This photo was taken early in the morning during a multiple day backpacking trip in the Great Sand Dunes backcountry in September 2023. The weather had been very warm and pleasant for the first two days of the trip, and when we woke up the next morning, these clouds were brewing over the mountain ridge, the temperature had sunk to below freezing and freezing rain started coming down! Gradually the whole valley filled with clouds and fog coming in from over the mountains, which create a very eerie and beautiful atmosphere over the Sand Dunes!
