Brad's Top Six RMNP Photos of 2025
It was Suppose to be Top 5...But
Why Top Six Photos? Well, it was supposed to be Top 5, but I just couldn’t cut one more out. So…here are my Top Six 2025 favorite images from RMNP.
In March, I was driving through RMNP a little bored. The moose were up in the trees and elk were at lower elevations. The ground was brown with a hint of snow, and, if the incredible beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park can be boring, this was a little blah.
Then, driving through a meadow, I saw a flash of bright blue. The beginning of the migration? In all my time in RMNP, I’d never captured a quality image of a mountain bluebird.
I began to see more blue flashes of birds in flight. With no cars behind me, I stopped, my window down and camera up. A dusting of snow from the previous night had left white clinging to the gray branches. A bluebird landed, a contrast in bright blue against the dark branches and white snow.
My camera was set at a high shutter speed and burst mode. As the bluebird took flight, snow trailing as it flew away, I pressed the rapid fire shutter. Looking at the screen, I was giddy. I had captured a special image, and today it decorates our kitchen wall.
In April, driving along Bear Lake Road, I looked at the noble cabin, its historic character in the mystic beauty of a mountain setting. There was a fresh dusting of snow on the distant mountains, and the red and yellow branches of the willows highlighted the greens of the ponderosa pines and the reddish brown logs of the cabin. An amazing bit of history, the cabin picture reminds us of before RMNP was established.
July brought out those incredibly cute Pika. Looking like baby rabbits, they are scurrying miniature superheroes flying from rock to rock. Put some early summer flowers in their mouth, and it’s cuteness overload.
Standing on the tundra with camera in hand, I watched them run, flying from rock to rock, collecting wildflowers in their mouths, and returning to their dens. Pika do not hibernate. In the cold, they cuddle into the stored grasses and flowers for warmth and nourishment during the harsh winter months.
So with my camera set, I clicked the shutter to capture cuteness in action. Sometimes they were jumping but always running faster, challenging my camera focus. It was an exercise in luck, yet when they raced toward me with flower stuffed mouths, I captured the shot.
Frank the Tank was the most popular bull moose in RMNP this year. His popularity stemmed from his accessibility in the lower valley and tolerance of the tourists thrilled to see a big, bold, bull moose.
One early August morning was particularly special as Frank the Tank led a group of four nice size bull moose and two cow moose through the trees along the edge of a meadow. As the massive, powerful animal wandered among the trees, I extended my zoom lens to its full length.
Frank paused, seeming to sniff the sweetness of a flower. At that moment, I captured the shot. It was an incredible moment as the extraordinary bull moose seemed gentle, even tender in his appreciation of a tiny, yellow flower.
On August 27, I was looking for bears. It was that time of year when bear hyperphagia and ripe chokecherries meet. Bears are gorging themselves in preparation for hibernation, and chokecherries are a particularly favorite treat.
I had seen bears at this patch in the past, so I looked specifically into the chokecherry bushes. And there she was…the head of a reddish phase black bear sow popped up in the middle of the hillside.
Seeing me, she ran to a tree on the edge of the hillside, sitting beside it. As I set my tripod, my 600 mm prime lens with 2x extender attached, I drew the bear in with 1200 mm power.
Then it happened. First one cub, then a second climbed down the tree playfully swatting at each other. Curious, they sat calmly beside their mother looking my way. My shutter went crazy as I captured a beautiful family portrait.
In late September there had been a strong snowfall at the higher elevations. The snowcapped mountains contrasted the fall aspen of yellows, oranges, and reds. I was drawn to a spot above Bear Lake where the fall colors framed Bear Lake, Long’s Peak, and the snow covered Continental Divide.
Despite my challenges of age, not as strong legs, and shaky balance, I cautiously crawled and climbed the boulder field to an elevation high above Bear Lake. Sitting on a boulder, my legs stretched out to other jagged rocks, I captured the magic of fall colors, winter white, and the blue lake meeting in the mountains.
I’m estimating I took 50,000 pictures this summer, deleting 45,000, and narrowing 5,000 down to these six images in 2025. There are more, of course, because RMNP continues to share its dynamic beauty, but these are my favorites.
