Mt. Shavano Video and Photo montage - Colorado 14er!

Video created July 2011 - A montage of HD video and still photos from our hike to the summit of Mt. Shavano in Colorado. Mt. Shavano is a Colorado 14er (fourteener) that is 14,229 feet tall in the Sawatch Range in Colorado. This is the 17th highest peak in Colorado, and is often hiked in conjunction with Tabeguache Peak right next door. One of the most prominent features of this mountain is the "Angel of Shavano" snowfield in the middle, that, for much of the year resembles an angel. I had the impression that Shavano was going to be a fairly easy hike. I've done over 35 of the 14ers in the state, and from looking at my Gerry Roach book, and stuff from summitpost, etc, it seemed like a pretty straightforward hike. I was surprised that it was longer, and steeper than I had anticipated. It isn't technical by any means, but at the end of the hike, I certainly was sore and tired. Because there were clouds rolling in, we opted to not do Tabeguache on this round, and to save it for another day.

The road getting to Shavano is also pretty easy, and not very rough. There are good instructions on how to get to the trailhead here: http://www.summitpost.org/mount-shavano/150483

The road is about 9 miles after you leave the highway, and ends up at a very nice parking area with restrooms. The trailhead is well marked, as well as the Colorado Trail, which runs through this area too.

The trail is pretty flat and easy for the first mile or so, and then turns pretty abruptly up through the trees, zig-zagging through the forest, along streams and foliage. I was amazed at how many, and the variety of wildflowers, Columbines, and greenery that met us along the way. The longest part of the hike seemed to be below tree line. We kept wondering when we would pop out of the trees. When we finally did, we were able to see the very obvious trail leading to the saddle, at which point there is a turn to the right, up towards the very steep and rocky summit of Shavano. The Angel of Shavano, which we passed on the way to the saddle, was almost completely melted and gone. There were many interesting and very robust flowers growing along the rocks almost all the way to the summit, which really amazed us.

Shavano is a great hike, since - as it is a little further away from Denver than most of the collegiate 14ers, and others along the front range - it isn't as popular as some of the others. We were among may 10 people total on the trail that day, which was a mid-summer weekend day (Sunday). We stayed in nearby Salida the night before.

Of all of the 14ers, Shavano was definitely one of the more memorable to me. It is big, and very pretty with plenty of vibrant colors growing out of the snowfields, and rocks. There are many places along the trail where there is water flowing over rocks, and under logs and forest growth. From the top, Monarch Ski Area is very visible just to the southwest, and many of the other 14ers are easily identifiable as well. The views are amazing.

I used my Canon Rebel EOS T2i DSLR camera. The music Title is "Impact Andante" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0" - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/". His music is royalty free, and very high quality.

A special shout-out to my friend Dave at http://www.learningdslrvideo.com/ - he and his excellent site have been a constant source of learning and inspiration for me as I learn how to shoot video on my DSLR...thanks Dave!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Mt. Shavano
• Mount
• Angel of Shavano
• Trailhead
• Trail
• Video
• Montage
• Summer
• Weekend
• fourteener
• 14er
• Denver
• Salida
• Tabeguache Peak
• snowfield
• wildflowers
• Columbine
• hike
• views
• Canon
• Rebel
• EOS
• T2i
• HD
• DSLR
• water
• foliage
• Colorado Trail
• Sawatch Range

[besnette]

@drumat5280 - Dave, that was about a minute of video sped up as far as I could go - so time lapse! @AntHawn605 - the T2i is so great - I still learn new things about it every day! I will certainly check out your channel, and thank you for the comments!

[drumat5280]

Cool video, is the beginner a time lapse or are the clouds moving that fast?

[AntHawn605]

Beautiful video! Isn't the T2i a wonderful camera? I also own a T2i but I'm looking at purchasing a 7D. Check out my channel for some of my reviews and sample vids! I will subscribe if you do too!