See the ‘backyards’ of the West

Editors’ Choice | Tundra Monarch: On a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, the photographer waited for the sunset, and an elk happened to walk into his frame.

Readers' Choice | Double Rainbow, All The Way: This bright double rainbow lasted more than 30 minutes in the photographer’s backyard in Carbondale, Colorado.

Runner Up | Waking the Sleeping Ute: The photographer watched thunderstorms roll in from the Four Corners and light up the Sleeping Ute in Dolores, Colorado.

Runner Up | Fox Fight: The photographer witnessed a foxing match in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone’s Northern Range. It only lasted about 10 seconds, and the defeated fox stayed for half an hour after the fight was over, licking his wounds.

Peekaboo: A pacific tree frog, no bigger than a thumbnail, among the shrubs at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, in Nisqually, Washington.

Stormy Monday: San Francisco Bay taken during the photographer's job working on tug boats, maneuvering ships to and from their docks.

Whirling Walls: An image of the intricate patterns in the slot canyons of Upper Antelope Canyon in Northern Arizona.

Safer Up Here: A yearling brown bear cub finds refuge in a tree after fishing with its mom at Brooks Falls, in Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Behold: Mount Sneffels makes a fleeting appearance at sunrise after an autumn snowfall in Colorado.

Owl: A beautiful owl landed on a tree and posed for the photographer in Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado.

Lightning Over the Monument: After a rainy day in the Grand Valley, the photographer witnessed a lightning show over Colorado National Monument.

Rattlesnake: A southern pacific rattlesnake in Ventura County, California.

Morning Light: Light streams over rocks in the Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Arizona.

Our secret lake: The photographer's dog takes a dip in a lake in the high Cascades.