The drive from Durango, Colorado via US 550 to Silverton and Ouray has to be one of the best road trip drives in the U.S. with magnificent mountain views, many sharp switchbacks with slow speed required to safely navigate those sharp curves. The road is often on the very edge of steep drop offs.
There are prominent red top mountain peaks that can be seen for miles along this roadway. Somewhere between Durango and Ouray, I pulled off at a dirt road going into the forest to get a few shots of red top mountains with the typical afternoon storm clouds gathering above them.
Red TopRed Top and CloudsRed Peak and CloudsRed Pate
After photographing an abandoned mine mill near Animas Forks, CO, we drove back along a 4 wheel drive road towards Animas Forks, keeping an eye out for an abandoned truck we had been told about.
We soon spotted the truck a short distance up a spur road.
Final Resting PlaceBelow PeakNo Delivery TodayForlornRIP
Wildflowers and clouds seem to be trying to comfort this old, rusting, abandoned truck in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
Determined to find an old abandoned truck, that we had been told about, along a 4 wheel drive road, we continued on past Animas Forks.
We had been told that the old truck was just beside the road about a quarter of a mile past Animas Forks. Yet we drove much farther than a quarter of a mile, passing the old mill we had been told about, too.
At some point past the old, abandoned mill, we decided that we had either missed the truck or that it was much farther along the roadway than we had been told. We turned back and stopped to photograph the old mill. As I was getting my camera out, the retired photographer, who had told us about the truck, drove up and informed me that he had been mistaken about the abandoned truck being right next to the road. Instead, it was up on a hill at the end of a short spur road. He even pointed to the truck that was barely visible in the distance.
I shot a few photos of the old mill, before back tracking to the old truck.
We finally arrived in Animas Forks, where we did not intend to linger for long, since we still had to drive back to Silverton, then on to our lodging in Ridgway, CO. and the day was slipping away.
Plaque
One of the best remaining old structures in Animas Forks is the old home of William Duncan. This site was completely covered by an avalanche a few years ago and I was curious to see how it had survived.
Old Home Interior
Water damage to the old wood structure is evident. Maybe some of this was there before the avalanche, but I do not recall seeing such damage the last time I was here.
Ceiling BoardsBare Walls
For its age this old home is in remarkably sound shape.
Registration
Of course, many visitors have to scratch their names and initials into the wall boards, which have a nice aged patina.
Who Does Windows?ChimneyWindow and CeilingWall BoardsWho’s Been HereMountain View 1
The inhabitants here had magnificent mountain views.
Mountain View and StreamMountain View 2
As we were getting back to our vehicle to begin our return trip, the couple we had met on the road at a waterfall, drove up and we chatted again. I learned that the driver was a retired photographer, who was happy not to have to continue making school photographs. He told me about an old mill nearby that his dad had made a painting of many years ago and also about an abandoned truck just a short distant past Animas Forks.
My wife was reluctant, having had enough of this rocky road, but relented to allow me to try to find that old truck.
Since we were in the neighborhood, I made a spur of the moment decision to take a 4 wheel drive road to the ghost mining town of Animas Forks.
I’d been to Animas Forks with my oldest son a few years ago, accessing it via other 4 wheel drive routes. I thought I recalled the route from Silverton being very easy and suitable for even regular passenger vehicles and it is a well maintained gravel road for the initial few miles out of Silverton. However, where it begins to climb into the mountains, it becomes rocky and rough. This route is still classified as an easy 4 wheel drive route, but it is not safe for regular passenger vehicles. But we did encounter a young female driver in a low clearance small passenger vehicle, returning towards Silverton. She was either a skilled driver, crazy or stupid. A bad move could easily result in undercarriage damage or a punctured oil pan, punctured gas tank or high centering on rocks.
This was the first 4 wheel drive road that I have taken in my 4Runner TRD off-road Toyota. I still have road tires on this vehicle, which are only a couple of years old with low mileage, so I was not overly concerned about the tires, but knew I needed to exercise more care in driving than if I had more suitable tires for such roads.
Waterfall and Mountain StreamConvergence
This mountain road, like all here, is scenic with great views of mountains, mountain streams and waterfalls.
Mountain StreamStreamingRocks in the StreamDown Hill RushDownstream Rush
Just after shooting at this waterfall, another driver pulled in behind my vehicle. He was “local”, being from the Durango area and knew this area well. We had been driving for awhile, making slow progress and I had no idea how far we were from Animas Forks, but he assured me we were not far away now.
Silverton, Colorado is a picturesque old town nestled below Rocky Mountain peaks along U.S. 550 between Durango and Ouray. Silverton originated during mining boom times in the nearby mountains and was a rowdy place of saloons and bawdy houses, where the miners came to spend their wages, earned by their hard toiling in the mines.
It is now a major tourist attraction with lots of art galleries, antique shops, souvenir shops of all sorts and numerous restaurants and eating places to choose from. Nothing here is inexpensive, food or otherwise.
Silverton, CO
When we decided it was time to have lunch, most of the restaurants were crowded, including the limited outdoor seating, which we required, since we were traveling with a miniature labradoodle.
We ended up purchasing sandwiches from a food truck that had picnic tables and umbrellas for shade. The sandwiches were tasty. In talking to the lady working in the food truck, we discovered she and the food truck were from East Texas not so far from our home base. They trailer the food truck to Silverton for the tourist season, live in an RV, then back to Texas in the winter months. There were lots of Texans in Colorado. No doubt fleeing the excessively hot and dry summer in Texas this year.
Next up a spur of the moment decision to take a 4 wheel drive road to the ghost town of Animas Forks.
Rusty Truck
Let’s hope we don’t end up like this rusty truck in a Silverton alleyway.
There was a brief sleet storm just after I went to bed the second night of our stay near the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was going to be a very cold night, so I wondered how the sleet and cold would impact our morning photography.
We arose before daybreak to get into the dunes before sunrise. It was 17 degF, the coldest morning we had experienced during this trip.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
The dunes were dusted by the overnight sleet. This added interest to the landscape, but the sleet and cold temperatures preserved footprints from the previous day.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
At least the footprints were somewhat muted, but there seemed no way to avoid getting footprints into photographs. I might have removed these in Lightroom, but I’m sure the results would not have been satisfactory.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
In a valley between dunes, I found interesting patterns, where there either were no footprints or I could easily exclude those from my photos.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
The sleet dusted, frosty sand dunes with snow covered mountains and clouds over them were good for making black and white images.
Snow and Sleet on the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
This wraps up the highlights of my March 2021 photography in the Great Sand Dunes.
We returned to the dunes in the early evening for sunset photography and I struggled to find satisfying compositions. Maybe we were not in the optimal location for this shoot. There were low clouds on the western horizon, which also blocked the sunset light.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
As we were giving up and beginning to hike back towards the parking lot, there was a sudden and brief break through of light. My son, being much younger and more fit than I, ran to the west to catch the fleeting light, while I walked as fast as I could, hoping to get to a good vantage point before the light was gone.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
I think the image above is the best one the I got during this outing. I was still far from the best vantage point for the best light, but I knew the light was fading fast and I had to stop and shoot now. I got low to catch the dim light in this grassy patch of sand with the fading light on the dune in the background and the interesting clouds over the dune.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
After the light faded from that dune and illuminated the mountainside to the east, I pointed my camera in that direction to get this final shot.
As promised in the last post, I want to elaborate upon the making of this image:
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
More precisely, I want to talk about a few of the many possible compositional variations around this scene.
Firstly, I spotted this feature from a distance and I wanted to be careful in approaching it. If I got too close and then decided to back off, I would already have ruined the scene with my footprints in the sand.
So I began to photograph from a distance and slowly worked my way closer to the “driftwood”. I also had some zoom capability with my 14-24mm wide angle lens.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 1.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 2.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 3.
The light changed as I approached and I tried including more sky in my compositions.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 4.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 5Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 6.
I think I’m much too far away in Driftwood 1. So I worked my way closer.
I think I’m still too far away in Driftwood 3 and it’s a little dark. I like the sky in this image and the lack of features at the interface between the sand and sky, giving this image a clean, simple look. Maybe this makes it more dramatic?
I like the closeness and the angle of view in Driftwood 4, but I cut off a small portion of the driftwood’s shadow in this image. Cutting off shadows is something that I try to avoid, whenever possible. So I zoomed out a little and made Driftwood 5. Zooming out here got more sky in the image, which I like.
I got much closer for Driftwood 6, but I do not think this is an optimal angle of view.
I lean towards Driftwood 2 and 5 as my favorites. I’m not sure which is best, but I lean towards 5. I think that I could have made a better image than either of these two. Maybe it is good to never be quite satisfied with our photographs, so that we continue to strive to get better images.
As always, readers’ opinions and critiques are welcome,
I continued to wander around in the Great Sand Dunes early the first morning of our March 2021 visit, looking for good compositions.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
The icy rim along the ridge in this dune caught my eye. I like the way that icy ridge leads the eye from the left corner of the frame to the long ridge, which in turn leads the eye into the upper part of the image.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
I’m always looking for objects with distinct shadows and these chunks of frozen sand, that lie along the edge of a dune, add interest to this image. The edge of the dune acts as a leading line from the lower right towards the upper left. This line is more brightly lighted than other portions of the image and acts as a diagonal dividing line in the image. Notice how the sand details, visible texture and light change as the eye crosses this diagonal. The darkness in the clouds and the shadowy, distant mountains create a strong contrast with the sunlit sand.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
A series of circular features breaking the ripple patterns in the sand made me stop to take this photo. I’ve converted the original color image to monochrome, since I think this image with these features is more dramatic in black and white.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
This small piece of “driftwood” breaks up and modifies the wind created ripples in a dune. I put quotes on “driftwood”, since I’m not sure that this is the proper term for how this chunk of a tree got here. Maybe it blew in via wind or maybe it was washed here by water?
I’ll have more to say about making this image in a subsequent post.
