Lake Marie Sunrise

Lake Marie Sunrise

Spectacular sunrise with low pink clouds at Lake Marie in the Snowy Range of Wyoming.

I woke early Sunday morning, long before sunrise. Overnight temperatures were well below freezing, leaving the ground crunchy with frost and ice. The wind was still howling, as it had all night long. Most of the Snowy Range was obscured by undulating fog and clouds. Medicine Bow Peak, Old Main and Sugarloaf Mountain were hidden from view. The higher clouds were streaming across the sky. So much so, that looking up caused a dizzying, disorienting feeling that the ground was moving. But the eastern horizon was perfectly clear, so I knew that prospects were good for the scene to light up at sunrise.

Lake Marie is nestled below The Diamond, on the southern end of the Snowy Range. It’s outlet forms a small cascade that runs under a footbridge, and that’s where I set up my camera about 30 minutes before the sun began to rise. The wind was blowing so hard, the conditions were changing by the second. Fog and clouds would roll in over the mountain-tops and totally obscure the scene. The next moment everything would lift hundreds of feet, changing shape with turbulent air, exposing even the summits of the peaks. It was impossible to predict what the scene would look like at the moment to moment. I watched the spectacle and took many images as the light warmed and grew – both cursing the wind for its biting cold and in awe of the incredible conditions it was creating . Finally light splashed across the rock faces, reflected off water and clouds and filled the landscape. What a morning!

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