Al's Photography Blog

Al's Photography Blog
Pikes Peak As Seen From Our House

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Hiking Weather

I've been posting some photos from a hike to Pancake Rocks last summer The high ridge can get some nasty weather, and many trees have been hit by lightning.
 And even as I was coming down the trail, a storm was forming.
The key to hiking in high places like this is to start early and finish by noon if possible, since the thunderstorms usually form in the afternoon. I was safely in my car before much lightning and thunder was happening, and was off the ridge before any lightning at all was visible. In the summer, these storms can be an almost daily occurrence so safety must be your priority (although I did see people still heading up as the storm was clearly on its way). This is my Skywatch Friday entry for the week - come back in a couple of days for the last of my Pancake Rocks photos, some more views from the trail.

13 comments:

  1. Marvelous, stormy skies and a great capture, Al! Some very good information about the storms -- not nearly enough people pay attention to those and they can be deadly! Hope your week is going well and that you're not having to deal with the forest fire, the news/pictures looked pretty scary!!

    Sylvia

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  2. Forces of nature are always impressive,
    you show a fascinating sky ..
    Best regards, Karin

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  3. Oh gosh.. I can see the ligthening has struck the tree or the trunk..

    And I can see the thunderstorm buildning up in the photo! I wonder what I should do if I I would hike there.. as I would never get up to walk that early in the morning ;) Well, but I could walk with a flashlight at night, and come back by noon.. ;))

    Snow? We do not have any snow here! It dissapeared many weeks ago.. only some thin layers of ice on the water here and there.. but mostly not..

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  4. Great photos! Glad you got to your car before the rain started!

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  5. Dramatic and lovely shots!

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  6. Lisa (my Colorado dil) said that living and hiking in Colorado has made an early-morning weekend riser out of her! Those people heading up when the storm was already on its way are nuts.

    Beautiful pictures -- thanks for sharing!

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  7. That is a gorgeous big sky photo. I can see the rain starting to fall. I was so sorry to hear about the terrible forest fire in Colorado that was started by a controlled burn that got out of control.

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  8. Wonderful shots from your hiking trip.

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  9. Lovely tree truck, Al!
    Love the structure and the colors...
    Greetings from Holland,
    Anna :-))

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  10. Glad you made it down safe and sound! Some hikers were struck by lightning at the top of a mountain in Poland just one day after my boyfriend had been at the very same spot! Unhappy looking skies of any kind when in the mountains are definitely a sign that it's time to climb down.

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  11. Your hiking photos are great! Looking forward to the next batch.

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  12. Ho much electricity is needed to kill a tree? Sometimes we see 1/2 a treedead.

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