The last night camping along Owl Creek Pass Road was the coldest night I experienced on this trip. When I awoke in the pre-dawn hours the temperature inside the Sportsmobile was 45 degrees F. I turned on the furnace to bring the temperature up to a more pleasant 55 degF, as I dressed and prepared coffee. As I was preparing to leave the campsite for the final day of photography, I noted a patch of frost on the inside of the windshield and a bit of frost on the exterior. The frost quickly disappeared after starting the van and putting the heater setting on defrost.
I drove on Owl Creek Pass Road towards Silver Jack Reservoir and pulled into a wide pull out just before a cattle guard just south of an access road to Silver Jack Reservoir. This area was a mile or so further north of the area where I had shot the morning before. I gathered my gear, including knit hat and gloves, since it was still a bit frosty prior to sunrise. I walked down a slope in a pasture towards the broad drainage into Silver Jack Reservoir, looking for a good vantage point from which to shoot the mountainside to the west, dodging cow patties as I went along.
A frosty cow pie. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I set up the tripod and camera in a place where I thought the view was best and one that allowed me to move around a bit, if necessary, then waited for the sunrise, choosing initial compositions and taking a few test shots.
The sky was clear, much different than the previous morning. I made a number of photos, as the morning light moved from the top of the mountainside downward towards the drainage, from a couple of slightly different vantage points.
A fall scene off of Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Skylum Luminar 2018.An early morning fall scene near Silver Jack Reservoir, Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The compositions from my chosen location were a bit limited. It was difficult to avoid the foreground clutter, with the 24-70mm lens that I had elected to use this morning, and many of the shots looked so similar or otherwise just did not turn out as I wanted, that I am posting only a couple that I liked best. I chose to shoot with the 24-70mm, since I was rather sure that the 14-24mm wide angle lens, that I had used the previous morning, would be too wide for what I wanted to shoot today. It is possible that the 80-400mm lens might have been a better choice in this location for shooting beyond the foreground clutter and I certainly could have gotten some good shots of the mountain peaks with that big lens.
Finished shooting here, I drove north on Owl Creek Pass Road, exploring the area and looking for favorable places to maybe get mid-morning shots of the colorful Aspens. I walked around in an Aspen forest, shooting with the wide angle 14-24mm, which I found to be a bit difficult to work with in the woods. Nearly all of the shots that I had high hopes for, turned out poorly, but I do like the one below with the long shadows cast by the trees.
Fall forest shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
After shooting in the forest, I continued driving along Owl Creek Road, enjoying the great fall day and the scenery, stopping occasionally to shoot with my iPhone.
A scene in one of the Silver Jack camp grounds that are run by the forest service. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A side road off of Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A mid-morning fall scene along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Along the roadway, I encountered a lone cow that stood in the middle of the road, staring at me. I stopped to wait for it to move along. As it continued to look at me, I picked up the iPhone with the intention of getting a photo of it. As soon as I did this, it turned and started to walk away down the road. I followed, slowly. Eventually, it moved to the edge of the roadway and I pulled up beside it, stopped and it stared up at me. Again I picked up the iPhone, aimed it at the cow and it immediately turned and walked away. Again it stopped in the middle of the road to stare back at me. Again I started to shoot it with the iPhone and again it began to walk away. I can only surmise that it was a camera shy cow. I really wanted a shot into its eyes as it stared, but I only got shots of it walking away.
The camera shy cow. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Aspens in fall color and evergreens along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I began to make my way along Owl Creek Pass Road towards highway 550 and Ridgway, where I would spend the night in Ridgway State Park before heading to Bisti in New Mexico the following morning.
Along the way, I was hailed by someone driving a jeep coming up the road in the opposite direction. I stopped to see what was going on, thinking that they might be wanting to warn me about road conditions ahead. It turned out to be the couple that had visited my first campsite (the ones that wanted to use my campsite the following day). They easily recognized my vehicle since it was the only one like it in the area and they just wanted to chat. We only had time for a brief conversation, since other vehicles began to accumulate behind them. I also had conversations with others (campers, tourist, photographers, hunters) that I encountered at various locations in this area. It is always interesting to learn about others and their backgrounds, experiences, etc. and surprising how many times we find people with similar backgrounds, who are familiar with seemingly unusual places we or our family members have lived.
Future posts will cover the couple of days that I spent shooting in the Bisti Wilderness area in New Mexico, which is becoming one of my favorite places for photography.
After the previous post, I realized that I had forgotten to include a few iPhone photos of my final campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road. So this is just a brief post to add those photos. Thanks for your indulgence.
The final campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Fall 2018, iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A panorama at the last campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Fall 2018, iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Panorama of last campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado, Fall 2018. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
After early and mid-morning photos on day 3 along Owl Creek Pass Road, I drove around exploring other areas and spur roads off of the main forest road, looking for another suitable campsite that would put me near a place for sunset photos. Many of the best campsites were already taken and I ended up across the creek from my first night’s campsite, where I saw a couple of hunters breaking camp. I pulled into the site, struck up a conversation with the hunters, the younger one a chemical engineer from Missouri and son-in law of the older one from Arkansas. The older hunter has been coming to this area since the 1970s. They had been elk hunting, unsuccessfully; but they had an antler shed, which they offered to me. Having no desire for the shed, I left it at the campsite for someone else to find. After they finished loading their considerable camping and hunting equipment, including an OHV, onto a trailer and into their pickup trucks, they headed out and I moved into the flattest area of the site. This campsite was very open and it was a sunny day, so I put out the solar panels and allowed them to charge the Sportsmobile batteries, until about an hour before sunset, then I packed those away, since I did not want to pack them up after dark and I expected it would be dark soon after my sunset shots.
The views from this site were very similar to those on my first night and first morning of camping, but with more trees and the creek between me and the mountainside. I walked around the area and down along the creek, looking for suitable places from which to shoot, then had a sandwich, potato chips and Gatorade for dinner, while waiting for the late afternoon light.
The photos from this site were so similar to those from the first day of shooting and with more clutter in the foreground, that I initially thought about not including any in this blog; but as I looked at them a second time, I thought some might look better, if converted to monotone or edited with one of my other image editors, in addition to Lightroom adjustments to the raw images. So I did just that, experimenting with Nik Silver Effects Pro and Color Effects 4 and Skylum Luminar 2018 software.
The photos posted here are also posted to Flickr (just click on an image), where the images will be sharper and brighter than in this post.
One of only two color photos chosen to post from this shoot. I’m not really enthralled by this composition and in particular the bland sky, but I think it might be the best of the color images that I captured during this shoot. I processed the raw image in Lightroom and Luminar 2018. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 160.This is the best sunset light that I saw on this feature. I might have brought out the colors in the foreground a bit more, but I wanted the emphasis to be on the rocks in the mountainside. Raw image processed in Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 160.I really wanted to see the cliff face in this image appear colorful in the setting sunlight, but it never got as much light on it as I wanted. At least, the color bands, shadows and highlight along the rock face add interest in this version. The trees in the foreground are colorful, with contrasting color and shapes, but just did not seem to work as well in the color image.This large cliff face was just south of my campsite. The rock is not colorful and the setting sun did not produce a colorful glow at any time as the sun went low on the horizon, so this and all the other color photos of this feature were bland. In this B&W conversion, I wanted to emphasize the rock along the edge and top of the mountainside, while keeping hints of the trees in fall color in the foreground. The sky was mostly bland, adding minimal interest, other than the cloud along the right side, so I made the sky go mostly dark, making the cliffside look as if it had been purposely light painted. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.Those of you who have viewed the photos from my first blog about this photo trip will recognize this feature. In this B&W version, I like the contrasts produced by variations in the tree foliage color and the shape of the trees in the foreground, as well as the highlight on the rock outcrops. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 160.This is a similar view to that in the above photo, with more sky, less of the trees in the foreground and more of the mountainside. The sky was bland, so I let it go black to emphasize the rock along the skyline, while retaining the hints of fall color in the deciduous trees. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64.The rock face in the original color photo is very colorful in the setting sunlight; but the foreground is distracting in the color photo. I have kept a hint of the foreground color in the trees in this image, while highlighting the rocks with its texture and shadows. I like the way the two tall evergreen trees appear to be pointing towards the rising moon and the diagonal lines formed by the tree lines and the jagged, horizontal line of the top of the mountainside, both converging near the rising moon. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, IDO 64.I was trying to capture the reflection of color in the sky in the branch of the creek near the center of this image, but it just did not fit well with the rest of the image. I like this B&W conversion with the fall color in the trees, showing up brightly against the dark evergreens. I do not like the tree along the left edge, but I could not find a pleasing composition of this scene that excluded that tree. There is also a halo effect, produced by the Nik Silver Effects Pro software, that is quite noticeable along the top of the peak on the right side of the image. I do not really like this effect; but I currently do not know how to eliminate it. I’m sure there must be a way to tone this down. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 30mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 160.
The opinions expressed about the images here are my subjective ones. I welcome your feedback, opinions and critiques, as I can always use those to improve my work.
I made a trip to Colorado in middle to late September to see fall colors and then down to the Bisti Badlands to shoot there while the temperature was not so hot, to explore new areas and to experiment with different lenses.
I was not at all sure that the colors would be good in Colorado, since I would be going a little earlier than the colors normally peak, but I only had a small window into which to fit this trip, so I took a chance. I had seen reports that the colors were early in areas that were in drought conditions, so I knew that I had a good chance of seeing some color, even if not peak color.
As it turns out the colors were quite good with some trees past peak, but many just peaking or not even changed at all. So it does look like the drought is affecting the timing of the color change and stretching out the color change interval. Anyway, I’ll have more on the photography of the fall color in a subsequent post.
Looks like peak or near peak color here. (iPhone photo)Trees seem to be in peak color near Monarch Pass. (iPhone photo)
As the title of this post implies, this trip was fraught with some not so good experiences. This post is just to vent these frustrations and to reveal the problems one might encounter in any such road trip. I’m sure others, who do these type trips in camper vehicles, have encountered much more serious problems.
The first negative event happened on the first leg of the journey somewhere between Wichita Falls and Claude, Texas along US287, which is a four lane divided highway along most of that route. Approaching an 18 wheeler, I pulled into the left hand lane to pass, then the 18 wheeler pulled into the lane in front of me, moving over for another 18 wheeler that had pulled off of the road with some problem. No problem, I just backed off a bit and the 18 wheeler began to pull back into the right lane as soon as it cleared the 18 wheeler that was parked on the shoulder. The highway surface there consists of aggregate and asphalt. As the truck changed lanes, it apparently kicked up a rock which hit the left edge of my windshield with a loud crack, creating not only a rock chip, but a crack about six inches long. That crack continued to grow throughout my road trip and is now more than double its original length. When the sunlight falls on the crack at just the right angle, it creates a bright spot that flashes directly into my eyes. A new windshield will be required and I just had a minor rock chip repaired after my first real road trip in the vehicle.
Windshield crack that was initiated by a rock hitting the edge of windshield. (iPhone photo)
The second negative event happened that evening at my first stop in route. I planned to sleep in the penthouse bed, since that is usually more comfortable and cooler than the bench seat bed in the back of the Sportsmobile. I pushed the button to activate the motor to raise the penthouse top and immediately there were loud popping noises from the passenger side of the motorized mechanism. I immediately lowered the roof (the driver’s side was going up and the other side went up less, creating a tilt to the roof). I repeated this process, hoping that whatever was causing the problem would be cleared. I gave up raising the penthouse after several attempts, not wanting to get the top stuck in an up position. I had just had another issue with the penthouse installation repaired by Sportsmobile in Austin a few weeks prior and I had not tried to raise the roof until this trip. (Lesson learned: Always check anything that is worked on before driving away).
So what are the impacts of not being able to raise the top, other than not being able to use the penthouse bed? Items stored on the platform behind the bench seat have to be distributed elsewhere in the vehicle to make the lower bed, then put back before traveling again. This takes time and is somewhat of a pain to do. The bedding (sheets, pillows, covers) all have to be packed away, while these can be left in place in the Penthouse. The lower bed is much firmer than the upper bed (the bench seat and back platform are covered in leather and quite firm). On the positive side, when it is cold outside, which it was several nights in the higher elevations, it is warmer sleeping below, rather than in the penthouse, since the penthouse walls are just canvas and/or plastic in the window areas.
A third concern, which turned out not to be a real issue, was noted when I returned from the first morning photo shoot. I noted a small wet spot beneath the vehicle near the diesel furnace, which I had used for just a few minutes in the cold, early morning just after awakening. Upon inspection, I saw a slow fluid drip beneath the vehicle. My fear was that it was a diesel leak, but I quickly ruled that out by an inspection of the fluid, which had no odor or oiliness. I knew the furnace used some type of coolant, so I figured it was a coolant leak from the furnace. I had no cell signal where I was, so it was later in the day, as I moved around that I was able to communicate via messaging with Sportsmobile. Since it was not diesel, it had to be a coolant leak or overflow and the coolant, as I learned from Sportsmobile, is just distilled water. I did not see any continuation of the leak on subsequent mornings, after using the furnace, so I assume the drip was just an overflow of distilled water and I now know how to check and replenish the coolant. I did note an electrical connection at the fuel pump for the furnace, that might need attention. The electrical wiring is contained in a conduit up to near the pump, then the wires are exposed. It appears that the conduit may have come loose at the pump.
The wet spot. (iPhone photo)
The fourth issue was noted, when I came down from the mountain camping, setting up at Ridgway State Park for an overnight stay prior to heading to Bisti. Since it was warm during the day and I had electrical hook up at the park, I turned on the A/C to keep the vehicle interior cool during the day. It was only in the low 80s outside, but the interior of the vehicle can get much warmer in direct sunlight on a sunny day. I had used the A/C the first night of my trip with no problems; but this time, the A/C ran for a few minutes then shut off. It restarted after a few minutes, ran for a short time and shut off again. It kept doing this and I knew that was not normal, since it usually ran continuously, until the target temperature on the thermostat was reached. Going outside the vehicle, I noted that the sound from the A/C fans below the vehicle was not the normal sound. Laying on the ground, looking up into the fans, I immediately saw the problem: dried mud in the fans. It had rained one day in the mountains and I had driven on muddy roads. (I actually shifted into 4 wheel drive for the first time, as it felt as if the vehicle was sliding a bit on the muddy roads and there were many places where sliding off of the roadway would be a very undesirable event). The vehicle was quite muddy and I had gone into Montrose earlier that day to a self serve car wash to spray off most of the heavy mud from the upper body, the wheel wells, the wheels and whatever I could get to beneath the vehicle, including the edges of the A/C fans. But I did not realize that there was mud inside the fan assembly and the strong jet spray would probably not have been good for the fan and delicate vanes behind the fan, anyway. I cleared the dried mud with a screwdriver, turned the fan blades manually to be sure there was no remaining obstruction and turned the A/C back on. The A/C ran a few minutes longer, but still shut off and kept cycling on and off in an abnormal manner. Since I had cell service, I put in a call to Sportsmobile. We were able to confirm, via the battery monitor panel, that the current draw, during the A/C operation was normal. However, there is an internal automatic circuit breaker in the A/C unit that might be the problem. It is possible that some damage was done to the system, when it was trying to run before the mud was cleared from the fans. It would have been good to have been warned of this potential problem by Sportsmobile. I’m sure this must have happened to others, since these vehicles are intended to be used off paved roads, where mud is frequently encountered.
The step after scraping mud from the top and the edges. The A/C fans are beneath the vehicle just behind this step. (iPhone photo)Mud splattered van and ladder. (iPhone photo)The vehicle accumulated a fair amount of mud, while exploring the area during a rainy day. The mud looked much worse before it dried. (iPhone photo)
Fortunately, opening the sliding doors and back doors with bug screens installed, the air flow through the vehicle was sufficient to keep the temperature inside in a comfortable range during the day and it got quite cool during the night, so I only needed to have the side awning window open during the night.
And another issue that I almost forgot: There is a chirping sound, which I think is from the smoke detector, telling me that I need to replace its battery. The problem is that the smoke detector is only accessible with the penthouse raised. So I had to live with and try to sleep through the periodic chirping.
And yet another issue: The fridge is noisy for a few seconds when its compressor first comes on. It was not always this noisy. It is normally rather quite when running. The fridge comes on periodically and the initial noise is quite noticeable, when trying to sleep.
Other things that I learned and observed on this outing: 1. I should make longer cables for the solar panels to allow for a greater range in placement to keep them in sunlight. The downside to longer cables, is that these will result in a greater voltage loss from the panels. 2. The storage covers I made for the solar panels need revision. The industrial strength velcro fasteners are stronger than the self adhesive, pulling some of the velcro off of the covers. 3. I will need to get a monitor to use with the laptop for viewing and editing photos. The 15inch MacBook Pro screen is just too small for me to adequately work with the photos and photo software. I had hoped to live without a monitor, which is just another item to transport and secure within the Sportsmobile. 4. I need to remember to use hand lotion on a regular basis in cold, dry climates. My thumb print is apparently altered by dry cracked skin, (a painful, bleeding crack resulted, too) and the touch id on my iPhone still does not work.
As a result of all the noted problems, I will have to make another trip to Sportsmobile in Austin to have the noted issues checked out; but I have no time to do so prior to late October or early November.
A great campsite. Note the solar panels being overtaken by shadows. (iPhone HDR)As the shadows moved, I moved the solar panels to take better advantage of the sunlight. (iPhone photo)
On the positive side, I was able to survive off the grid for several days in the mountains, during my first real solo trip in the Sportsmobile. I had more than enough food, water and beverages on board for the entire trip, the vehicle continues to get lots of attention and complements and I met friendly and interesting people on this trip. There will be more about the people and photos in subsequent posts.
I know that this has not been a very interesting read for my followers, but I felt that I needed to post something in the interim, until I get time to review the photos from this trip.
A view from my camp chair at the first campsite. (iPhone photo)Courthouse Mountain lit up by late afternoon sun (extreme zoom iPhone photo from Ridgway State Park, Colorado). I hoped to get a good view of this mountain from a closer distance somewhere along Owl Creek Pass Road and get a better photo.
As the title implies, this is a continuation of the previous post. The photos in this post are a combination of iPhone and DSLR photos and were taken while traversing these 4 wheel drive roads: Imogene Pass, Engineer Pass, California Pass and maybe others. (I neglected to take notes of where we were each day and I can’t positively identify the location of some of the photos that I acquired and I am not using a GPS device on my current camera. This is an issue that I must address in the future).
A typical view that one sees along these roads in the higher elevations is as shown here:
A typical mountain view from a high mountain pass road (iPhone)
We traveled Imogene Pass Road from the Ouray side, accessing it from US 550, splitting off from the road that goes to Yankee Boy Basin (covered in a previous post). Imogen Pass is the second highest mountain pass in Colorado at 13, 114 feet. It is rated as moderate, which means that only suitably equipped 4 wheel drive vehicles should attempt this road. There are Jeep rentals in the local area and we saw many of the rental vehicles on this road, as well as some specialized tour vehicles with seating for passengers in a flat bed area. Those tour vehicles looked a bit large for these type roads, but apparently their drivers are experienced in driving these roads. The seating in the tour vehicles appeared to all be in the open, meaning one might get wet and cold, when caught in one of the frequent mountain showers, if not properly prepared for the weather. Views along the road can be spectacular. These two photos show the view looking back down the road that we traveled up to the pass:
A view from Imogene Pass Summit (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)A view from Imogene Pass summit (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld) (More zoomed in than the previous photo).
A view in the opposite direction, in which we would continue is shown in this photo:
As along most of these roads, there are numerous abandoned mine sites. The Imogene Pass road goes through the large Tomboy mine site, which was a really large operation, before it was abandoned in 1928. The remains of the buildings cover a rather large area and one could spend quite a bit of time wandering around the site. However, these abandoned mining areas can be dangerous and nearly all are on private property with warning signs not to enter old mines or buildings. Tomboy is one of the highest ghost towns in the US. There was a store, school, living quarters for miners and even a YMCA.
A few of the many ruins at the Tomboy Mine townsite (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
One can often see views of other mountain roads from these high mountain roadways. One of the famously difficult 4 wheel drive roads is Black Bear, which has numerous sharp switchbacks, that typically require at least two point turns, even for short wheel base vehicles. We got a glimpse of Black Bear as we neared Telluride on the way down from Imogene Pass.
A view of the sharp switch backs on the difficult Black Bear 4 wheel drive (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
This is not a great photo, a big zoom would have worked better for showing the details of the switchbacks, but I only had a wide angle with me. Look closely in the green area just below the peak about one third across the photo from the left and you can see the trace of the roadway down the steep mountainside. There is also a long waterfall almost in the center of the photo in the cliff face. One has to look very closely to see the waterfall in this photo.
To drive Engineer Pass, we began just off of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton. This road is rated as moderate and I think most of the difficult part is near the starting point off of US 550. After passing through that portion, much of the road is fairly easy (easy for me, since I was not driving). We did not continue the road down into Lake City, electing to go to the ghost town of Animas Forks and continuing along other roads from Animas Forks, over California Pass, down Corkscrew Gulch and arriving back at US 550.
An abandoned mine site as seen from Engineer Pass road (iPhone)Odom Point along the Engineer Pass road route (iPhone)Engineer Pass Road (iPhone)An old mine line shack on the road between Engineer Pass and Animas Forks (iPhone)Animas Forks Ghost Town near Silverton, Colorado (iPhone)
Animas Forks is a mining ghost town near Silverton, Colorado. It can be accessed by a passenger vehicle in the summer months along County Road 2 from Silverton or via a number of other 4 wheel drive roads. There are a number of fairly well preserved building at this site and, as you will see in these photos, is a popular site to visit.
A few of the four wheel drive vehicles in the parking area at Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)Old mine building foundation at Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)One of the better preserved buildings in Animas Forks ghost town (Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm, handheld)
From Animas Forks, we proceeded along another 4 wheel drive road to California Pass.
A view from California Pass Summit (iPhone)California Pass Summit (iPhone)The Jeep at California Pass Summit (iPhone) (Note the GoPro on the driver side front fender).Long winding 4 wheel drive roads just below California Pass summit (iPhone)
We continued along the road that passes to the left of the lake in the above photo. The road to the right of the lake goes to another much more difficult 4 wheel drive road.
A lake just below California Pass summit (iPhone) (A closer view of the lake seen in the previous photo)An abandoned mine sluice along the California Pass Road (iPhone)Clouds gathering over the aptly named Red Mountains, California Pass Road (iPhone)
We continued back to US 550 on Corkscrew 4 wheel drive, but I did not get any interesting photos along that route.
This marks the end of my July trip to Colorado. The following photos are a few iPhone shots that I took on the route back home.
The Sportsmobile at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Texas (iPhone)A panorama of a portion of Lake Meredith (iPhone)A warning sign at a Texas Panhandle Rest Stop (iPhone)
In late July, 2018 my oldest son and I traveled a number of four wheel drive roads over high mountain passes in Colorado near the towns of Ouray, Silverton and Telluride. My son did the driving, I just hung on for dear life.
All of the photos in this post (part 1) were shot with an iPhone with some editing in Lightroom.
My son used a GoPro attached to the driver’s side front fender of his Jeep to capture video along some of the drives. Edited versions of those videos are posted on U-Tube:
The videos may make the rides look fairly smooth and fast. Trust me the roads could not be traversed very quickly and the ride was very bouncy.
In a previous post I shared photos taken in Yankee Boy Basin. Continuing up the 4 wheel road past those photo areas, the road leads to a lake and a trail head popular with hardy, mountain hikers.
A small lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road near Ouray, Colorado (iPhone photo)A portion of the lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road and a mountain peak in the background. (iPhone photo)
Many, maybe all, of the 4 wheel drive roads over these mountain passes were made by miners, during the exploration phase and production phase of mining operations. There are remains of many abandoned mines visible from these roadways and there are some active mines, as well.
An abandoned mine along the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road (iPhone photo)
One may encounter much wildlife along these roadways and almost anywhere in this area. We saw numerous deer and many marmots. Marmots are usually rather shy and run away as anyone approaches them either on foot or in a vehicle. But one little marmot only gave up its ground hesitantly, moving only a short distance away several times as I intruded into its space, while trying to get a shot of a really long water fall.
A not so shy marmot. The depth of field in this shot is very shallow. The rock just above the marmot is actually across a deep ravine, through which a stream flows down the mountainside. (iPhone photo)
The marmot was lounging near a very scenic waterfall and cascade with a great view across a valley and mountain tops. Maybe that is why it was so reluctant to move away as I approached.
Low water flow in this really long waterfall and cascade along which the marmot was lounging. (iPhone photo)The marmot’s view into the valley and across the mountain peaks (iPhone photo)
There are many small lakes in the mountains that are popular with fishermen and popular places to camp, although the mosquitoes can be quite a bother.
Clear Lake and Fishermen at the end of Clear Lake 4 wheel drive road near Silverton, Colorado (iPhone photo)
The mountains at these elevations are rugged and continually eroding.
Rugged, eroding mountainside above Clear Lake (iPhone)
Wildflowers were past their peak, but there were still quite a few scattered around.
Wildflowers in the meadow around Clear Lake (iPhone)Wildflower and a busy bumble bee near Clear Lake (iPhone)A few of the remaining wild flowers near Clear Lake (iPhone)
