A couple of weeks ago I finally got to shoot at the most dreamy Silverton waterfall. I’d stumbled upon a photo of this spot a few months ago when location scouting down in the Durango and Silverton area. The water was turquoise, something the San Juan mountains are known for, and the plants green and lush from the steady flow of water.

I knew that Silverton was still over 3 hours away from my hometown in Grand Junction, so I made sure to head out on a holiday weekend to have more time to explore. It's certainly a tradeoff, visiting anywhere in Colorado on a holiday weekend; however, having an extra day was worth it, even with the crowds. Somehow, we only saw three other people here the entire hour we were there.

The San Juan mountains themselves are astounding. They have always been intimidating to me because of how steep and inaccessible they are. Unless you have a strong will to spend most of the day hiking or are okay with cliffy steep drop-offs on 4x4 roads, the entire area can seem scary. So it was nice getting out to Silverton, having the same campsite for four days, and realizing that you don't have to climb 3,000 vertical feet to have a good view.

Before we headed out to Silverton, I knew I wanted to shoot at this waterfall. I was prepared to set my tripod up to photograph Keith and I - if I had to. Luckily my friend Erika and her partner Taylor made the 7+ hour-long drive from Denver to explore the San Juans as well. Erika and I know each other from our previous shoots together, as well as from our all girls content creating trip to the Pacific Northwest last fall. She is an amazing writer and a health and wellness coach, if you don't follow her on Instagram, you can do that here. Her partner Taylor is also equally as creative as a multimedia designer and animator.

On our last night, Erika, Taylor, Keith and I, along with their two dogs Presley and Sasha, headed to the waterfall, towels in hand. Never having been here, I only knew to follow the stream. Once we found our way, Keith, the dog whisperer, held on to the pups while we had ourselves a little Silverton waterfall adventure.