Well, its been quite some time since we have ventured out to the mountains and quite some time since we have done any real adventuring at all in the past few months. With Andy fracturing his neck we have put our quick trips on a hiatus and spent the past couple months recovering and laying low… till now! We are excited to be heading out to Colorado and get back to roaming new parts of the Rocky’s and taking photos of the city. With that being said we started getting pretty ancy and looking at our previous road trips through the mountains and thought we would share a few favorites from last year! We have also wrote up a few quick, fun trailheads which are some of the best hikes in the Sierra mountains as well as some of the best views in Utah. Thanks as always for the support and we can’t wait to share some of our new photos from our trip coming up in the next few days!

The Sierra’s:

Travertine Hot Springs – No trip to through the Sierras would be complete without a visit to a few of the plentiful hot springs. Some of these geothermal hot springs are extremely hot and do not allow you to enter into.  If you’re looking for a natural hot spring atmosphere with epic mountain views, Travertine Hot Springs is the go to. The hot spring is located south of the small town of Bridgeport, and offers easy accessibility to get to and some of the most incredible views of the Sierra Mountains in the distance. There is nothing better than getting to the hot springs in the morning before anyone is up and soaking in the warm waters while snow surrounds the springs. For more information on how to get here check out our friends link or Go here to learn more about this pool and other hot springs in the region.

Lone Pine:

Looking for that thrill of climbing but don’t have the capacity or maybe time to get all the way to the top of Whitney? Check out a few hikes in Lone Pine that will still have you gasping in awe of the views from the top of the overlooks. The Hiking Guy says it best “For a taste of the big mountains around Mt Whitney without the massive effort or hard-to-get permit, try the very doable Lone Pine Lake hike which follows the Mt Whitney Trail.” The trail is a moderate hike and extremely doable by most with about a half-day adventure timeline. Throughout the hike there are different lakes and you are able to head back to camp whenever you please. We made it to Pothole Lake which was just above Heart Lake and one of the most amazing sceneries to date. The total distance from camp to Pothole Lake was about 5 miles and we made it within a few hours. Seeing the view from the top with fog and snow all over the base of the mountain is truly something everyone should see. If you are searching for elopement ideas in the mountains, instead of doing the traditional elopement in Yosemite take a look at this range of the Sierra Mountains instead. We feel the untouched, glacial lakes add a whole other dimension to wedding photos in the mountains.

To get to the base of the trailhead where you park your car, from Lone Pine, drive up Whitney Portal Road for about 11.5 miles until you reach the dead-end at Whitney Portal. The trail to Lone Pine Lake uses the same trailhead as the Mt Whitney Trail. The drive up is just as incredible as we stopped for what it seamed at each turnout to take pictures of the 395 down below. From here, we were off to Utah.

Utah offered us plenty of excitement… and for Brittney scares. Luckily I was the one driving; as of lately she has gotten even worse with driving through the snow and the rain since she is the one driving. With extreme weather and bone chilling temperatures we stayed at a local hotel in Brian’s Head before making our way to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Situated at an elevation of 10,000 feet, Cedar Breaks is shaped like a giant coliseum dropping 2,000 feet to its floor. Utah’s travel site is correct when it states “Deep inside the coliseum are stone spires, columns, arches, pinnacles, and intricate canyons in varying shades of red, yellow and purple. The bristlecone pine, one of the world's oldest trees, grows in the area and can be found along the Spectra Point Trail. The Dixie National Forest surrounds Cedar Breaks.” When the snow fills these canyons and fog layers above the rest it is truly remarkable."

There is something about white snow covering the giant red rocks that is absolutely incredible. With a huge snow storm the night before, we awoke to a white out while driving up to the monument, Brittney stayed behind at the hotel curled up in bed while I tried firing up my drone to fly over the canyon before almost crashing it due to the howling winds. 

Here are a few more from the entire trip. Excited to add to our winter travels! Cheers!

We are based in Southern California and travel throughout the state for weddings and engagements. If you are panning a wedding here locally or internationally we would love to chat details and see where you are thinking of getting married! From the mountains in the Sierras, to the Cliffs in Ireland we live for capturing the most epic moments in life, in the most epic places. We are California wedding photographers and love capturing the big moments, as well as the small fractional seconds that each moment brings. So whether you are here locally in San Diego or clear across the globe we would love to meet whether that be drinks in Little Italy or 3am Skype calls. Hope to hear from you soon! And to all those in 2020 we have the chance to work with, WE CANNOT WAIT!