Experience the Rugged Beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park

For a dose of earth in its natural beauty, look no further. Jim and Will Pattiz, the two brothers behind “More Than Just Parks“, and whose work we have featured in the past, bring us yet another stunning video of the extravagance that nature has to offer. This time around, they’ve traversed the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of the perfect shots to showcase this unique land, and the results will take your breath away.

Their newest video “ROCKY MOUNTAIN 8K” is a work that took several years to film in the rugged mountains of Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park sits in the heart of Colorado’s Front Range and spans more than 415 square miles—nearly every inch of it is pure beauty.

We sat down with Jim to talk about the process of making this film, and what makes Rocky Mountain National Park so special to him.

This video features absolutely stunning shots that range through all 4 seasons. How the shooting conditions varied from season to season?

Rocky Mountain National park showcases some of the very best scenery the Rockies have to offer and that our national parks have to offer. Being nestled in the Rockies, the weather can change pretty drastically from season to season. Shooting in the summer we were able to get just about anywhere in the park and were able to film some of the park’s incredible alpine lakes and streams and the wildlife that depend on them. As you get into the Fall you have this incredible backdrop of vibrant color from the aspens that are so abundant throughout the park. Fall also provides an incredible time view wildlife, especially Elk as it’s rutting season. Winter was the most challenging for obvious reasons, but it was amazing to be able to come back to the same lakes we had filmed in the summer and see them frozen over, and to hike the same trails we had in the summer and see the park interpretive signs and benches and trail markers buried in 5-6 feet of snow!

 

When did you find to be the optimal time of year for visiting the Rocky Mountains?

I think Fall is easily the best time of year to visit Rocky Mountain. The summer crowds are mostly gone. The aspens are ablaze with brilliant yellows and oranges along the hillsides and forests. And the wildlife is seemingly ever-present with the Elk bugling, marmots scurrying, bears getting ready for hibernation, and bighorn sheep making there way into the valleys.

 

You get up close and personal with some animals in this video, giving a bit of insight into the wildlife of the terrain. Was this intimidating at all? Did you ever feel like you were impeding on unsafe animal territory?

It’s always an incredible experience to get up close and personal with animals and nature in our national parks and our public lands. Rocky Mountain National Park has many of the largest land mammals found in North America. It’s important to give these animals their space and respect that this is their home and you are simply visiting. I try to always keep that in mind when I’m out hiking and enjoying our public lands and I find that as long as you keep that respect for these animals and give them their space they’ll go on about their business.

You have a lot of shots that feature the sun setting or rising, changing the colors in the frame drastically. What time of day do you find to be the best in capturing the true beauty of these mountains?

This is a great question as this varies from park to park. We found that sunrise was the best time to capture the changing light and colors in Rocky Mountain. A nice early wake up call by a placid mountain lake or a sweeping view of the valleys and peaks can afford some incredible views.