At sometime during my second day in Colorado, my son and his wife decided that due to the smoke from numerous large forest fires in Colorado, it would be best to come south to meet me in the Rio Grande National Forest. So I needed to find a suitable campsite for all of us and scout the forest roads for potential photographic opportunities.
Thus Friday morning I continued to drive along Forest Service Road 250 and spurs off of FSR 250, looking for good campsites, stopping above Platoro Reservoir to shoot a few DSLR photos.
I had a small window of time in which to visit Colorado in September, 2020, hoping for good fall color in the Aspens. It is always difficult to determine the best area to target for the best fall conditions with all of the variables that affect the fall foliage and the weather and/or other environmental conditions that may impact travel. After much online research and consultations with others, I decided to check out the nearest area, Rio Grande National Forest, to me first, and if that did not look promising, to move on farther north into Colorado.
Since it is a long road trip from my home in Texas to Colorado, I like to make it a two day trip to avoid very long drives. A convenient stop over location for me is Lake Meredith National Recreation Area northeast of Amarilo, TX. While I would like to drive a bit farther on my first day, there are scant camping choices farther north in the Texas panhandle, without driving much longer than I would like.
There are several campgrounds around Lake Meredith, with only one having a few reservable sites. If I expect hot weather, I will reserve a site so that I can have electric for running the air conditioner in my camper. Otherwise, a free campsite is fine, since I can get by with my own water and battery power. The campsite I target, also has nice restrooms and showers, which are available to all campers.
In mid-September the night time temperatures in this area of Texas are cool, so I took a chance on finding a free campsite, which I expected to be in plentiful supply in the middle of a week. Friday and Saturdays are always busy here, but mid-week is usually not crowded.
When I arrived, there were plenty of free campsites available, but many of the reservable sites were filled.
Free Campsite at Lake Meredith NRA. iPhone photograph.
After settling in, I walked the loop around the camping area to stretch my legs, after the long drive. One of the campsites on the opposite side of the loop had a group of 6-8 large deer grazing. The deer seemed wary of my watching them, but they did not run away.
Deer in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Campground. iPhone photograph.
I had only my iPhone with me, so I could not get good close up shots. The image above is a zoomed in iPhone shot, so it is low resolution.
I had a long drive on the second leg of my trip, so I got an early start for the second day of my drive. I was not sure where I would find a spot to camp on the second night, either, so I need plenty of time to search for a suitable overnight spot before dark.
My oldest son and his wife were also planning to meet me somewhere on the third day of my trip. So I first had to not only verify the suitability of the fall color in the Rio Grande National Forest, but secondly to find a suitable campground for all of us, if we decided to stay in this area. Otherwise, they would drive north and I would have to drive to meet them elsewhere.
I arrived near the edge of Rio Grande National Forest about mid-afternoon, so it was looking good for having plenty of daylight for scouting out a campsite. On the discouraging side, I saw much freeze damage (brown, shriveled leaves), caused by an early season storm that came through a few days earlier, on the Aspens between Walsenberg, CO and my destination.
The drive became much slower, when I departed the paved route and went into the forest via Forest Service Road 250, which was rough, even though fairly well maintained. There were also many downed trees from the strong winds that blew through in that early season storm. The fallen trees had mostly been removed from the main portion of the road, but some still hung low overhead or protruded into the roadway and had to be avoided. (I have a long superficial scratch, aka Colorado Pin Stripe, along one side of my vehicle as a result of moving over a little too far, to allow room for an approaching vehicle).
The fall color was spotty, with some good patches, but many trees were still green or just beginning to change. I was not convinced that I would remain here.
Bad News? iPhone photograph.
After seeing the sign in the photo above, I was also concerned about finding suitable camping areas. There are free, dispersed campsites in unrestricted areas, but these can be small. So even though I might fit into one, my son might not be able to easily get his vehicle and trailer into one of those.
It was also hunting season, so many of the free camping areas were crowded with hunters’ tents, trucks, RV trailers, flat bed trailers, and horse trailers. After much driving around, I finally went back to a dispersed campground off of FSR 247 past Platoro Reservoir that I had passed up earlier, where there was still some open space in the camping area.
Dispersed Camping, Rio Grande National Park. iPhone photograph.
This was in a high elevation area and it had become cloudy and colder. I walked around the campsite, checking out possible photograph viewpoints, and began to feel the effects of the altitude. So I decided it best to restrict my physical activity this evening and give my body more time to acclimate before moving around too much.
I believe that the mountain peak on the right side of the image above is Conejos Peak and this campsite is just before FSR 247 crosses the Adams Fork of Conejos River.
With no cell signal, I communicated with my son via messages on my InReach Explorer GPS device, expressing my concern about the suitability of this area for our purposes.
This post is getting lengthy, so I will continue later. Stay tuned to see what evolves.
I left Teal Campground, heading towards Del Norte, Colorado, expecting to meet up with my son somewhere in that area, after he drove down from Denver to spend a few more days with me in the southeastern portion of Colorado.
When I got back into a cell phone coverage area, I got a message from my son suggesting that we meet at Cathedral Campground north of US 160 between South Fork and Del Norte.
After driving miles on narrow, rough forest service roads, I arrived at Cathedral Campground, found a suitable campsite with an open site, which I claimed for my son, across the campground loop from my site. It would be several hours before my son arrived, so I decided to hike a portion of a trail that went up the mountainside along Cathedral Creek to scout for possible sunset and/or sunrise photography locations.
Embargo Creek Crossing at Cathedral Campground. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I immediately had to cross Embargo Creek, which ran along the east side of the camping area. A short distance along the trail, it intersected Cathedral Creek and continued to follow the creek uphill.
Cliffside alone Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
After hiking a fair distance, there were views of cliffs along each side of the trail. So I began to look for good, unobstructed views of the rock outcrops and estimate the potential for getting late day or early morning light on those cliff sides.
A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
All of the views from the trail were obstructed to some extent by trees.
A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I could see the possibility of hiking through woods to maybe get beyond some of the near trail obstructions, usually requiring a creek crossing and/or new route finding off of the official trail.
Cliff view, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
The views to the west, like that above, might be good for sunrise photography.
An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
There were many beetle killed trees, which spoiled the views, along the trail.
Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
It was a partly cloudy afternoon with more clouds building up, as is normal in the late afternoons in the mountains. A late afternoon thunderstorm would not be good to be out in here.
Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
There were a number of creek crossings along the trail. This one was the prettiest. I took the above photo, while standing on rocks in the creek and the one below after crossing the creek.
Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I made an iPhone video of the creek at this crossing and it can be viewed here.
I failed to bring along my hiking stick, so I had to balance on logs and/or rocks at a number of creek crossings. At one such crossing, I had to stoop over, putting my left hand on a small log for balance as I crossed. After getting across, I noticed a young couple watching from just up the trail. They congratulated me upon my safe crossing. I decided that I needed to find a suitable stick along the trail to use as a hiking stick to balance myself at the crossings on the way back down the trail.
The couple told me there were views of cliffs a little further up the trail, but the views were from just below the cliffs and the views were all obstructed by dead trees.
I continued up the trail for a while longer, before deciding to turn back.
An obscured vies of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I can see that one might cross the creek, hike to the west through brushy areas and maybe get beyond the major obstructions. But these views were a long way up the trail from the campground. The best views were to the west, which meant hiking up the trail in the early morning dark to be at one of these locations for sunrise. The trail ran between two mountain ridges, so it was likely that the rock outcrops to the west might not get the golden hour sunlight.
The views to the east of the trail were not as good and the golden hour sunset light would be limited, at best, and one would have to hike back down the trail in the dark after a sunset shoot.
Wildflowers along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
There were a few scattered wildflowers near the creek.
An unidentified moth, iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
I spotted this colorful moth spreading its wings on a plant beside the trail. I tried to identify it, but I could find none that looked like this on a number of websites. I submitted this photo to one site that supposedly would help identify moths and butterflies, but it has been weeks since posting and I’ve gotten no response.
As usual, the hike down took much less time than the hike up the trail and this time I used a stick that I picked up along the trail as an aid in balancing at the creek crossings, making those crossings much easier and faster.
I checked my GPS device upon arriving back at my campsite to get an estimate of the change in elevation from my campsite to the highest point I hiked to on the trail. The elevation of my campsite was 9400 feet and the highest elevation I had recorded on the trail was 10,114 feet. So I had climbed up at least 714 feet in elevation.
My son arrived soon after I returned to my campsite and after a short discussion about the photographic possibilities here, we decided to move on to another area north of Del Norte that my son had explored during an earlier visit to southeastern Colorado.
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.
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.
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.
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 @ 12mmRio 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.
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.
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.
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.
