Category: National Forest

Williams Creek Trail, Colorado, July 2020

During my second day at Teal, after reserving my site for another night, I drove further up the road to Cimarrona Campground.

Just past Teal Campground, I stopped to photograph an old ranch building in a valley below the mountain side to the east.

Scene adjacent to Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 80mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.

Continuing to Cimarrona, I found this campground is significantly different than Teal.  Here there were Aspen trees, rather than Ponderosa Pines, the campsites seemed to be closer together and the campground more confined by the Aspens.  There were no good views from this campground, but I expect it would be quite nice in the fall, when the Aspens turn their golden yellow.

I continued on to Palisades (the horse campground) Campground at the end of forest service road 640.  There is a parking area in this campground for Williams Creek Trailhead.  Williams Creek trail goes far up into the mountains, eventually connecting to the Continental Divide Trail.

During my trip planning, I had noted the possibility of finding waterfalls along Williams Creek, which feeds into the Williams Creek Reservoir.  In viewing the trail via Google Earth, I could see that, while I might see falls or cascades from the trail, the view would probably be from so far away, that it would be impossible to get good photos of falls or the creek from the trail.  There appeared to be some possibility of walking along the creek for some distance; but eventually it looked impossible or difficult to follow the creek to the possible falls.

I decided to hike up the trail to check it out.  I could tell from the map that the trail was fairly steep in some places and I did not want to carry a heavy load, so I did not take my DSLR and heavy camera gear.  I did wear my Camelbak with a full water reservoir, a few snacks and items that would be useful in case of inclement weather or an unexpected event.

Gnarly Fallen Tree Trunk. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This fallen tree trunk was so twisted that I had to take time to photograph it along the way up the trail.

A typical view along Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is a typical view of the trail.  It was much steeper in some places and flatter or downhill in others; but the trail was mostly uphill.  I could hear the creek flowing in the distance much of the time, but not see it very often.

A view from Williams Creek Trail, Palisades Campground, Colorado. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I finally got to a place where I could see one of the features that I had spotted via Google Earth.  I was correct in surmising that the trail was so far above the creek that it would be impossible to get a good photo of the falls or cascades from the trail.  In the photo above the little white areas in the lower left are cascades or small falls in the creek.

While at this point another hiker came down the trail and said this was the best view point for this feature.  He said there was another view a short distance up the trail, but it was not as good.  I hiked up to check out that view and found that he was correct.  So I came back here and zoomed in on the creek with my iPhone.

Williams Creek as seen from far above on Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is the result and not very satisfying.  I cannot even judge the scale of these water features from this distance or this photo.  This feature on the creek is not the best one that I spotted on Google Earth, but it was evident that it would not be possible to get to the better possible falls or even get a good view from this trail.

It had been cloudy all the time I was hiking and I could hear thunder far in the distance.  The thunder finally got loud enough that I knew it was time to head back down the trail.  Since it was mostly downhill on the way back, it took much less time to hike back to the parking lot in Palisades Campground than it did to hike up.

Approaching Storm. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see the heavy clouds of the coming storm in the photo above.  I made it back down to my vehicle and back to my campsite just before it began to rain lightly.  I’m sure it was raining heavier in the higher elevations.

I’m still hoping to get good sunset light this evening at Teal Campground.

Stay tuned to see how that worked out,

Ken

 

Teal Campground July 2020, Sunset Day 1

As sunset time approached during my first day at Teal Campground, I could see no breaks in the clouds in any direction and the clouds to the west were very thick and heavy.  Light rain sprinkled intermittently.  I decided there was no need to take my DSLR out this evening and to just check out more of the area for possible sunrise compositions.

I walked towards a rail fence line on the western edge of the campground, thinking that area and the mountains to the north and west might get good sunlight the next morning.

As I was taking a few iPhone shots of possible sunrise compositions, I began to notice just a hint of late day light begin to show up on the distant mountainsides, in spite of the 360 degree, very heavy cloud cover.

I thought about hastening back to my vehicle to get my DSLR gear, but I figured that any good light would be so fleeting that it would be gone before I could do so and it would be best to at least get a shot or two with my iPhone, rather than miss the sunset entirely.

So I waited and watched as the sunset light got better and better, moving across the mountainsides in the north and to the east.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Now it was definitely too late to get out the DSLR, but had I rushed back to my vehicle as soon as I saw the possibility of a golden hour, I would have had time to get a few images with a better camera.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I know others have had this same experience and I this is not the first time this has happened to me.  I always think, “Never again”, but it happens again, anyway.

After the golden hour, the clouds began to glow, too.  The iPhone camera is just not good enough to handle the dynamic range of a glowing sky at sunset, but I made a few images and managed to salvage this one:

Sunset at Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Having missed this opportunity to shoot sunset here with my DSLR, I decided that I had to stay over another night and hope to get a good sunset again.

Take care and stay safe,

Ken

 

 

Teal Campground, Colorado, July, 2020

Teal Campground, north of Pagosa Springs, Colorado is nestled among tall ponderosa pines on the west side of Williams Creek Reservoir.  The drive into the campground is long and, after the pavement ends, is on forest service roads, the conditions of which are highly variable.  During my visit, some sections were relatively good, while most sections were rocky, bouncy, pot holed and washboarded.

The setting for the campground is attractive with good views of mountains across the reservoir and in other directions.  The campsites are available on first come basis and a fee is required.  With my National Parks Senior Pass, I only paid $11/night.  A number of campers were already there, but I was fortunate to find a perfect site for my Sportsmobile.

Teal Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There are a couple of other campsites just up the road and I was uncertain about whether I wanted to stay here or in one of the other two campgrounds.  Before I paid for my site, I walked around and found the camp host in his pickup truck talking to other campers.  He was very adamant that no smoking was allowed in any outdoors area nor in his “very clean” restrooms.  Fortunately, I am not a smoker and I did not want to use the restrooms during the pandemic anyway.  The host told me that the other campsites usually had vacancies, unless Teal was full, but one site, Palisades, at the end of the road, was only for those with horses.

I decided to stay at Teal for at least one night and check out the other sites and Williams Creek hiking trail from Palisades the next day.

After lunch, I set out to check out the area for possible photo locations, testing compositions with my iPhone.

Contours. Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Some of the big pines had interesting features, but the one above is my favorite.

The Fallen. Teal Campground Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

The ground under the pines was covered with fallen needles and pine cones.  I thought the stray section of old rusty barb wire among these made for an interesting photo.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I found a number of boulders scattered around in the grassy area near the reservoir that might make good foreground objects at sunset.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

It was an increasingly cloudy afternoon and I began to think that there would be no golden hour at sunset today.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I think I found some good possible compositions and the clouds will be great to have.  Now I just need to have golden hour light to make these better.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Aren’t those clouds magnificent?

Wildflowers in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There were numerous varieties of wildflowers around the open grassy area surrounding the campground, too.

Now I just need to have an early dinner, prepare my DSLR gear and wait for sunset.

Until then,

Ken

 

 

 

Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado, July 2020

I went out just before sunrise to photograph along the Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground, getting wet by the early morning dew covered vegetation that I had to walk through to get to the river’s edge.  It was a cool, but not really cold morning and it warmed up quickly, after the sun came up.

The Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado. Nikon D90, 0.8s, f/11, ISO 200, Nikon 12-24mm @ 18mm.

I found a spot with boulders along the river bank that looked favorable, so I began shooting prior to sunrise, making a few tentative exposures with longish shutter speeds in the still dim light.

Wanting an even longer exposure, I added a darker neutral density filter to my setup, getting a 30 second shutter speed to smooth the river current.  The neutral density filter also increases the color saturation.  I probably had a circular polarizer mounted, too; but I really do not recall for sure, since it has been a couple of months since I made these images.

The Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado. Nikon D90, 30s, f/11, ISO 200, Nikon 12-24mm @ 18mm.

Since I was in a valley, there was no golden hour light, as the sun had been up for a while before direct sun rays impinged upon the scene.

The Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado. Nikon D90, 0.6s, f/11, ISO 200, Nikon 12-24mm @ 12mm
Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground. Nikon D90, 0.5s, f/11, ISO 200, Nikon 12-24mm @ 12mm.

I think the image below may be the best one that I got during this morning’s shoot; although, I do like the earlier 30s shot, which has a more serene appearance, as compared to the more dynamic later photographs.

The Rio Grande in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado. Nikon D90, 1/10s, f/22, ISO100, Nikon 12-24mm at 12mm.

I favor the composition above, because it has more colorful vegetation, with wildflowers, along the river banks, prominent boulders, dynamic flow in the river current and those wonderful, early morning clouds in the sky and the river cutting diagonally across the image leading to the cloudy sky.

Having decided that there was not much variety to shoot at this location, I decided to move on to my next destination today, rather than trying to stay over another night here.

On my drive out of this area, I stopped along the river to shoot a few scenes, even though it was getting well into the morning with harsher light to deal with.

Adult and baby ducks swimming in the Rio Grand Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm (before crop), f/8, 1/100s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There were many ducks, adult and young ones, in the river.  So I had to try to capture a few of those.  Maybe I should have put on my 80-400mm lens to shoot the ducks, but I like to travel with the 24-70mm mounted on my camera, since it gives me more flexibility for wide to medium telephoto range landscape images.

Reflections in the Rio Grand Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 29mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

My destination today is Teal Campground north of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

More later,

Ken

Thirty Mile Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, July 2020

An interim stopover on my journey from Ridgeway, Colorado to the southeastern corner of Colorado in July, 2020 was Thirty Mile Campground.  It is a long, slow drive on rough county/forest service roads to the campground.  This campground has sites that one can reserve and others that are on a first come first serve basis.    There were only a few sites available, when I made my reservations prior to my trip to Colorado.  I wanted to be sure that I had a place to stay at least one night, so reserving a site assured that I would not have to search for a free site in the forest.  I thought I might be able to get one of the free sites, if I decided to stay a second night; but the campsites were all full or reserved on the day that I arrived and there were no reserve sites available for a second night.  I would have to wait until the second day to find any available free sites, if I wanted to stay a second night.

My campsite in Thirty Mile Campground, Colorado, July 2020. iPhone Photograph.

Thirty Mile is a nice campground and my site was just inside the campground along the Rio Grande, where it was pleasant to hear the rushing water in the river.  After checking into my campsite, I took a walk along the river to check out possible locations for photography late in the day and/or early in the morning.

The river is pretty, but there seemed to be limited possibilities for photographic variations along the river.  This is a popular place for anglers and many of the people in the campground were there to fish for trout in the Rio Grande.

I watched a doe grazing on the opposite side of the river, shooting a number of photos and videos with my phone.  The doe did not seem to care that I was watching it.  One of the unedited videos can be seen here.

After my walk along the river, I drove along the road past the campground to check out the scenery along the Rio Grande Reservoir, which is a very long reservoir.  The road beside the reservoir is mostly a narrow one lane road with periodic pullouts, where vehicles can pass each other.  It was a rainy, overcast day, which created some photographic opportunities.

An iPhone shot through windshield on a rainy day along the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

I drove almost to the very end of the reservoir before turning back.  Near the end, the water shallowed, revealing the trace of the river going into the reservoir.  In the upper end of the reservoir there was colorful vegetation and I got lucky when a break in the clouds allowed sunlight to highlight some of that vegetation.

Near the upper end of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

During my drive back towards the campground, I stopped to shoot with my iPhone at a few locations.

Wildflowers and Boulders beneath cloudy sky along the bank of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

There were a few scattered wildflowers and large colorful boulders, some covered with lichen, in various shapes between the roadway and the reservoir.

Boulders and a mountainside along side the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph,
Sportsmobile framed by boulders with a mountainside in the background, along the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.
Pointy and flat top boulders along the bank of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.
Wildflowers sheltered against a large boulder along the banks of the Rio Grande Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

The next post will have DSLR photos taken along the river and along the reservoir.

Stay well and safe,

Ken

 

 

 

North Clear Creek Falls, Colorado, July 2020

In route from the Ridgeway, Colorado area to the southeastern portion of Colorado, I stopped by North Clear Creek Falls.  This is a popular place with tourists, maybe because it is easily accessible and just off of Colorado 149 between Gunnison and Lake City.  There is a marker sign along CO 149 and a large parking lot with restrooms near the falls.

North Creek Waterfall, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 32mm (before crop), f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I photographed the falls from a number of view points, first from a distance perched on rocks away from the crowd, where I could get a downstream view of the falls.

Then I moved to the nearest view point along the fenced off area, keeping my distance from others and wearing a mask, since there were people coming and going in that area.  Most people were wearing masks, but a few were not.

North Creek Waterfall, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/22, 1/6s, ISO 31, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

It was mid day, but overcast, which was fortunate, since I did not have filters with me.  Still I had to use a small aperture to get a slow enough shutter speed to get the silky smooth water effect.

I think these two photos are the best ones that I got of the falls.  The heaviest flow is in the spring, due to snow melt; but the flow was good here even in July.

Next stop, Thirty Mile Campground.

Until then, stay safe and well,

Ken

 

July 2019 – Vaughan Lake, Colorado – Sunset

I walked from the campsite down towards the lake for sunset photography.  This was not a really easy place to shoot the landscape, since it was so wide open and I could see details in the far distance, which I knew would only be visible in the wide angle shots, when really zooming in on the image.  A long zoom lens would be necessary to see the snow covered mountain to the south of the lake.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.

The snow covered peak is in the notch in the hillside in the upper center of these photographs.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.

Compositions here were challenging.  I wanted to include foreground objects like the large, lichen covered rocks scattered about and the wildflowers.  The wildflowers were so small compared to the grand scenic scale that they are almost not noticeable.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm (before crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.

The image above is a crop from a wider angle  view, bringing out the reflection in the lake surface.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.

One can see that there were many of the large rocks that can be included in the foreground of these wide angle views.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.

Turning the camera to the left, one gets another view of the far side of the lake as the sun sinks lower in the west, extending shadows onto the hillside.

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.

Moving a little closer to the lake, allows one to see more of the lake surface with reflections of the hillside.  Note that I am still anchoring the foreground with one of the large rocks.  Otherwise, I think the foreground in such a shot would be too monotonous.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 19mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.

By getting down into a marshy area very near this little channel through the grass around the lake, I got this view, which I really like.  The channel acts as a diagonal leading line from the bottom right corner into the lake with a clear reflection of the far hillside on its surface and the eyes tend to move on through the image from there.

Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64.

I worked around the shoreline, continuing to use leading line elements in the images.

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.

The sun is now getting really low to the west, putting most of the images into shadow.  Mountains to the west are blocking the sun light well before the sun actually sets.

The leading line in the photo above is subtle.  There is a trail through the grass from the bottom right going diagonally towards the upper left.

 

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/4, ISO 64.

There was a swimming animal, probably a beaver, that swam back and forth throughout my shots near the lake.  If one looks very closely in the water just to the left of center in the image above, one can just make out a line in the water going towards the left.  That is the v shaped wake left by the swimming animal.

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.

I moved back close to the channel in the marshy area to get the shot above as the sunlight was fading fast from the scene.  Looking closely at the notch in the hillside on the left of the image, one can just get a hint of the snow covered mountain peak in the far distance.

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.

Turning the camera to the left, again using the leading line of the channel, one can see the clouds in the east beginning to acquire their sunset color.  And again the beaver’s (or whatever’s) wake is just visible in the lake as a streak of light.  Just follow the channel line out into the shadowy reflection to see the brighter line of light reflected from the wake near the center left of the image.

Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/1s, ISO 64.

And the final scene of the day, above, with sunset colored clouds in the far distance.

The images in this post are all on Flickr, so just click on the images to view them there and, preferably on a large screen, where they will look much better.

Ken

 

 

July 2019 – Colorado – Vaughan Lake Columbines

As I promised in an earlier blog, I am devoting this post entirely to Columbines, my favorite Colorado Wildflower.

Please note that all of these photos are made hand holding the camera with a large lens, which makes it more difficult to get sharp images.  The reader will note the high ISOs used to get sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the wind and camera motion.

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 240mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2000s, ISO 1600.

There were many of these adjacent to our campsite, so it was very convenient to photograph these.

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 250mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2000s, ISO 1600.

All of these images are cropped from larger images.

A single Columbine and yet to open buds:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 1600.

The back sides of Columbines are also attractive:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/11, 1/1000s, ISO 1600.

A group of Columbines:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 370mm (before crop), f/16, 1/1000s, ISO 1600.

A single Columbine with two buds:

Columbine and Buds at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 1600.

A group of Columbines:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.

Cropped from a group of Columbines:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.

The group from which the above image is cropped:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.

Another crop from a group of Columbines:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 165mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 400.

And a larger crop from the same group:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 175mm (before crop), f/11, 1/640s, ISO 400.

A single Columbine with a bud below and behind it:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 200mm (before crop), f/16, 1/320s, ISO 400.

A single Columbine with backlight:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 210mm (before crop), f/5.3, 1/5000s, ISO 400.

Columbines with backlight:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.

Columbine with backlight:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 200.

Columbine and bud with backlight:

A Columbine and Bud at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 200.

Backlit Columbine:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.

Columbine and buds with backlight:

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO 200.

A crop, removing a distracting portion on the left (note the seed pod with its sail on the upper petal):

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.

More Columbines with backlight:

Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/640s, ISO 200.

And that is all for this post, mostly photos with few boring words.

Until next time,

Ken

 

July 2019 – Colorado – Vaughan Lake

After leaving Cold Sprints Campground in Routt National Forest we traveled to Vaughan Lake Campground.

Along the route we encountered a modern day cattle drive:

A modern day Cattle Drive. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

This is a through the windshield iPhone photo of one of the batches of cattle we drove by on our way to Vaughan Lake.  There were cowboys and a very young cowgirl on horse back, loosely guiding the animals down the roadway.  Mostly the cattle seemed to know where they were going.  Occasionally, we saw a cowboy moving a wandering animal back onto the route.  There are always a few independents in every herd!

We expected there to be many wildflowers in the Vaughan Lake camping area and we were not disappointed, although some were not yet in bloom, due to a late season following a very snowy winter.

There were many Columbines, my favorite Colorado wildflower, near our campsite.  Consequently, I have many photographs of Columbines to share and I will devote another blog post entirely to Columbines.

A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO 400.
Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 220mm (before crop), f/11, 1/500s, ISO 1600.

I’ve tentatively identified the wildflower in the above image via an online wildflower site, but there is some uncertainty.  If any reader can dispute this identification, please let me know.

An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/16, 1/500s, ISO 2000.

I could not determine the identity of the above wildflower.  It might by American Vetch.

Dandelion at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 800.

There were numerous dandelions in the area.  I recall picking these as a child and blowing on the seed pods, dispersing the seeds.  This is a crop from a larger image, as are all of the wildflower photos posted here.

Silvery Lupine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/500s, ISO 800.

I think this is Silvery Lupine, but there seem to be a number of variations and hybrids of this flower, so I can’t be sure of this identification.

A seed pod and sail at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 310mm (before crop), f/11, 1/800s, ISO 1600.

I was actually trying to get a shot of the orange bell like flower seen in the lower left of the above image; but I did not succeed in getting that flower in focus.  However, I did note that this leaf with what appears to be a seed hanging onto its sail was in focus, so I cropped this portion of the image.

I should add that I was hand holding my camera with the big 80-400mm lens, so it was a bit difficult to maintain focus on the intended subject.  Keep in mind that there was some wind motion in the flowers, a shallow depth of field in these shots and much unsteadiness of the camera and lens in my hands.  Readers might note the high ISO values that I had to use to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to freeze the motion.

An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 360mm (before crop), f/8, 1/800s, ISO 1600.

Here is the orange flower that I was trying to shoot in the previous photo.  Here I managed to get the bottom bloom in focus.

Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 135mm (before crop), f/8, 1/640s, ISO 1600.

And finally, another Fendler’s Waterleaf.

I will have more on this area in subsequent blogs.  Until then,

Ken

 

 

July 2019 – Colorado – Smith Lake

Up at 4AM and out of the Sportsmobile by 4:45AM, we arrived at Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness about 30 minutes prior to sunrise.  I found the place that I had scouted the previous day and set up, taking a few test shots, while waiting for the sunrise.

The light was good, but it was breezy enough that the lake surface was rippling, so no glassy, mirror like reflections were possible.  I also had to go to 2500 ISO and F/8 to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the vegetation motion.  The high ISO resulted in more noise in the photos, requiring attenuation in post processing.

I used 3 basic compositions, shooting multiple shots of each, as the sunrise light illuminated the mountainside on the far side of the lake.  Two of the resulting shots are presented here.

Smith Lake, Routt NF, CO.
Smith Lake, Routt National Forest, Colorado Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.
Smith Lake, Routt NF, Colorado
Smith Lake in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 2.5s, ISO 64

Note that the second image above is made with a slow shutter speed (2.5s), which smoothed the water, but the vegetation may not be really sharp due to some wind motion.

I noted that the light on the mountainside might actually be best prior to sunrise, probably due to the sun already being up fairly high before the mountain received the sunrise light.

After this morning’s shoot, we broke camp and headed to Vaughan Lake Campground, so stay tuned for photos from that area.

Ken