What Is Hanging Lake And Where Is It?
Hanging Lake it a spectacular area about 10 miles from Glenwood Springs. Hanging Lake is basically a rest stop off of I-70. It is a Natural National Landmark like the Garden Of The Gods in Colorado Springs. The hike up to Hanging Lake is a bit of a steep climb that leads to a spectacular scene with waterfalls splashing down into a beautiful crystal clear lake and waterfalls farther up the trail.
In recent years social media has driven hoards of people to Hanging Lake. What used to be a beautiful, quiet, peaceful hike became a clusterfuck. In May of 2019, a paid permit system for all Hanging Lake visitors was started. In addition to crowd control, the funds are supposed to help improve the visitor experience, maintain the trail and the surrounding area. With 600 permits granted per day, about $7,200 per day will be collected in permit fees. Current Hanging Lake permit fees are a whopping $12 per person.
In 2021 much of the area around Hanging Lake was damaged in floods and landslides. The area was closed and still is at of May 2022. If you plan to go to Hanging Lake, first make sure it is open then make sure you get a permit for each person in your party for the day your plan to do the hike.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph Hanging Lake?
As the popularity of hiking the Hanging Lake trail and photographing the area has increased dramatically over the last few years, you now have to get a $12 per person permit to hike to Hanging Lake. There are 600 permits per day. It may be a challenge to get one.
Once you get the permit for the hike, you’ll need to get yourself to Glenwood Springs. The place to fly in is the Grand Junction Airport. The drive from Grand Junction to Hanging Lake is a bit over an hour with no traffic. There are plenty of hotels in Glenwood Springs. There are some campgrounds. Hanging Lake is in the White River National Forest, the same national forest as Maroon Bells in Aspen, Colorado. The White River National forest campgrounds are plentiful and some are located near Hanging Lake.
If you are road tripping through the area, chances are you’ll be driving along I-70 so you will pass right by the exit for Hanging Lake. Once you have your permit, lodging and travel arrangements, it will be time to head over to Hanging Lake. With a permit you’ll be able to access the trail. You’ll probably be able to park by the trailhead but until everything is cleaned up and put back together after the 2021 landslides it is hard to say for sure exactly how it will all work.
The hike up to Hanging Lake climbs about 1,000 feet over about 1.2 miles. It is short but fairly strenuous. You’ll want to be in pretty good shape, carry plenty of water and some snacks with you. You’ll want some good hiking shoes. You’ll want to be prepared for rain if there is any in the forecast. Since there will be park staff around and nobody can start the hike after 5:45, there is very little chance you would get stuck up there in the dark or overnight so you probably don’t need much in the way of emergency gear.
You’ll probably want to plan to spend at least three hours there if you are just hiking, more if you will spend some time there photographing the lake and surrounding areas. It can take some time to wait for people to get out of the way of your photos so the more time you can set aside the better off you will be. The earlier you can start, the better your chance of beating the crowds up there.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of Hanging Lake In Glenwood Springs?
If you are traveling a long way to go to Hanging Lake, the most challenging part of getting great photos may be securing a permit during the time you will be in the area. Assuming you get that, you’ll need to be prepared for the 1,000 foot vertical climb up the 1.2 mile trail. In addition to water and other things in your backpack you’ll need to figure out ow much camera gear you want and can haul up with you.
Once you get to Hanging Lake you’ll be able to walk along the edge of the lake to get photos like the one in this post. These shots should be free of people. Nobody is supposed to walk out on the log or go in the lake. In the past, this was a rule ignored by many people who hiked up to Hanging Lake.
With capacity limits and paid permits in place, hopefully things will change and people will actually follow the rules up there. If they do, it will make it much easier to get wall art quality photos from this point of view of Hanging Lake. The earlier you get there, the more likely it is that you will be able to zoom out, get wider angle photos and not have them flooded with people.
When you are photographing the area, a circular polarizer may prove invaluable to help you control the reflections in the water. In some photos you may want to include the textures and debris on the bottom of the lake. In other photos you may want to capture reflections of the waterfalls that flow into the lake as well as the surrounding landscape. Reflections should be relatively easy to get since the lake is fairly well protected from the wind and people are supposed to stay out of the water.
Beyond Hanging Lake there is another waterfall that may or may not still be open and accessible when the area is finally repaired.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Hanging Lake In Glenwood Springs, CO?
When you hike up to Hanging Lake, the weight of your backpack may be a consideration since you’ll be climbing 1,000 feet over 1.2 miles. If you want to get photographs you can make big prints from you’ll wan to have a good DSLR or mirrorless camera and lenses that go from medium to wide angle. If you can only take one lens, something like a 24mm-104mm zoom would be a good all in one lens to choose. If you can take a second lens, a wider zoom lens that goes from 17mm up to at least 24mm to fill in where the first lens leaves off.
If you’ll get up there around sunrise when the light is low or you want to get the soft blurred waterfall look in your photos then you’ll want to take tripod with you. This will help keep the camera more stable so you can come away with sharper photos. A cable release can be a good addition to the tripod.
If you want to get the smooth waterfall look you’ll need to keep the camera shutter open longer that you can probably hand hold it steady. If it is a bright day you may be able to achieve this with a circular polarizer and shooting close to f/22. On really bright sunny days that may not work and you may need to use a neutral density filter to get the waterfall look you want.
A panoramic setup could be useful at Hanging Lake. With so many people on the trails and surrounding areas, there may be way too many people to get wide panoramic photos unless you want to do a lot of editing to remove lots of moving people from your photos. If you’ll get there first thing in the morning, it may be worth it to haul a panoramic setup with you. At any other time of day, it’s probably not worth hauling the extra weight up the trail.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Print Of Hanging Lake In Colorado?
Hanging Lake was another place I discovered by reading those good old fashioned things called books way back in 2013. When I saw photos of Hanging Lake I wasn’t terribly impressed with it and it wasn’t really high on my list of places to see and photograph. In 2013 it wasn’t anywhere near as popular or as crowded as it is today. I figured since all I had to do was pull off and park at an exit along I-70 I might as well go see it.
When I went to Hanging Lake there was no trouble getting parking. The lot was half full at most and I pulled in around noon. I wasn’t sure what the landscape looked like or what kind of photo opportunities would be there. Was the room to zoom with your feet or did it require a lens? Was it a spot for wide angle shots? Would a panoramic setup be helpful there? I didn’t know and I wasn’t sure if I’d be back again so I took virtually every single piece of camera gear up the Hanging Lake trail just in case.
Even without a full parking lot, the Hanging Lake trail was crowded and the area around the lake itself was crowded. It’s not a huge area. At this point lots of people ignored the rules about going in the lake and there was a steady stream of people waiting to walk out on the log that fell into the lake. Trying to get photos of the lake without people in the middle of the lake was a challenge because so many people ignored the rules. The park staff either wasn’t around or didn’t so much in the way of enforcement of the park rules.
Since I didn’t know if I’d make it back to Hanging Lake in the future I planned to stay the entire day and did so. After hanging around the lake area for a while I hiked up another trail where there was another water fall and hung out in the shade up there for a while.
As it got later into the afternoon, the crowds started to thin out a bit. Finally, later in the afternoon, there were no more people walking out on the log that went into the lake. There were no more people in the water and there was an opportunity for some clean photos of the lake and the waterfalls into the lake.
When the light was nearly gone but there was still enough time to make it back to the car before dark, I headed back down to the car. The hike down was nearly as hard as the hike up because of the pounding the knees take on the steep downhill. A bit sweaty and tired, I sat in the car for a little while and guzzled some water. After pulling out of the parking lot I found some random place to pull over and sleep.
What Formats Is This Hanging Lake Wall Art Print Available?
This Hanging Lake wall art photo print is available in sizes up to 40×60 inches and comes on paper, canvas, acrylic, wood and metal. If you’ll be hanging this print in an area with diffused lighting any material with any finish will look great. Prints with shiny, metallic or glossy finishes will be more vibrant and shiny while paper and canvas prints with matte finishes will have a more classic and refine look as they won’t be as bright. The reverse is true for areas with bright direct lighting. In those areas, the prints with shiny surfaces or finishes will reflect a lot of light. Paper and canvas prints with a matte finish will look best in these bright areas.
If you’re looking for something for the bathroom, you might want to consider a high quality shower curtain. These look great, are very durable and are a great way to give your bathroom a cool natural look. Matching bath towels are available for a complete look. If you’d like something for the living room or bedroom, a Sherpa fleece blanket can make a great looking and cozy addition. The blankets can be paired with matching throw pillows for a more complete look.
If you’d like something you can use on a daily basis, you might consider a heavy duty canvas tote bag for grocery shopping. They come in a variety of sizes with the largest size perfect for a beach bag. If you’ve got a newer cel phone that could use a nice sturdy case, this Hanging Lake image is available on phone cases for the newest Apple and Samsung cel phones.
Finally, if you like puzzles, this image can be purchased as a 500 or 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. The puzzles come in cardboard boxes with the image on the outside of the box for reference. Puzzles make great gifts and are quite popular around the holidays.
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