Sunstar at Baker Lake

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At the suggestion of a friend, I drove up on an August Saturday morning north of Ketchum to explore the Baker Creek Trail and Baker Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. The area is recovering from a wildfire in July 2023 that burned thousands of acres in the Sawtooth Mountains. There were some Lupine and other late summer wildflowers, but the trees were scorched and bare much of the way. The lake, however, is still surrounded by pines, and is still very popular for camping and fishing. I started hiking around 7am, and there were some residual storm clouds from the evening before when I started up the trail, and I was able to catch some nice sunrise images. As I reached the lake, the clouds had largely scattered, and the skies to the west were clear. As I approached the lake, I chose a direction to start hiking around the lake. I stopped at several beautiful spots for photos, and at the spot in this image, I noticed the sun peeking through between the trees, lighting up everything with a golden glow. I set up my tripod and moved slightly side to side to find a sweet spot where the sun peeked through. I especially like the golden sunlight on the trees and lake in the final image.