Employing the star tracker, I was able to lower ISO all the way down to ISO800, which in night photography, is amazingly low and clean. I was able to zoom in tight at 200mm and capture a brilliant view of Jupiter with the "star burst" created by the iris blades of my Canon 70-200mm dialed back to f/4.0. They are hands-down my favorite settings for a bright planet. Each "flare" from the star pattern is created by the tiny notch where the blades of the aperture iris open.
Two weeks later I went back in nearly the same conditions, but this time the face of the Diamond was illuminated by the soft light of a crescent moon. This relatively tiny amount of light gave sharpness and detail to the rock. Boosting the brightness even further by using my Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art lens allowed me to capture the scene in a single exposure. I put a check mark on "Jupiter and the Diamond." It was time to move to the next phase of my Longs Peak plan...
Still on my list was getting my tracking mount all the way to the summit in order to capture a wide angle view of the Milky Way. For that, I needed help. I'm pretty experienced carrying heavy loads up mountain trails, but 60+ pounds for 2,400 feet, at night, sounded dreadful. Thankfully, I have friends that also like "Type II Fun" and were willing to be my camera Sherpa and then spend the night on top of a mountain.
The situation came together during the 2018 Perseid Meteor Shower when the skies were predicted to be clear and my friend Jeff was willing and able to spend a night up on the summit of Twin Sisters. For most of the summer the skies of Colorado had been smoky from forest fires burning in California and Canada, but the previous couple of days had cleared up significantly. But, while driving up the canyon from Lyons to Estes Park, I began to have serious doubt about doing this. The sky had once again become thick and milky and there was very little detail in the mountains. My only hope was that in going to the summit, we would be above the smoke layer. Near the top of Twin Sisters, as the sun began to set, I finally saw the top of the smoke layer. Maybe this would work after all...
I had drawn out the plan for the exposure and got really excited when I realized there was a possibility to capture four of the brightest planets in the sky at the same time. Mars was currently near opposition and out-shining Jupiter. Venus was glorious, but was setting before astronomical twilight, so there would only be a small window to do this. We made it to the summit right at sunset and I got the camera set up and started working the exposure.
As Venus approached the horizon, the sky went through the transition from nautical twilight to astronomical twilight. This is a very difficult time to photograph because the sky glow is an awkward brightness that makes the landscape too dark and the stars still too faint. But, I was pretty happy when I got this image right as Venus touched the horizon. (Hover mouse over photo for labels) Mars is the bright star on the left of the Milky Way, above the glow of city lights. Saturn is buried in the Milky Way itself. Jupiter is the bright "star" above and to the left of Longs Peak and Mount Meeker, and Venus is the bright light on the ridge line to the right of Longs. Once I had capture this image, I was able to relax a bit and get the telescope tracking mount set up on top of Twin Sisters.
With my tracker set up on top of the summit, I also set up a second camera to capture a timelapse for the meteor shower going on. I pointed my second camera at Longs Peak and it snapped away throughout the night. I got several good meteor flashes, but no bright fireballs. What I did discover after the fact, was just how many hikers I had captured heading up the trail to the summit of Longs Peak under headlamp. It was pretty crazy.
The smoky air settled in the valley would slosh around, rising and falling like ripples in a lake. At times we would be in the milky soup, and others it would be crystal clear overhead. Looking east toward the city of Loveland, the smoke was even thicker. After a bit, Jeff went to sleep as I continued photographing throughout the night. I also got one of my favorite pictures of Mars while I was up there. After a couple of hours, the Milky Way moved closer to the west and I turned my attention back to my primary subject.
Overall, it was totally worth the expedition. I might do it again, but I almost certainly won't be taking the tracker back up there. It might be time to get a lighter version. This just happened to be the one I had lying around...
I had also rented the Canon 35mm f/1.4 prime for this week and I have to say that it was a really sharp lens. Even at 1.4 it produces some incredible photographs. It's definitely a lens I would like to add to my arsenal sometime soon. I'm a sucker for good glass.