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Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 2

Continuing to drive farther along FSR 250, checking out the scenery and possible campsites, I pulled off the road, when I saw this view of a red top mountain.

A Red Top Mountain. iPhone photograph.

I made a mental note of this location, hoping to return here again, when I had more time to shoot with my DSLR.

Shortly after taking this photo, I came to Stunner Campground at the intersection of FSR 250 and FSR 380.  I was surprised to find that it was not only open, but free and no one else was there.

I pulled into the first campsite that just happened to be a  level, pull through site that would be perfect for my son and DIL’s small camper trailer.  This campsite came with a pair of hiking boots (image below).  I then staked out the next campsite just a bit more down the loop for my vehicle.

Abandoned or Forgotten Boots. iPhone photograph.

 

Stunner Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph.

Just up the hillside, on one side of my campsite, were tailings from an old mine or exploratory mine.

A few other campers began to arrive in the campground a little later with a few staying and a few driving on.

Since I had plenty of time before my son arrived, I did a lot of walking in and around the campground, scouting for potential photographic opportunities.

Stunner Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

There were many large rocks and boulders scattered around the campground.  The rocks usually had splotches of lichen growing on them in interesting patterns.

Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.

I worked my down towards the Alamosa River that ran beside the campground.

Mine Tailings and the Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The photo above was taken from atop mine tailings, looking down towards the river and across to a mountainside.  Notice that there are patches of good fall color, but most of the trees are still green or just showing signs of changing.

The beetle killed evergreen trees really spoil the scenery now all around the Rocky Mountains, but there are trees that either are resistant or maybe just not yet attacked by the beetles.

The soil in this area is mineral rich, resulting in an orange-red color in the water, staining the rocks and anything else in the water.  The water is acidic from the naturally occurring minerals and the mine tailing contribute even more to the natural elements in the water.

Mine Tailings above the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.

There were numerous other indications of old mining operations around the campground and I even saw newish claim stakes in one location.

Stunner Campground View. iPhone photograph.

That little Aspen tree in the photo above really caught my eye, so I had to photograph it with a green evergreen tree as background.  I tried other compositions and close up views, but this one is most pleasing to me.

Mineral stained driftwood along the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.
Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

When my son arrived, he said the fall color in this area was the best he had seen on his trip from the Denver area and that there was much smoke from forest fires visible during most of the drive.  There seemed to be little, if any indication of smoke in this area.

We drove around a little after they arrived to decide where to go for a morning shoot the next day.

This is open range country, so there were cows wandering around the forest.  A small herd of cattle moved into the campground during the night, sleeping in the open, grassy meadow of the campground.

Early morning frost and curious cattle in Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The darker spots in the grass of the photo above are places where the frost did not form, because an animal was laying there during the night.

Much more on this trip to follow,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 1

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.

Platoro Reservoir. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 64.

Much snow fell in this area during the early fall storm with much remaining on the mountain peaks and a few patches in shady, lower elevations.

Fall Rocks. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, 1/15s, f/16, ISO 64.

Walking up a hillside, I found large boulders with colorful lichen interspersed with the Aspens.

Scared. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Aspen tree trunks often have interesting features, but this one, adjacent to one group of boulders, had a major scar.

Forest Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Another view of two large, lichen covered boulders in the Aspen grove is above.

My main task today was to find another campsite, so I soon moved on to continue that search.

More later,

Ken

 

 

Colorado, September 2020

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.

Ken

 

Happy New Year 2021!

2020 has been a year of much pain and suffering and inconveniences for most of the world.  As 2020 draws to a close, 2021 is showing promise of a better ending, but there are still dark days ahead in the early part of the new year.

As you celebrate the New Year, please stay safe and healthy.

Let’s all work to make 2021 a big improvement over 2020.

Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year,

Ken

Sunrise, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 30, 2020

We arose early on the morning of July 30 to get out and into position before the sunrise.  I again went to the south side of the volcanic ridge, but this time just a little below the crest to await the sunrise.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

My first composition here included a little too much of the scrubby vegetation in the lower right corner of the image.  So I changed the composition a little and then cropped the image more to get this out of the photograph.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64

One can see the light moving down the south slope and beginning to highlighting some of the rocks and vegetation in the lower left of this image.

I moved more towards the most prominent portion of the ridge to get this image.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64

The shot above is the best image of the morning, in my opinion.

Stay tuned for sunset and night images,

Ken

Sunset Photography, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 29, 2020

After scouting around some of the BLM land and the Rio Grande National Forest in southeastern Colorado, we returned to our campsite near a large volcanic ridge for sunset photography.

Sunset Road, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640

The road along which we parked made a good leading line, so I made several images here.

Sunset Road. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 22mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 1600

It just happened that this road led directly towards a golden hour illuminated hill in the distance.  There were nice clouds in the distance and thin, wispy clouds above those.  Those wispy clouds added interest with the low angle sunset rays accentuating them.

English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 3200

To the north of the road there is another eroded portion of a volcanic dike.  That feature did not get much late day light, since it was in the shadow of hills to the west well before the golden hour.  From the view point above that outcrop looks like a pinnacle.

English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 4000

Walking to the east, this same outcrop looks completely different.  Although, this feature did not get golden hour light, there were illuminated clouds in the sky behind it, making these last three images more interesting.

English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/320s, ISO 4000

Stay tuned for sunrise photos,

Ken

 

Sunrise Photography, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 29, 2020

My son and I camped on BLM land north of Del Norte in July, 2020.  We chose a location adjacent to a volcanic ridge, where we would photograph at sunrise and sunset.

Arising early in the morning, we only had to hike a short distance to our first photo location.  I initially chose to go to the south side of the ridge, looking for a good view of the large ridge with interesting foreground objects.

I first chose a tree as a foreground item, but I did not like that location, as it seemed too far from the ridge.  I then moved up the slope towards the ridge, to a large boulder to use in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

This early image was made as the sunrise light just began to illuminate a portion of the ridge, with all of the foreground still in shadow.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

As the sunlight progressed over the ridge, I changed my composition, moving to the left of the boulder.  Note that sunlight is just beginning to highlight the small tree in front of the boulder and a little of the grass clumps in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64

Eventually, the early morning light moved down the slope, highlighting more of the foreground.  When I saw the light hitting the small clump of cacti on the boulder, I knew I had the shot that I wanted.

My son, who was shooting from the top of the lower portion of the ridge, called to me telling me that I should move up to the ridge crest.  So I picked my way up the steep rock covered slope, where I made the image below.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64

I tested a few other compositions from this location on the ridge, but none of those worked out very well.  There were some impressively long shadows in the valley to the south of this ridge.  I made a few exposures with those shadows in the landscape image, but all of my compositions from this vantage point were disappointing.

We soon retreated to our campsite for breakfast, after which we will do a bit of scouting in the general area during the mid-day hours, then return here for a sunset shoot.

Until then, stay safe,

Ken

 

 

 

English Valley Sunset, Colorado, July 2020

From La Garita Arch we drove to an area called “English Valley”.  We parked at a turn around at the end of a sometimes barely discernible road at a high area overlooking a valley to the south.

The sun was rapidly sinking in the sky, so we quickly found spots to try to capture the late day sunset sky above the valley.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

We were fortunate to have good clouds to the south and we could see a little rain falling in the distance.

As the light changed, I moved to other locations and turned a little more to the east.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado.Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

The moon had risen early and became visible as the clouds moved around.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

One can see how the light in the clouds migrated as the clouds themselves blew across the scene.

The last image in this post was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page, but I like the first image in this post better, although the light on the valley is better in the last image.

We thought about staying the night at this location, but decided to go to another area, where my son said we would have better chances of good sunrise subjects to shoot.

More later,

Ken

Cathedral Creek Trail, Scouting Photographs, July 2020

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.

More on that later,

Ken