Autumn Impact

Autumn color graces a tall grove of aspen trees on Ohio Pass near Crested Butte Colorado. Moments before, this tree was standing tall. Previous to this trip, I had envisioned finding an aspen tree that broke off, a trunk of some sorts, showcasing the power of the explosion.

On this particular day, I was shooting this amazing aspen grove for a couple hours, watching light change throughout the afternoon. I captured a few images of this small grove of old growth aspen trees and moved closer to the base of the grove to shoot another grove in the opposite direction. While standing there, I heard a loud cracking sound, I didn't know what to make of it as it scared the living hell out of me. I thought there was an elk or moose barreling down upon me through the forest. 

The moment lasted about 10 seconds, sending tree shrapnel nearly 100ft in every direction. Afterwards I captured this photograph, and hours later shared the experience with a group of hikers that walked into the scene. They were about 70 years old, and were really familiar with the place, they had said that tree was partially broken for years and they always wondered when it would fall.

This location had a really powerful presence to it (trees scared with lightning strikes, one of them split in half at the trunk and only 15 ft tall...one side dead and black, the other side alive with a branch that came off the top and nearly touched the ground, also small aspens with markings from Elk rubbing their antlers on the trees, to finally a plaque on one of the trees in memory of a man (1916-2012) who obviously loved this place as well and spent much time. For me, this was a very surreal experience, first envisioning finding a broken trunk, to witnessing the event first hand. This location is one of three places I've ever been (joined by Glen Canyon within the Southern Utah Desert, and Nepal) that had such an aura surrounding it, a powerful presence that stopped me in my tracks, a universal confluence of energy to help explain the feeling, and an area you just wanted to sit and watch the day pass.