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Description
   Outdoor photographers and adventurers Whittaker Courtney and his father, Gary Courtney, lived out of a tent and roamed the San Juan Mountain Range for photographing, rockhounding, and gold panning for 4+ weeks, where there are hundreds of Gold Rush mines in the 312 peaks above 13,000 feet, and 14 of those are above 14,000 feet elevation.

   During the expedition, they carried out over 30 photoshoots, including high mountain lakes and waterfalls, gold mines, historic buildings, museums, and the Milky Way at midnight, panned for gold, and did some rockhounding --- all the way from Vallecito Creek 25 miles northeast of Durango, to over 75 miles north, around Ouray.
In the process, they revisited places Whittaker hadn't seen since childhood.

   Their base camps included:
* Vallecito Creek for 1 week, at 8,000 feet elevation,
* Haviland Lake for 2 weeks, near Molas Pass, at 8,700 feet,
and
* A primitive camp on Mineral Creek for over a week, west of Silverton, at 9,500 feet --- with a big bull moose living just downstream.

   During their stay, the two worked upward each day from base camp, toward 11,000 to 12,000 feet, did total darkness shots of the Milky Way from mountaintops at midnight, and resupplied and photographed in Durango, Silverton, and Ouray.

Description
   Outdoor photographers and adventurers Whittaker Courtney and his father, Gary Courtney, lived out of a tent and roamed the San Juan Mountain Range for photographing, rockhounding, and gold panning for 4+ weeks, where there are hundreds of Gold Rush mines in the 312 peaks above 13,000 feet, and 14 of those are above 14,000 feet elevation.

   During the expedition, they carried out over 30 photoshoots, including high mountain lakes and waterfalls, gold mines, historic buildings, museums, and the Milky Way at midnight, panned for gold, and did some rockhounding --- all the way from Vallecito Creek 25 miles northeast of Durango, to over 75 miles north, around Ouray.
In the process, they revisited places Whittaker hadn't seen since childhood.

   Their base camps included:
* Vallecito Creek for 1 week, at 8,000 feet elevation,
* Haviland Lake for 2 weeks, near Molas Pass, at 8,700 feet,
and
* A primitive camp on Mineral Creek for over a week, west of Silverton, at 9,500 feet --- with a big bull moose living just downstream.

   During their stay, the two worked upward each day from base camp, toward 11,000 to 12,000 feet, did total darkness shots of the Milky Way from mountaintops at midnight, and resupplied and photographed in Durango, Silverton, and Ouray.