138 | Breckenridge Fly Fishing Report

On Saturday, Eric and I headed towards the south side of Breckenridge for a fly fishing adventure that involved a 6-mile roundtrip hike while gaining 1,500 vertical feet. Along the way, we passed by a handful of considerably-sized lakes that offered plenty of cutthroat trout. While I was busy shooting landscapes with the G10, Eric managed to catch 8 cutties in the 12-18" range on a foam beetle, all within an hour's work. Growing anxious, I met up with him at the upper lake which sits you at 12,500 feet above sea level, although just as I was setting up my rig, one of my contact lenses decided to hibernate deep into the socket leaving me with only one eye to fish. Fortunately, I was still able to see the fish through the crystal clear water but since I was having trouble visualizing my fly on the water, Eric told me when to yank. Within fifteen minutes, I had already reeled in two in the 8-12" range and around 1 to 1.5 pounds all with the help of a renegade dry fly for my first two catches in Colorado.

Below are just a few of the many photos I took that day, and to view them and more in larger size, click here.

137 | Blue Lakes, Colorado

This past Sunday, in an effort to work out my 0.06 BAC, I headed to the Blue Lakes area on the south side of Quandary Peak and just below Monte Cristo Creek for an incredibly easy yet very secluded hike. Amazingly, we ran into only one other couple while at least fifty carloads of people were packed down the road for an attempt at the 14,271-foot mountain. Complete with fly rod and Birmy, it was the perfect place for some photographs. To view the complete gallery and the below pictures in larger size, please click here.

136 | 2009 Breckenridge Beer Fest

After missing out on the festivities last year due to an unexpected delay while skiing the North Face of Mount Democract, I returned to Breckenridge on Saturday for the 2009 Beer Fest. Two years wiser and with a young child in the form of a 14-week-old goldendoodle, consumption was limited but a great time was had while the vibe and atmosphere has seemingly grown unchanged since my last time in 2007. Unfortunately, I spent more time answering questions about Birmy than I did photographing the scene, but below are a few pictures from the day.



Quandary Grille giving rise to a look of Peak 10's Fourth of July Bowl, a popular summer descent for skiers and snowboarders:





Plenty of live music all around:





Lots of people took a break from the action and enjoyed the water ...





... including the festival's biggest star, Birmy:





Later in the day, Birmy was reunited with his long-lost cousin, Duffy:








While the skiing at Breckenridge is not the greatest, if I had to choose a mountain town to live in, Stone Harbor of the west would be very high on the list.

135 | Fly Fishing on the St. Vrain

After a long night out at one of downtown Denver's finer wine bars, Trios Enoteca, followed by a trip to one of the city's iconic jazz and blues gems, El Chapultepec, I joined my skiing buddy Eric and made not only the first fly casts of 2009, but the first ones in close to ten years. How I managed two-plus years living here in Colorado without my fly rod is beyond me, but now that it has a rightful home, you can expect each weekend to be filled with much time on the water. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of success on Sunday morning, but there was no sign of muscle memory loss with my casting. I was also fortunate to grab two solid strikes although the unanticipation of any action let my reflexes slag behind while Eric pulled away with one catch on the day - only a one-pounder but it's a start. Not a bad way to spend four hours.

Click here to view the pictures below and more in larger size. All photos taken with the Canon G10.

134 | More Pictures from Coors Field

I went to a couple more Colorado Rockies games last week and spent a good amount of time continuing to practice taking panoramic shots. Always tough to do when dealing with moving objects such as people, but out of over 300 photographs for more than twenty pano setups, a few came out decent. Click here for the complete gallery.

133 | Fourth of July at Coors Field, 2009 Edition

A week ago, I stumbled towards downtown Denver with no set plans. Arriving shortly after the fifth inning began, I was able to score a cheap ticket which unexpectedly came with a front row seat to an amazing fireworks display within the comfort of the outfield at Coors Field. That's right - for $10 I saw the Rockies blow a late inning lead but being able to watch the sky light up from the outfield wasn't such a bad consolation prize. Below are a few pictures from the complete gallery.

132 | Panoramic Photos on LSD

While searching for photo stitching software to combine many segments into a larger panoramic picture, I found something called Hugin that allows you to do some pretty wild and interesting alterations. The results can be very stunning and best of all, it's absolutely free. I haven't tried using Hugin yet, but below are just a few examples from the over 14,000 images you can view here.