Dunes Redemption

I've been fascinated by red aspen for a few years now--ever since i saw my first red clone out at Kebler Pass during my first fall photo trek in Colorado. They are like pink diamonds to me (or pearls ); rare and precious. A couple years ago I found a big grove of beet-red aspen a few miles off trail in the Sangre de Cristo range. I tried to photograph them last week, but after two hours of crawling over downed trees and up steep rugged terrain, I ran out of water and threw in the towel--I probably was within a couple hundred yards of my goal, but who knows.
So, I was a bit disappointed, and to console myself I took a trip to the Great Sand Dunes the other day. I wanted to get an angle on the dunes that had never been captured before, so I visualized looking down on the dunes at sunset, from one of the aspen groves high up on the slopes of the Sangres. That was my idea anyways, until I arrived at the park, and while I was scanning for a nice patch of (yellow) aspen to shoot from, something caught my eye. A solitary red aspen tree glowing in the early afternoon sun. I knew right away that was my subject. It looked like an easy bushwack from the road--but these things always look easy from below! I actually had to crawl through some dense brush and thorn bushes, then scramble down a deep ravine over rocks and sharp trees--one of which carved a nice gash in my leg. But blood wasn't squirting out, just dripping, so I persevered and made it to my prize.