At sometime during my second day in Colorado, my son and his wife decided that due to the smoke from numerous large forest fires in Colorado, it would be best to come south to meet me in the Rio Grande National Forest. So I needed to find a suitable campsite for all of us and scout the forest roads for potential photographic opportunities.
Thus Friday morning I continued to drive along Forest Service Road 250 and spurs off of FSR 250, looking for good campsites, stopping above Platoro Reservoir to shoot a few DSLR photos.
I had a small window of time in which to visit Colorado in September, 2020, hoping for good fall color in the Aspens. It is always difficult to determine the best area to target for the best fall conditions with all of the variables that affect the fall foliage and the weather and/or other environmental conditions that may impact travel. After much online research and consultations with others, I decided to check out the nearest area, Rio Grande National Forest, to me first, and if that did not look promising, to move on farther north into Colorado.
Since it is a long road trip from my home in Texas to Colorado, I like to make it a two day trip to avoid very long drives. A convenient stop over location for me is Lake Meredith National Recreation Area northeast of Amarilo, TX. While I would like to drive a bit farther on my first day, there are scant camping choices farther north in the Texas panhandle, without driving much longer than I would like.
There are several campgrounds around Lake Meredith, with only one having a few reservable sites. If I expect hot weather, I will reserve a site so that I can have electric for running the air conditioner in my camper. Otherwise, a free campsite is fine, since I can get by with my own water and battery power. The campsite I target, also has nice restrooms and showers, which are available to all campers.
In mid-September the night time temperatures in this area of Texas are cool, so I took a chance on finding a free campsite, which I expected to be in plentiful supply in the middle of a week. Friday and Saturdays are always busy here, but mid-week is usually not crowded.
When I arrived, there were plenty of free campsites available, but many of the reservable sites were filled.
Free Campsite at Lake Meredith NRA. iPhone photograph.
After settling in, I walked the loop around the camping area to stretch my legs, after the long drive. One of the campsites on the opposite side of the loop had a group of 6-8 large deer grazing. The deer seemed wary of my watching them, but they did not run away.
Deer in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Campground. iPhone photograph.
I had only my iPhone with me, so I could not get good close up shots. The image above is a zoomed in iPhone shot, so it is low resolution.
I had a long drive on the second leg of my trip, so I got an early start for the second day of my drive. I was not sure where I would find a spot to camp on the second night, either, so I need plenty of time to search for a suitable overnight spot before dark.
My oldest son and his wife were also planning to meet me somewhere on the third day of my trip. So I first had to not only verify the suitability of the fall color in the Rio Grande National Forest, but secondly to find a suitable campground for all of us, if we decided to stay in this area. Otherwise, they would drive north and I would have to drive to meet them elsewhere.
I arrived near the edge of Rio Grande National Forest about mid-afternoon, so it was looking good for having plenty of daylight for scouting out a campsite. On the discouraging side, I saw much freeze damage (brown, shriveled leaves), caused by an early season storm that came through a few days earlier, on the Aspens between Walsenberg, CO and my destination.
The drive became much slower, when I departed the paved route and went into the forest via Forest Service Road 250, which was rough, even though fairly well maintained. There were also many downed trees from the strong winds that blew through in that early season storm. The fallen trees had mostly been removed from the main portion of the road, but some still hung low overhead or protruded into the roadway and had to be avoided. (I have a long superficial scratch, aka Colorado Pin Stripe, along one side of my vehicle as a result of moving over a little too far, to allow room for an approaching vehicle).
The fall color was spotty, with some good patches, but many trees were still green or just beginning to change. I was not convinced that I would remain here.
Bad News? iPhone photograph.
After seeing the sign in the photo above, I was also concerned about finding suitable camping areas. There are free, dispersed campsites in unrestricted areas, but these can be small. So even though I might fit into one, my son might not be able to easily get his vehicle and trailer into one of those.
It was also hunting season, so many of the free camping areas were crowded with hunters’ tents, trucks, RV trailers, flat bed trailers, and horse trailers. After much driving around, I finally went back to a dispersed campground off of FSR 247 past Platoro Reservoir that I had passed up earlier, where there was still some open space in the camping area.
Dispersed Camping, Rio Grande National Park. iPhone photograph.
This was in a high elevation area and it had become cloudy and colder. I walked around the campsite, checking out possible photograph viewpoints, and began to feel the effects of the altitude. So I decided it best to restrict my physical activity this evening and give my body more time to acclimate before moving around too much.
I believe that the mountain peak on the right side of the image above is Conejos Peak and this campsite is just before FSR 247 crosses the Adams Fork of Conejos River.
With no cell signal, I communicated with my son via messages on my InReach Explorer GPS device, expressing my concern about the suitability of this area for our purposes.
This post is getting lengthy, so I will continue later. Stay tuned to see what evolves.
After retrieving our cameras from the night shoot location, we drove back to the previous mornings location, hoping to be there a little earlier this morning to take advantage of the golden hour sunrise light.
Boulders and Volcanic Dike. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
I hiked back up the slope to the same place I had initially set up the previous morning, using large boulders as foreground for my first composition. This morning I was here before the sunrise light illuminated the volcanic ridge at the crest of the slope.
As the light moved down the slope, I moved around seeking other compositions.
Morning Shadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.
This morning I was able to get good light on the boulders and across the slope below the ridge and across the valley with long, early morning shadows.
English Valley Sunrise Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.
These three shots were the best of the morning and I was much more satisfied with this mornings final shoot in this location, before getting on the road for the long drive home.
This wraps up the highlights of my July 2020 visit to Colorado. Stay tuned for my September visit to the Rio Grande National Forest for fall photography.
I made a few sunset shots as the late day storm clouds blew past, as I was setting up for night shooting.
Dramatic Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Color Efex Pro 4.
The clouds in the sky were moving and changing quickly as they blew from northwest to southeast.
English Valley Sunset Sky. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Color Efex Pro 4.
Just as the sun was setting, the sky to the northwest was clearing rapidly and we hoped that the clouds would clear out completely, as the weather forecast predicted, for our night images.
I used a few of my images to make a very short time-lapse movie, which can be seen here SE Colorado Sunset Sky.
We made final checks of our cameras, remote shutter release programs and put rain covers in place (there was still a slight chance of overnight rain), then hiked back to our vehicles.
Early the next morning we retrieved our cameras, then went to another location for sunrise photographs. Upon returning home, I processed the night images and this is the final product.
Star trails with moonlight landscape. A composite of 45 4 minute night exposures with the foreground illuminated by moonlight. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/5.6, ISO 400. Edited in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and DxO Nik modules.
Normally, a dark sky is preferred for star photography, but there was a bright moon this night. Our cameras were programed for 4 minute exposures, during the interval when the landscape would be illuminated by moonlight. The light on the landscape and shadows changed throughout the shooting interval, with some images looking dull and other images looking almost like they were lighted by golden hour sunlight. I chose one of the images with what I considered the most attractive foreground light to make make this final composite of 45 images.
Retrieving our cameras in the early morning from the volcanic ridge adjacent to our campsite, where we had left them the night prior, shooting programmed shots of the night sky, we drove a short distance to another location that we had scouted previously for sunrise photography.
I had to hike across a wide area and up a slope to get to a good place for my first composition, after which there was not much time to set up prior to the sun rising over the hills to the east of our location. Just as I set up at my first location, the sun suddenly came over the horizon, before I was completely ready, not giving me enough time to test my compositions and I was not happy with the initial results.
I moved on to other locations hoping to salvage something from this morning’s efforts. When I first reviewed the images from this morning, I passed over them, thinking none were good enough to bother editing. Later I revisited those images and decided that some had merit.
Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
Our location was below another volcanic dike on a steep slope covered with boulders.
Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
The boulders and clumps of grass worked well as foreground; but I was still disappointed in many of my compositions.
Volcanic Dike Ridge and Boulder Strewn Slope. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
I missed the best of the light this morning, due to not arriving early enough.
Volcanic Dike Ridge and Rocky Slope. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
Maybe just the fact that I knew I had missed the best morning light biased me against these images in my initial review.
Rocky Slope and Volcanic Dike Ridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
The problem with this location is that the very first early morning light looks good on that volcanic ridge, but then the sun is already fairly high in the sky, so the golden light is very fleeting. By the time the sunlight begins to move down the slope the best light is gone.
Rocky Slope and Valley View. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
After shooting looking up the slope towards the ridge, I turned to the south and shot across the wide flat valley with the hills in the background, using boulders as foreground.
Valley View. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Viveza and Color Efex Pro 4.
I was not really pleased with any of my images from this shoot and even considered not bothering to process some, including the last image in this post. However, after getting that last image selected for Flickr’s explore page, I’m glad that I took the time to process and share it. Be sure to click on the photos to view higher resolution ones on Flickr.
Having missed the best light this morning, we decided to return here again the next, and our final, morning here to try again.
After dinner my son and I hiked back up the volcanic ridge to the south of our campsite to set up for night photography.
I picked my view point, looking easterly from the ridge, making a few late day images and picking a final composition for the star photographs.
English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm (before crop), f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64
The moon was up and would not set until sometime after midnight. We did not want the moonlight to interfere with the dark sky photos, so we set our remote timers to begin shooting for sometime after the moonset.
After getting our final compositions, making sure our tripods were stable, securing our focus rings with gaffer tape, programing remotes, installing rain covers (there was a slight possibility of rain), we started the remote timers and retired to our vehicles for the night, returning in the early morning prior to sunrise to retrieve our cameras, hoping we had suitable images for star trails.
Here is my final product from all of this effort:
English Valley Star Trails. A composite of 99 30s exposures plus one late day shot for the foreground.
Much better images can be seen on Flickr by clicking on the images.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
