This post is a continuation of experiences and photography during a July 2019 road trip in Colorado.
From the Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument my oldest son and I continued on to Echo Park, also in Dinosaur National Monument. To get to Echo Park one must travel 13 miles down a narrow, steep, rocky, high clearance vehicle road. The road is not an extreme 4 wheel drive, at least not when dry and going into the area is mostly downhill; but 4 wheel drive vehicles are recommended for this road. There are some narrow intervals, where it is not possible for two vehicles to pass each other.
There is a sizable campground in Echo Park, but sites are on a first come basis, so there is no guarantee that one will find a campsite after the drive down. We were fortunate that a number of campsites were available, when we arrived, and two of those sites had good shade, which we really needed, since the daytime temperatures were in the mid 90s (F). The shade only protected us during the morning and part of mid-day. In the afternoons there was no avoiding the sun. Since we were out in the early morning and late day for photography, we were mostly resting around the campsite during the day. The summer heat can make it difficult to be entirely comfortable in the vehicle during the day and the insects with mosquitos made it undesirable to be outdoors. This is one of those times, when an outdoor, screen shelter would be useful. However, a nearby couple with such a shelter said the insects and mosquitos got into the shelter, anyway. The mosquitos also got into our vehicle each time we opened a door, so we spent some time trying to eliminate them. I have since acquired a couple of battery powered bug zappers to test during a future trip.
The setting for the campground is very nice with views of Steamboat Rock on one side and views of high cliffs all around. From our campsite we only had to walk a very short distance through woods to the river and good views of Steamboat Rock and the Yampa River.
During the mid-day hours, we made a couple of exploratory hikes looking for good places for sunrise and sunset photography.
Even though the NPS website says there are no trails in Echo Park, there is at least one created by frequent visitors and it appears to go on along the river for quite a way.
Hiking along this trail, we found a large, open grassy park with scattered rocks that would be useful as foreground, with the canyon walls in the background.
The bank of the river near this area is steep, but we found a way down into the channel. If hiking here, be aware that the river bank is undercut in numerous places, where it could give way without warning, so be very careful walking near the river bank.
We think we can get good photos in the river channel at both sunrise and sunset.
The confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers cannot be seen in these photographs, as it is hidden behind the vegetation and rocks near the center of the the image above and that below.
Several of these iPhone images were actually made during sunrise or sunset shoots.
DSLR sunset and sunrise photography here will be the subject of subsequent posts.
Until then,
Ken
