Tag: Photographic Scouting

Rio Grande National Forest, September 22, 2020, Part 2

After the creek and waterfall trek, I drove along FSR 243 towards FSR 380.  There are several places that I had noted, via Google Earth, along FSR 243 as places of possible interest and possible campsites.  When passing these locations previously, I was not impressed by the view that I had from the roadway.  There had always been a number of campers in these areas and I had seen fly fishermen in the creek.  As I passed by the primary location of interest today, there were no others anywhere around, so I decided to check it out.

A dirt road departed FSR 243 at a sharp angle and moderately downhill into a broad, open flat area with plenty of space for multiple unrestricted campsites.  I drove to the end of the dirt road and got out to have a look around.  Walking to the creek, I immediately saw a number of trout in the shallow water.  The bank along the creek was mostly steep with loose soil, but I found a place to safely get down to the edge of the creek and then stepped over to the other side at a narrow place in the creek.

I shot a number of iPhone photos and made a couple of videos of the flowing creek.

Treasure Creek. iPhone photograph.

One can see in the photo above that it is getting very cloudy again.

After awkwardly stepping back across the creek and making my way back to my vehicle, I continued on to FSR 380 and headed westerly.

I stopped along FSR 380 at a place that I had previously spotted and near where I had shot another late day image, when returning from Del Norte.

Approaching Storm. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/13s, f/16, ISO 64.

It had sprinkled light rain sporadically and began again as I was shooting here. It was apparent from the heavy clouds that a storm was brewing over the mountains.

I continued along FSR 380 and it began to rain more heavily.  The rain soon turned to slushy ice, then to pellet like snow.  I was close to several campsites that I had been keeping an eye on.  My coveted location had always had a truck camper in it, whenever I had previously passed by.  Today I got lucky.  The spot I liked was empty.  There was an RV trailer nearby in the same camping area in a spot, which had always been available previously,  and I had resolved myself to maybe having to use that space, if it was available today and the truck camper was still here.

Snowy Campsite. iPhone photograph.

After parking in the campsite, I got out to take a photo with the snow coming down.  I then waited, hoping that the snow would end and I would be able to shoot photos from this location.

The snow continued long enough for the ground to be thinly covered, but it mostly melted away soon after the snow stopped.  As sunset time approached, I walked into an open area with a good view of the valley and the mountains to the southwest.

After the Storm. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/25s, f/11, ISO 64.

With the cloud cover, I knew there was little chance of a golden hour sunset today.

Mountain Storm Clouds. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/80s, f/11, ISO 64.

The storm clouds made up for the lack of a golden hour sunset.

Mountain Peaks and Meadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 26mm, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 640.

When I first saw this location, I thought it would be best for a sunset shoot; but as I looked around today, consulting my photo app on my iPhone, I realized that this location was better for sunrise than sunset.

Mountain Meadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/80s, f/16, ISO 800.
Late Day Light. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/40s, f/16, ISO 800.

I hung out here shooting until just after sunset.

Cloudy Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 55mm, 0.4s, f/11, ISO 64.
Late Day Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 55mm, 0.4s, f/11, ISO 64.

I’m now looking forward to a sunrise shoot here.

More on that later,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 4 – Summitville

Driving towards Del Norte on FSR 380, I stopped at the ghost town of Summitville, an old mining town.  There are abandoned, weathering old structures here and some old mine equipment in a parking area that overlooks the current modern mining operation.

Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

I had previously passed through here with my son and DIL, having lunch in the parking area, but I had not browsed around the abandoned structures.  So today I walked around with my iPhone getting a few images of this historic site.

Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

The lumber planks on some of the sidewalls of these old buildings had weathered to a wonderful patina.

Nail heads and tarpaper. Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

There are remnants of the original tarpaper covering, held in place by rusty nails, on the outside walls.

Weathered wall plank, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Weather wall planks, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

I was intrigued by the weathered patina on the exposed lumber on the exterior walls of these old buildings.

Nails and weathered wall plank, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned house, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

It must have been cold in these old buildings in the winter here, as there did not appear to be any insulation in the walls or ceilings, just tarpaper covered exterior walls.

Roof structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned house, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

At least the residents and workers here had good views of the mountains, which were probably much more attractive in those old days before the pine bark beetles killed so many of the evergreens.

Old, abandoned houses and modern mine structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned facility, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Rusty, broken door hinge, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

Imagine how this might look with healthy evergreens around, rather than the beetle killed trees.

Abandoned and Weathered, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structure and Modern Mine Facilities, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

The attractive, colorful weathered patina on the wood planks appears to be on mostly the sides facing a southeasterly direction, while all the other sides have mostly a grey patina.

Abandoned Structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned Structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

Note that the structure above has some colorful patina on a wall facing northwesterly, but most of the color is on the southeasterly wall.

Rusty door hinge, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Abandoned structure, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

That’s all for now,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 3 – Hiking and Scouting

After exploring along a portion of Treasure Creek on the north side of FSR 243, I was having a lunch sandwich, standing on a rock in the creek, leaning against a log bridge on the official trail to the south of FSR 243, when a young couple approached from down the trail.  I briefly chatted with them and they told me there were more waterfalls along the trail to the southwest.

I decided that I should check out that trail.  So I put on my Camelbak and headed out.  The young couple had told me that I would come to a metal gate and just after that I would see a waterfall.  The trail was easy at the start, going through an open meadow before entering a thinly wooded area and beginning to gain in elevation.  I soon came to the gate and shortly afterwards I could see the creek far down below.  There was a waterfall that was much too far down in the drainage to photograph from the trail.

About this time, I encountered a couple of youngish women with a dog hiking back towards the trailhead.  They told me that their husbands were hunting in the mountains and the dog had been found, surviving alone after the big storm that blew through early in September.  The dog had a leg or foot injury and walked with a limp.  They surmised that the dog had been abandoned by a shepherd, since there were many sheep in the higher elevations.  The dog did look like one that a shepherd might use.

I inquired about waterfalls along the trail, but the two hikers said there were no more waterfalls, but that the trail became flat farther up the trail.  I continued up the trail for a little longer, but encountered no great scenery and decided that I was not prepared for a really long hike, so I turned back.

When I got back to the meadow, I came to a fork in the trail that I had missed on the way in.  I was not really sure which to take, but the left fork appeared to go more directly to the northeast, so I took that one and soon reached the log bridge.

A little later the two women with the dog came up the roadway.  I was surprised that I had arrived back at the parking area before they did.  Then I realized that they must have taken the right fork of the trail in the meadow to get to the road at a different point.  They told me that they did not want to have the limping dog try to walk over the log bridge, so they took the longer route to avoid the bridge.  They were soon on their way to Del Norte, where they would take the dog to a vet.

After some thought, I decided that maybe I should head into Del Norte, where I knew I would have a cell signal, and call home, since I had only been able to send short messages via my satellite GPS device so far.  While in Del Norte, I could also top off my fuel tank just to be sure I had plenty of fuel for the rest of the week in the forest.

Driving FSR 380 into Del Norte would also let me check out potential campsites along the route, maybe finding one for tonight and maybe finding a suitable one for my son and DIL to use, when they returned on Friday.

I’ve made a mental note of the wilderness trail here and maybe I’ll explore it seriously at some other time.

More later,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 2

I continued to work my way along Treasure Creek towards the first significant waterfall I had seen from a distance.

Cascading Creek, just below a waterfall.. iPhone photograph.
Wispy Waterfall. iPhone photograph.

After reaching the base of this waterfall, I retraced my steps a little to find a way to get above the falls.

Waterfall from above. iPhone photograph.

I then continued up the creek hoping to see an even bigger falls, stopping to photograph other scenes along the way.

Creek undercutting a tree. iPhone photograph.
Cascade and Mossy Rocks and Log. iPhone photograph.

I’m calling the many little waterfalls “cascades”, since I expect these to disappear, when the water in the creek is deeper and there are cascading rapids in their place.

Cascade and Mossy Rocks. iPhone photograph.
Cascade. iPhone photograph.

I made a number of  various compositions of some of the cascades as the sunlight changed with intermittent cloud cover.

Cascade. iPhone photograph.
Waterfalls. iPhone photograph.

A little farther up the stream from this cascade a second significant water fall is visible.

Small Waterfall. iPhone photograph.

Working my way upstream towards the second waterfall, I had to cross the stream first, making the image above looking down on the cascade shown in the previous images.

No Name Waterfall and Treasure Creek. iPhone photograph.

The photo above shows the steepness of the gulley in which this stream runs.

No Name Waterfall. iPhone photograph.

Getting closer to the base of the greater drop waterfall, it became apparent that the clutter around the falls and the beetle killed trees are going to be a distraction to deal with in getting a good photo here.

Creek Debris, after recent storm. iPhone photograph.

The fallen and splintered trees along and in the creek bed beneath the waterfall reveal the force of a recent heavy water flow here, which I’m sure was an aftermath of the early snow storm a few weeks ago.

No Name Waterfall. iPhone photograph. iPhone photograph.

In this final photograph of this waterfall, I excluded some of the clutter on the edges and at the bottom, but still have portions of the unattractive, beetle killed trees along the top edge.

This concludes this portion of today’s exploration, as I feel great disappointment that I will probably not get back here with my DSLR.

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 1

My son and DIL left early this morning to drive back to their home in the Denver area, since both had to report back to work on Monday.  They would return the following Friday, so I would be on my own until then.

I set out driving on FSR 380, hoping to find another good campsite farther to the west and stopping at opportune times to shoot a few photographs.

My first stop this morning was at the end of FSR 243, where I had seen indications of waterfalls or large stream cascades on a creek that crosses at the end of this road.

Google Earth Screen Shot.

The image above is a screen shot taken from Google Earth of the end of FSR 243 and the stream, which a newer version of Google Earth labels Treasure Creek. There was a strong water flow along this stream at the time this satellite image was taken.  There was not so much water flowing, when I explored this area and maybe had the water flow been much less, when the satellite image was made, I might not have paid it much attention.

There is an official trail into a wilderness area that starts on the south side of the roadway, but no trail to the north, which is the way I wanted to explore.  There was a faint trace of a trail, created by hunters and their horses, on the northwestern edge of the creek. So I hiked along that side of the creek.  The climb was steep and not knowing what I would find, I decide to travel light with no camera gear and no backpack.  I took one small bottle of water, figuring I would not travel very far from my vehicle.

I soon saw that the creek would be picturesque in many places, but getting to the best vantage points for photographing the creek would be challenging due to the steepness of the gully in which the creek ran and numerous back and forth creek crossings, balancing on rocks and/or logs.  I decided that I should make many scouting iPhone photos to be sure I captured some of this scenery, since I soon convinced myself that coming back with heavy camera gear, a tripod and backpack might not be safe to do alone and might be more strenuous of an undertaking than I wanted to do.

Light dappled creek details. iPhone photograph.
Mountain Creek. iPhone photograph.
Mossy rocks and flowing water. iPhone photograph.
Rushing Creek and Mossy Rocks. iPhone photograph.
Small Waterfall Details. iPhone photograph.
Glimmering Water Abstract. iPhone photograph.

This stream presented so many compositional possibilities that I spent a considerable amount of time checking out many little details and points of interest along it.  I also extracted some of the flowing water details to make abstracts with the light refracting into rainbow like colors and other highlights.

An abstract of a portion of a small waterfall. iPhone photograph.

I made so many images along this stream that even presenting a selected subset of them will require multiple blog post to avoid overwhelming readers of this blog.

Colorful Moss on Rocks. iPhone photograph.

The moss covered rocks ranged from deep green to a golden yellow with the sunlight bring out the colors even in late morning; although, the iPhone does not handle strong light contrast well, so some portions of the images have blown out pixels.  One would have to be there in person to really appreciate the magical feeling created by the sound and color along this stream.

Creek Cascades. iPhone photograph.
Cascade and Mossy Rocks. iPhone photograph.

Along the ridge above the creek I found a few tree stumps or portions of fallen, weathered trees with interesting texture and patterns.

Weathered Tree Stump. iPhone photograph.
Weathered Tree Stump. iPhone photograph.

After working my way slowly along the creek for awhile, I saw a wispy waterfall in the distance.

Below the Falls. iPhone photograph.

Encouraged by this sight, I was determined to continue this journey for awhile longer.

More on that in subsequent posts.

Thanks for following and be safe,

Ken

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

 

 

Pre-Sunset and Night Photo Preparation, Southeastern Colorado, July 31, 2020

We returned to our vehicles, after our hike up to a saddle in a volcanic dike, to have dinner and prepare for sunset and set up for night photography.  The weather was threatening with heavy clouds being blown in by strong winds from the northwest.

Late Day Storm iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I’ve always liked the way the light changes just before a storm.  We were a little concerned about the prospects for sunset and night photography, but the weather report showed decreasing chances of rain as the evening progressed and only a slight chance of overnight rain.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The sky was mostly covered with thick clouds in all directions.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a modest dinner, we gathered our gear and hiked up onto the volcanic ridge to the south and picked our spots for sunset and night images.  We used applications on our iPhones to determine when the moon would rise and set, so we that we could program our remote shutter releases to shoot in that time interval.  We also knew where the moon would be in the sky, so we could decide which direction we wanted to shoot to take best advantage of the moon for lighting the landscape.

Night shooting setup iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see that the cloud cover is still heavy, but it seems to be clearing, with the clouds blowing to the southeast.

Cloudy sky. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The image above is to the south of my selected location.

Sunset sky view. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Looking back to the northwest from my position, the clouds are much thinner now.  Our vehicles are just visible in the center left of this image.

Anchored leg of tripod for extended night shooting. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a few sunset images, I finalized my night composition and made sure the tripod was stable and added a few rocks around one leg for additional security.  One can see that the standing room is tight and requires care in moving around here.

That’s all for now.  I will have the sunset and night image results in the next post.

Ken

 

Scouting Photographs, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 30, 2020

After driving around sightseeing and scouting in an extended area in Southeastern Colorado, we returned to our campsite on BLM land north of Del Norte to prepare for sunset and/or night time photography.

Readers will recall seeing this photograph of the end of a volcanic peak north of the road that we were camped along:

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

I kept wondering what the view was like in the saddle behind that peak.  The steep slope had made me reluctant to hike up there, but today I decided I had to check out the view from that saddle.  So I attacked the slope, trying to take the easiest route, but still I had to climb steep portions.

Here is an iPhone panorama from the saddle.

English Valley Panoramic View iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I think this view would be good for star trails, but there is infrastructure (not visible in this small image) in the far distance that would have lights showing up in night shots.

The image below is looking more to the southwest.  Again not too bad a view.  One can see my son, pondering the photographic possibilities from here, in the orange shirt just to the lower right of the main ridge peak, .

Scouting for night shots. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Another view to the west to northwest is below.

Scouting for night shots. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This last image shows how steep the slope is that one has to climb to get up here.  Our vehicles are just barely visible in the right center of this image.

After some discussion, we decided it was not worth the effort to make the trek back up here for night shots, then have to trudge up early in the morning to retrieve our cameras, hike back down and get to another location for sunrise photos.

On the way back to our vehicles I paused to check out the roadway for use in additional leading line photographs from a location more to the west of the other photos taken the day before, which used this roadway as a leading line.

Roadway. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Stay tuned to see how the night photography worked out.

Ken

 

 

La Garita Arch, Colorado, July 2020

Leaving Cathedral Campground, we headed to an area to the north of Del Norte, Colorado that my son had explored sometime earlier this year.  Our first stop was at La Garita Arch, a natural arch in an ancient volcanic dike on BLM land.

La Garita Arch, Southeastern Colorado, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

We were here well before sunset, so I made a few iPhone photographs, while awaiting the golden sunset hour.

Panorama at La Garita Arch, Colorado. iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Hiking up a hillside to the west of the arch, looking for a good place from which to shoot, I noted many cacti of various kinds scattered around, intermingled with some colorful, lichen covered rocks.

Cacti, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It required some attention to where one stepped to avoid putting a foot onto one of these.

The arch is not an easy one to photograph and the shadow of the hillside to the west of the arch moves quickly up the incline to the arch as the sun sinks into the sky, limiting the late day light on the arch.

La Garita Arch. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.

Of the many shots I took, the one above is the best.

We had hoped to camp nearby the arch, but the only real campsite here was already taken.  So we moved on to another area, where we hoped to get other late day images before the sun completely set.

More on that next,

Ken