La Garita Arch, Colorado, July 2020

Leaving Cathedral Campground, we headed to an area to the north of Del Norte, Colorado that my son had explored sometime earlier this year.  Our first stop was at La Garita Arch, a natural arch in an ancient volcanic dike on BLM land.

La Garita Arch, Southeastern Colorado, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

We were here well before sunset, so I made a few iPhone photographs, while awaiting the golden sunset hour.

Panorama at La Garita Arch, Colorado. iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Hiking up a hillside to the west of the arch, looking for a good place from which to shoot, I noted many cacti of various kinds scattered around, intermingled with some colorful, lichen covered rocks.

Cacti, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It required some attention to where one stepped to avoid putting a foot onto one of these.

The arch is not an easy one to photograph and the shadow of the hillside to the west of the arch moves quickly up the incline to the arch as the sun sinks into the sky, limiting the late day light on the arch.

La Garita Arch. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.

Of the many shots I took, the one above is the best.

We had hoped to camp nearby the arch, but the only real campsite here was already taken.  So we moved on to another area, where we hoped to get other late day images before the sun completely set.

More on that next,

Ken