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| Sleeping Ute Mountain from Montezuma Valley Overlook, on the North Rim of Mesa Verde. |
After a late March snowfall, I drove into Mesa Verde National Park at dawn. I was early enough that I didn't take my first photographs until I was well into the north end of the park, when full light had arrived.
The road was icy but not treacherous to my all wheel drive RAV4. No slipping and sliding, just go slowly.
At the Montezuma Valley Overlook I got out of my vehicle, but immediately pulled on my boots' traction devices. Otherwise it was apparent that I would be on my butt in just a step or two down the inclined sidewalk.
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| The icy sidewalk at Montezuma Valley Overlook, at dawn. |
The Montezuma Valley, about 2,000 feet below, is where the town of Cortez is located. That, and a lot of fertile farmland.
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| Every photographer's favorite snag (standing dead tree) at Montezuma Valley Overlook. |
Two snow plow trucks were heading outbound (here downhill) as I was driving inbound. They didn't seem to be scraping off the ice at all. They just had to do their duty, knowing that the real ice removal would happen naturally in a few hours.
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| Snowy coating to the North Rim of Mesa Verde. It wouldn't last long. |
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| Icy road through one of the hillside cuts as sunrise colors tinge the clouds, Mesa Verde. |
Later in the day, after work, it was time to drive back out. The sun had done its work on this early spring day.
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| Dry roads in the afternoon. |
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| Snow has melted on the south facing slopes and the road, anything not in shadow. |
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| Montezuma Valley Overlook in the afternoon. No need for traction devices anymore. You could have a picnic in the sun. |
Photo location: Mesa Verde National Park, southwest Colorado.
© Copyright Stephen J. Krieg / Stephen Krieg Photographics
