Colorado – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 5

This is a continuation of fall photogrphy in Colorado’s Rio Grande National Forest in September 2026.

‘Emerging’ has a double meaning for this photo. The trees in the foreground are just beginging to show fall colors emerging from the green and those trees in the background are emerging from the early morning mist.

The campground I stayed in is free range country for cattle and for some reason these black cows liked to bump into and rub against my vehicle, which was startling in the dark of night, as I lay sleeping in that vehicle.

I can’t resist photographing these little mountain streams with their miniature waterfalls and cascades. There is also a big waterfall, that I discovered a few years ago, upstream from this location. I thought with the recent rains that there might be a good flow over those falls and wanted to go there; but it is a really steep climb, which is difficult enough when the ground is dry, but much more trecherous when wet. So even though I began that climb, I soon realized that maybe it was not worth the effort and risk, so I moved on down the road.

A pretty valley with a river meandering through it, as I meandered along a forest road, stopping occassionally to photograph such scenes.

These trees seem organized in size and color by regimented ranks along a mountainside.

This big rock in an Alpen grove gave me a new idea for a photographic theme: Forest Rocks with Fallen Fall Leaves.

And the lichen on the rocks adds more interest.

There will be more photos in this theme in upcoming blogs.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 4

More fall photography in the Rio Grande National Forest of Southern Colorado.

While there is not an official sign in place for visitors to a National Forest, people have a way of creating their own on the trunks of trees. It is common to find many such as that in this photo along side forest roadways.

I think Aspens may be the most photogenic of all forest trees. Even their bare trunks are attractive.

And even monochrome images in a colorful Aspen forest can be appealing.

I parked a little below Stunner Pass, walked back up the roadway to shoot a few scenic views from the roadway.

This talus slope is no obstacle for Aspens.

‘The Junction’ refers to the intersecting roads at the bottom of this photo, but I suppose that description can be extended to the mountains in the background, too.

More Colorado fall photos to come,

Ken

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 3

This is a continuation of fall photography in Rio Grande National Forest of Southern Colorado in September 2926.

The forest road was mostly ok, even though wet, muddy and bumpy, just a few slippery places to be cautious on.

The unusual always commands more attention than does normal.

I’m always curious about what is just around the bend.

Aspen trees are connected by their root system, making a batch of such trees members of the same family or community.

An advantage of walking along a forest roadway in the rain is getting photos like these, while passerbys stop to make sure you are ok, because nobody in their right mind walks around in the rain with a camera.

Stay tuned for more fall photography,

Ken

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 2

This is a continuation of fall photography in the Rio Grande National Forest of southern Colorado in September 2026.

I made a number of images at this location, while walking around in the drizzling rain, along Forest Service Road 250, which follows the Conejos River for a long way in Rio Grande National Forest.

This was not the kind of weather I wanted, but I knew before I began this trip that there were significant chances of rain for each day here.

With the recent and continuing rains, the local streams were flowing again after a long dry spell and there is something irresistible about a mountain stream in every season.

Ok, time to move on down the road,

Ken

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 1

It had been years since I visited Colorado in the fall. Not because I didn’t want to be there in the fall, but because the timing never worked out. This year I had a narrow window of opportunity to visit Colorado and I took advantage of it.

I knew in advance that this year might not be a great year for fall color in Colorado, due to a wide spread drought; but I knew that if I passed up this opportunity, I might not get another for years. So I went.

On the second day of travel, as I neared my destination in Southern Colorado, it began to rain. Mostly, light, intermittent showers, but sometimes heavy downpours. It rained and was overcast most of the time I was there with only the last couple of days partly sunny with occasional light rain.

I’ve driven past these peaks numerous times in my trips to and from this part of Colorado. Today those heavy clouds above the peaks inspired me to stop and shoot this image.

I arrived at the south end of Forest Service Road 250 in the late afternoon and I stopped a few time along the road to shoot a few images, while looking for a place to overnight in my vehicle.

This time of the year is not only leaf peeping season in Colorado, but hunting season as well. So there were many hunters in the Rio Grande National Forest, taking up many of the open campsites. I was also surprised to see that a number of forest campgrounds that were closed the last time I was in this area were still closed. I don’t know why, but I suspect budget cuts by the current Washington regime is responsible.

And the rains made some dispersed camping areas difficult or impossible to use. Fortunately, I found a suitable place to stay overnight, although I did walk into the area first to make sure I could navigate the muddy dirt roads and puddles.

This is an iPhone photo with the wide angle lense distortion making it look like those evergreens are leaning in to protect my vehicle from the inclement weather.

I found it interesting that this group of small aspens near my campsite are all bent in the same manner. Perhaps these were deformed when very small by a snow load and maintained that shape as they have grown.

More Colorado fall photos to come. Thanks for following,

Ken

Black Canyon of the Gunnison – North Rim

From Ridgway we traveled to Hotchkiss, Colorado, where we planned to visit the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Years ago we had briefly visited the south rim, but this was the first visit to the North Rim. After checking into our motel, which was surprisingly nice for such a small town, we drove to the north rim.

It is a fairly long drive from Hotchkiss to the canyon, but I wanted to do a bit of scouting, prior to returning for late day or early morning photos. It was early afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. We stopped at a number of canyon overlooks, where I snapped iPhone scouting photos.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone Photo

Since this is a deep canyon, direct sun light penetrates to the bottom for only a few minutes each day. The best time to photograph the canyon is probably not during the typically preferred golden hours of early morning and late day, so timing when to be here is a problem for those of us that are not highly knowledgeable of the lighting variation across the seasons here.

Much geology is revealed in the rocks of the canyon walls. One can find lots of information on the canyon’s geology via many online sources. Here is one link to check out, if interested, and another here.

The last photo in this post shows a feature referred to as “The Camel” (left of center and just above the vertical center).

My original intention was to return to the canyon with my DSLR either later today or the next morning, but given the travel time from our lodging and the uncertainty about the best time of day to be here, I decided more effort on this visit might not be adequately fruitful. Instead, we changed our travel plans and decided to move on towards home a day earlier than planned.

I know these iPhone photos are not very good, but these are all I have for this trip.

Ken

Salvaging the Day

After a day of browsing and walking around in Ouray and Telluride, quaint, old Colorado tourist towns, we had dinner in Ridgway. I had hoped to be able to rush up the highway toward or over the Dallas Divide from Ridgway, after dinner for sunset photography, but we were a little late getting out and the service was slow at our restaurant. By the time we finished dinner, it was too late to go anywhere. Arriving back at our lodging and resigned to having lost my opportunity for sunset photography today, I hoisted my camera backpack, grabbed my tripod and camera and began to walk into the lodge. Then I noted golden sunset light on the nearest mountaintops. So I jogged down the road past the inn to get past other buildings, power lines and trees to try to get into a location to shoot the rapidly changing scene before the light faded away.

Moon, Sunset Clouds and Fading Mountain Light

As the sunset light faded away, I walked back towards the inn, stopping to photograph grass and wildflowers in the dim evening light.

What will tomorrow bring?

Until then,

Ken

Telluride, CO, August 2022

After a morning of browsing and shopping in Ouray, we traveled over the Dallas Divide to Telluride, another quaint, old Colorado town that is popular with summer tourist and winter skiers.

In route along Colorado 62, I kept an eye out for potential photography sites, hoping to return for sunset photos. I stopped at one location to get a few shots of the afternoon storm clouds building over the mountain tops.

In Telluride, I only used my iPhone to shoot a few images in the old town.

There must be a story behind this mural painted on the side of a Telluride building, but I don’t know it.

Butch Cassidy reportedly took over $24,000 in the robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank. That was quite a bit of money in those days, equivalent to about $857,000 in 2022 money. Butch should have retired after this haul.

So much for this quick visit to Telluride.

Until next time,

Ken

U.S. 550, August 2022

The drive from Durango, Colorado via US 550 to Silverton and Ouray has to be one of the best road trip drives in the U.S. with magnificent mountain views, many sharp switchbacks with slow speed required to safely navigate those sharp curves. The road is often on the very edge of steep drop offs.

There are prominent red top mountain peaks that can be seen for miles along this roadway. Somewhere between Durango and Ouray, I pulled off at a dirt road going into the forest to get a few shots of red top mountains with the typical afternoon storm clouds gathering above them.

Until next time,

Ken

Abandoned Truck in Colorado Mountains

After photographing an abandoned mine mill near Animas Forks, CO, we drove back along a 4 wheel drive road towards Animas Forks, keeping an eye out for an abandoned truck we had been told about.

We soon spotted the truck a short distance up a spur road.

Wildflowers and clouds seem to be trying to comfort this old, rusting, abandoned truck in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Later,

Ken

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Category: Colorado

Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 5

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Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 4

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Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 3

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Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 2

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Colorado Fall – Sep 2026 – Part 1

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison – North Rim

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Salvaging the Day

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Telluride, CO, August 2022

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U.S. 550, August 2022

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Abandoned Truck in Colorado Mountains

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