{"id":34052,"date":"2015-12-08T06:03:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T13:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34052"},"modified":"2025-03-26T14:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T19:11:12","slug":"sunset-paints-the-sky-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/08\/sunset-paints-the-sky-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunset Paints the Sky at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wanted to share an image today that I felt was peaceful, simple and colorful but serene and I thought of this one taken at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/red_rock_lakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon this past September.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142036 size-full\" title=\"Painted Sky at Red Rock Lakes NWR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287.jpg\" alt=\"Painted sky at Red Rock Lakes NWR. Lower Lake view of the sunset, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana\" width=\"900\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27504%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20504%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27504%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-200x112.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-250x140.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-400x224.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-600x336.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-768x430.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287-800x448.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Painted Sky at Red Rock Lakes NWR &#8211; Nikon D300, f5.6, 1\/100, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 31mm, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The are times when I feel that the sunset paints the sky with vibrant colors and although the earth seems muted at twilight its still anchors me.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t mean &#8220;anchor&#8221; as in a ball and chain, I mean grounded. Connected. Part of the natural world.<\/p>\n<p>There is no fear there, no hate. There are no twisted meanings because the earth and sky don&#8217;t use words.<\/p>\n<p>Nature doesn&#8217;t need words to speak.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge photos plus facts and information about this refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The are times when I feel that the sunset paints the sky with vibrant colors and although the earth seems muted at twilight its still anchors me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,223,12,608],"tags":[4101,6303,4794,12272,5178,615,4094,4069,4793,958,4092,4018,3993,5434,12273,3996,4095],"class_list":["post-34052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-clouds","tag-colorful","tag-connected","tag-horizon","tag-lake","tag-lower-lake","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-painted-sky","tag-reflections","tag-refuge","tag-sky","tag-sunset","tag-valley","tag-vibrant-colors","tag-water","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-painted-sky-mia-mcpherson-8287.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8Re","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94830,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/12\/colorful-twilight-sky\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":0},"title":"Colorful Twilight Sky At Red Rock Lakes NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't have much to say today and all I really wanted to do was share this photo of a colorful twilight I took at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge about 6 years ago.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colorful twilight at Red Rock Lakes NWR, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-colors-mia-mcpherson-8250.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-colors-mia-mcpherson-8250.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-colors-mia-mcpherson-8250.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-colors-mia-mcpherson-8250.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41906,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/08\/colorful-sunset-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":1},"title":"Colorful Sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Watching a colorful sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge fade to the darkness of night is a gift. A wonderful, priceless gift.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colorful sunset at the Lower Lake of Red Rock Lakes NWR, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-8203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-8203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-8203.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-mia-mcpherson-8203.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28304,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/17\/crepuscular-rays-and-watercolor-skies-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":2},"title":"Crepuscular Rays and Watercolor Skies at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My focus is usually birds and animals but as many of you know I also can't resist taking images of the beautiful views I see such as these two views of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last week.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunset and Watercolor Skies at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8187.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8187.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73039,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/23\/in-every-sunset-there-is-a-promise-and-a-gift-from-nature\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":3},"title":"In Every Sunset There Is A Promise And A Gift From Nature","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Throughout my life I have liked to think that every sunset has a promise and a gift from Nature in it. The promise that the sun will rise again in the morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colorful clouds at sunset from Red Rock Lakes NWR, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-lower-lake-sunset-mia-mcpherson-8209.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34743,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/08\/sunset-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":4},"title":"Sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This image shows a sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge from September 9, 2015 but every sunrise and sunset on our national lands is a treasure.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunset at Red Rock Lakes NWR, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/red-rock-lakes-sun-set-mia-mcpherson-8216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/red-rock-lakes-sun-set-mia-mcpherson-8216.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/red-rock-lakes-sun-set-mia-mcpherson-8216.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/red-rock-lakes-sun-set-mia-mcpherson-8216.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28213,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/09\/08\/a-lovely-september-afternoon-at-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":34052,"position":5},"title":"Lovely September Afternoon at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am camping in one of my favorite locations in the world right now, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lovely Afternoon at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-september-mia-mcpherson-8088.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/red-rock-lakes-nwr-september-mia-mcpherson-8088.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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