I was in the state for only about a month and it was jam packed with activity. Liz and I had an impromptu sideshow tour setup for Volcanarchy with stops in Gunniston, Crested Butte, Carbondale and Boulder. We were also stocking up on equipment an supplies for our next big endeavor: #expeditionancash in Peru.

In the meantime I was staying with an old friend in Lakewood a suburb outside of Golden. After three years living in the front range and two years away abroad it was amazing to return and see how much development has occurred in just a brief amount of time.

The suburbs had melded together – new housing developments breached the open prairie that previously defined city limits. The entire Denver metropolitan area seems expanding with the same boundless fervor that is common for so many American megalopolis’ sprawling in an urban chain from Berthud all the way south to  Colorado Springs.

The only time I had visited the Red Rocks Amphitheatere was for work during a load out for the String Cheese Incident – I remember there was a late season storm and the semi-trucks struggled up the steep slope to the loading dock – Red Rocks is nefarious among bands as one of the worst load-ins in the west.

Looking at the map I noticed just how close the Amphitheatere was to where I was staying . So I made a plan to capture it with the drone. The next day I woke before sunrise – threw my 3DR Solo in its backpack and rode my cyclocross bike 10mi to Morrison in the cold October morning breaking a sweat anxious to get the shot. The exciting part about sunrise photo shoots is you never know exactly what you are going to get.

I setup the drone on the opposite valley and few over to the site to catch some photos of the Amphitheatere. There was a surprising number of people there climbing around the stairs setting up to watch the sunrise. I used the opportunity to frame some shots and plan my flight pattern.

On my second battery I flew up to the ridge separating the Morrison valley from the front range – the sun poured over the cresting mesa catching the morning clouds. The sky behind the Amphitheatere exploded in nuclear color. The thing about Colorado is just when you think the sunrise is over – bam! It gives you more and more!

With our date of departure to Peru growing ever near we started to spend more time working on the bikes, getting them ready for the big expedition.

A lot of that time was spent at Pedal Pushers Cyclery  in Golden Colorado. Liz had recently gotten a new Scott Spark RC bike from Scott for the trip and we were putting it through its measures at the shop – with a full conversion kit from XC race machine to long distance bikepacking rig.

Luckily I found some time to do some droning and experienced first hand why they call it Golden.

Table mountain presides over golden hosting a variety of single pitch sport climbing along its cliff band. The most distinctive feature of the mesa is its nearly flat cap that is formed by ancient lava flows. I have spent many times at it’s crag drinking beer whist admiring the monstrosity of the Coors brewing plant below.

For this shot I wanted to time it with the last light of day – the final ray of light hitting a few hikers perched atop the mesa.