Alturas Lake Under Rainclouds

Horizontal orientation. Canvas prints are available with optional barnwood or hardwood floating frames hand-crafted by the photographer, making a truly unique and one-of-a-kind piece of art. Please see images for details.

Alturas Lake is a popular recreation destination in the Stanley Valley, nestled against a backdrop of the Sawtooth Mountains. Near Pettit Lake and Redfish Lakes, it gets its fair share of campers and fishermen. On the early June morning that I took this photo, I had planned to catch the sunrise at Stanley Lake and then hike the trail to Hell Roaring and Imogene Lakes. It was a big day, considering it started at 2:30am, and on the way through the mountain pass I hit a deer on the highway. It wasn’t at a high speed, so I was still able to continue on, as was the deer. The hike was a 14 miler, with 1500 feet of elevation gain, and took about 8 hours due to the number of stops I made to take photos. On the way home, I was curious to see Alturas, and so I pulled off the highway at the road to the lake and camping area. I parked and walked the shoreline for several minutes, and although it was getting breezy and rain clouds were coming in, it was still beautiful. I like to find interesting foreground elements, and the winding root that I found here was perfect! I was able to capture the waves on the lake, as well as the mountains in the background.