Posed Wildlife

Here are the next few images from my trip to the Zoo. No Dad, it wasn't on a Friday.

Overlooking us All


Pachyderm Portrait


Zoo Classic

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Yes, you read that correctly, the zoo. We're going all the way back to Colorado Springs here during my adventures wandering around on the weekend. I decided that it had been a ridiculously long time that I hadn't been to a zoo. So ... why not. When push comes to shove, what this means for you is that the next few days are pictures from the zoo!

See you later in a while


Alvin


Snacktime

Pike's Peak 2/2

As promised here are the final images from the Pike's Peak summit demonstrating the breathtaking views from 14,115 ft above sea level. The first image shows the winding, 13 mile, hiking trail that goes up the mountain. If I ever get back to Colorado Springs, the climb up Pike's Peak is a priority. The second image shows the Western view of Pike's Peak (the side opposite of Colorado Springs). Finally, the other side, the Colorado Springs (East) side of Pike's Peak is shown in the last image. If you strain your eyes you can even see the Garden of the Gods' red rocks in the upper left hand area of the image!

The Barr Trail


West Side of Pike's Peak


Colorado Springs (East) Side of Pike's Peak

Pike's Peak 1/2

Although I already posted the panorama from the top of Pike's Peak, the rest of the images will come in the next two posts. Today's images are from the Cog Railway on the way up and down. This shows how scenic the area is, not just at the destination (14,115 ft) but also all the way up the old railway! The first image contains the only naturally formed lake visible on the way up. The tour guide mentioned that if you stretch your mind a little it looks like a chess knight. The second and fourth image shows the thing I've always argued with the folks back home ... it's not a mountain unless there is a tree line! Finally the third image shows a little bit of the local wildlife seen on the way up. Next post will have a few of the images from the top.

Natural Lake in the Pike's Peak Forest


Tree line and the Mountain's around Pike's Peak


Mountain Wildlife


I Miss the REAL Mountains!

Bear Creek and Helen Hunt Falls

This is going to be another 'large' post. By that I mean I'm going to throw in here 4 images (not that I am going to ramble on TOOO much). These images go way back to Wednesday of last week. I was originally in search of the waterfalls seen in the previous post, but took a lot longer to get to them than expected. I ended up hiking in a regional park called "Bear Creek Park" and making my way up to a picturesque lookout where I can see over Colorado Springs and a lot of the surroundings. The first below is from this outlook. Around the centre of the image you can see the Garden of the Gods and the parallel ridges of rocks that are leading towards the garden is the Red Rock Open Area. The next two images are from the Helen Hunt Falls area. The first one is of the falls, and the other two are the view from the top of the trail that goes up the mountain.

Look out from Bear Creek Park


Helen Hunt Falls


View From the Top


Down the Helen Hunt Falls

Helen Hunt Falls

Do to lack of time for the moment I am just throwing up one image this time, but there are more to come still from the area. This is a place close to the famous 7 Falls region of Colorado Springs. This one on the other hand is a part of the Regional Park system and is called Helen Hunt Falls.

Helen Hunt Falls

Pike's Peak Panorama

This is very much a trial post. I have been really trying to find a way to display my panoramic images other than as a long annoying band of image. I find that it just didn't do justice to the amount of information in an image like this. I found this website, CleVR, which seems to do what I want. What should happen is that the panorama below should load up and you are given a few controls. First you should click on the "zoom out" button a couple of times to show a little bit more of the image at once. I find that it works the best at about one or two stops short of fully zoomed out. When you put the cursor over the image and it gives you a hand you should be able to click and drag in the direction you want to look. At fully zoomed out there are are a couple of spots that look distorted in the corners, at one level zoomed in there are vertical lines, and at two levels zoomed in you start to get degraded image quality. Although it is not perfect is the best option I've found to date. Let me know if you know of any better way of doing something like this!

This is a 9 image panorama taken from the top of Pike's Peak. From 14,115 ft you can see Colorado Springs below, the Garden of the Gods, the Barr Trail (the 13 mile trail leading up the mountain), and technically the wide open space in the distance is Kansas! Although I didn't take the hike up, it was more than worth the trip to the top.

Garden of the Gods for the Last Time

Ok ... just because I have an excess of images here from the garden of the gods, I'm posting them once more then we can move on to other images! Again, since I have too many Garden of the Gods images, you are getting four of them here and the rest will be up on FLICKR HERE by the time you read this. Next images to come include images from Bear Creek regional park, Pike's Peak, and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!

The first image is of the central Garden of the Gods from the high point on ridge road. The second image is from one of the most picturesque parts of the Garden. This is the highest place you can get to (without rock climbing) in the central parts of the garden. The third image is of the famous "Pike's Peak" as the sun falls behind the mountain range. Finally, the last image shows what I was talking about earlier about the Colorado Springs landscape, desert and mountains!

Ridge Road Look Out


Up Close and Personal with the Garden of the Gods


Pike's Peak from the Garden of the Gods


Desert and Mountains

STILL the Garden of the Gods

Ok .... so I have a lot of images from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs that I want to share with you. These are three from my second time hiking through the Garden. The rest of the images from the first time through have all been thrown up on FLICKR HERE.

The first image is from one of the high vantage points overlooking the the mountains in the distance, including the famous Pike's Peak which is dead center. The second is of the Grey Rock (maybe it is the white one, I have to double check) close to the entrance to the main paths in the Garden. And finally, the third one is taken FROM the top of the same Grey Rock looking into the gateway of the paths in the central garden.

Ridge Road Lookout in the Garden of the Gods


The Grey Rock in the Garden of the Gods


Gateway to the Central Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods take II

On Tuesday I made another trip back to the Garden of the Gods in Colorading Springs, CO since I by no means got all the way through on Monday evening. I went in the other side and made it to the main parking lot. Here I got out and walked around some of the many, many trails available. I spent around 3-4 hours there again and STILL didn't get to see the whole park. Here are a couple of panoramas from this trip. Lots of images to come! Make sure you see all of them by coming back here and checking them out on Flickr.

Columns of Red Rock in the Garden of the Gods


Garden of the Gods and the Sun Setting Behind Pike's Peak

Garden of the Gods

Here's the scoop. I am WAY behind. I have two images I haven't posted from Ottawa/Gatineau and I have a whole series of images from my leave in Cape Breton. To top it all off I'm on TD in Colorado Springs, CO and of course I'll be shooting here as well. I've decided that I'm more than likely going to give the Colorado Springs shots the priority and post them as I have them edited. I figure if you are a regular visitor to Scerakor Photography you have already seen many images of both Ottawa/Gatineau AND lots from Cape Breton. You are probably a bit more interested in hearing (and seeing!!) what's going on here. Without further adieu, here is the first couple images from a park here called "The Garden of the Gods". This is a free park that you can drive through marveling at the natural red rock formations. I don't have a whole lot of information on it since I dashed out there on a whim after supper and was battling the setting sun. The first rock is the "Balancing Rock". Apparently one of the pioneers of the area bought the land around the rock and took pictures of visitors with the rock for $.25! The other is another one of the prominent rock "mountains" in the park that can be seen from a ways around.

I find Colorado Springs interesting since it really is a mix of environments. Walking through here you get the impression of a desert, with cacti, dry weedy plands, dry dust, and these amazing red rocks. But, the REAL mountains around are a part of the Rocky Mountain us Canadian's (Western :P) know and love. If I get the time I'll definitely make it back out the the Garden of the Gods to get the rest of the park seen! More to come!

Garden of the Gods' "Balancing Rock"


Red Rocks and Fence in the Garden of the Gods