Jeanette and Billy | American Basin Engagement
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Savannah Chandler Photography | Silverton Wedding Photographer
Billy and Jeanette’s Story
Billy and Jeanette knew exactly where they wanted to have their engagement session – amongst the wildflowers in American Basin just outside of Lake City, Colorado.
Jeanette had grown up just a little ways South, near Creede, and the two of them had decided to include this special place into their engagement. Every summer the snow fields melt away to revel a lush green alpine meadow that sits beneath the American Peaks – and each year brings new and different flowers to the area. This past July, we were greeted with massive fields of marsh Marigolds, Man of the Mountains, Orange Sneezeweed, and sprinkles of Columbines and Delphinium across the basin. In years past, I’ve been where it’s been littered with mostly hues of pinks and purples. Just another way that crazy Colorado weather plays into our ecosystem.
As the date of their session approached, I had been watching the incoming weather quite intently. Those summer storms hit hard here in the Colorado mountains. It is pretty rare to see storms come in as early as sunrise and stay all day, but they do happen from time to time. Seeing that we had to take a 4×4 road (with some gnarly drop offs), the amount of incoming rain and lightening gave us cause to push back 2 days. Hindsight being the 20/20 vision that it is, I am so incredibly glad that we both were able to make that upcoming weekend work as we had AMAZING weather with the perfect Alpenglow sunrise.
Congratulations again, Billy and Jeanette!!
American Basin | Engagement Session Logistics
Closest Town:
LAKE CITY
The easiest way to access American Basin is from Lake City. It’s about 1 – 1.5 hours on a dirt road to the cutoff for the basin. The road is 2×4 drivable until the cutoff point, but is a bumpy dirt road that has large drop offs. Once you turn into the basin, you have a river to cross that varies in depth depending on time of year. At this point, a 4×4 would be HIGHLY advised to make the rest of the drive to the upper basin. You can park at the river and hike up (roughly 1 mile).
SILVERTON
You can access American Basin from the West Via. Silverton. This route is a 4×4 ONLY, and is quite long with some rock crawling and many drop offs. Please only take Cinnamon Pass from Silverton if you are an experienced 4×4 driver and it is daylight hours.
PERMITS
No Permits are currently required at American Basin.
ALWAYS follow Leave no Trace principles.
BEST TIME OF YEAR
The road is accessible from June – Early October. Wildflower season is typically Mid-July.
BEST TIME OF DAY
Sunrise has Alpenglow on the American Peaks. Sunset will typically have backlight behind the peaks. In the summer months, storms typically happen in the afternoon hours and it is advised to photograph in the mornings if possible.
Cheers-
