I did not have to get up very early for a sunrise shoot at Vaughan Lake, since I only had to walk a short distance downhill towards the reservoir from our campsite.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.
As the early morning light turned the trees a glowing red color, I used this narrow channel as a leading line through the marsh grass towards the hillside.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
I continued to work around the channel in the marsh grass, shooting as the light advanced down the hillside.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
The early morning sunlight really made the tops of the marsh grass stand out in these last two shots at the reservoir.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 1000.
As the sun went higher, I moved back towards the camping area to try a few shots across the wide swaths of grass and wildflowers between a roadway and the reservoir.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 500.Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 500.Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 500.
I walked from the campsite down towards the lake for sunset photography. This was not a really easy place to shoot the landscape, since it was so wide open and I could see details in the far distance, which I knew would only be visible in the wide angle shots, when really zooming in on the image. A long zoom lens would be necessary to see the snow covered mountain to the south of the lake.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.
The snow covered peak is in the notch in the hillside in the upper center of these photographs.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
Compositions here were challenging. I wanted to include foreground objects like the large, lichen covered rocks scattered about and the wildflowers. The wildflowers were so small compared to the grand scenic scale that they are almost not noticeable.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm (before crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
The image above is a crop from a wider angle view, bringing out the reflection in the lake surface.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
One can see that there were many of the large rocks that can be included in the foreground of these wide angle views.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.
Turning the camera to the left, one gets another view of the far side of the lake as the sun sinks lower in the west, extending shadows onto the hillside.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.
Moving a little closer to the lake, allows one to see more of the lake surface with reflections of the hillside. Note that I am still anchoring the foreground with one of the large rocks. Otherwise, I think the foreground in such a shot would be too monotonous.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 19mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.
By getting down into a marshy area very near this little channel through the grass around the lake, I got this view, which I really like. The channel acts as a diagonal leading line from the bottom right corner into the lake with a clear reflection of the far hillside on its surface and the eyes tend to move on through the image from there.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64.
I worked around the shoreline, continuing to use leading line elements in the images.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.
The sun is now getting really low to the west, putting most of the images into shadow. Mountains to the west are blocking the sun light well before the sun actually sets.
The leading line in the photo above is subtle. There is a trail through the grass from the bottom right going diagonally towards the upper left.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/4, ISO 64.
There was a swimming animal, probably a beaver, that swam back and forth throughout my shots near the lake. If one looks very closely in the water just to the left of center in the image above, one can just make out a line in the water going towards the left. That is the v shaped wake left by the swimming animal.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.
I moved back close to the channel in the marshy area to get the shot above as the sunlight was fading fast from the scene. Looking closely at the notch in the hillside on the left of the image, one can just get a hint of the snow covered mountain peak in the far distance.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
Turning the camera to the left, again using the leading line of the channel, one can see the clouds in the east beginning to acquire their sunset color. And again the beaver’s (or whatever’s) wake is just visible in the lake as a streak of light. Just follow the channel line out into the shadowy reflection to see the brighter line of light reflected from the wake near the center left of the image.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/1s, ISO 64.
And the final scene of the day, above, with sunset colored clouds in the far distance.
The images in this post are all on Flickr, so just click on the images to view them there and, preferably on a large screen, where they will look much better.
As I promised in an earlier blog, I am devoting this post entirely to Columbines, my favorite Colorado Wildflower.
Please note that all of these photos are made hand holding the camera with a large lens, which makes it more difficult to get sharp images. The reader will note the high ISOs used to get sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the wind and camera motion.
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 240mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2000s, ISO 1600.
There were many of these adjacent to our campsite, so it was very convenient to photograph these.
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 250mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2000s, ISO 1600.
All of these images are cropped from larger images.
A single Columbine and yet to open buds:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 1600.
The back sides of Columbines are also attractive:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/11, 1/1000s, ISO 1600.
A group of Columbines:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 370mm (before crop), f/16, 1/1000s, ISO 1600.
A single Columbine with two buds:
Columbine and Buds at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 1600.
A group of Columbines:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.
Cropped from a group of Columbines:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.
The group from which the above image is cropped:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 160mm (before crop), f/8, 1/2500s, ISO 1600.
Another crop from a group of Columbines:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 165mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 400.
And a larger crop from the same group:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 175mm (before crop), f/11, 1/640s, ISO 400.
A single Columbine with a bud below and behind it:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 200mm (before crop), f/16, 1/320s, ISO 400.
A single Columbine with backlight:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 210mm (before crop), f/5.3, 1/5000s, ISO 400.
Columbines with backlight:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.
Columbine with backlight:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 200.
Columbine and bud with backlight:
A Columbine and Bud at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 200.
Backlit Columbine:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.
Columbine and buds with backlight:
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO 200.
A crop, removing a distracting portion on the left (note the seed pod with its sail on the upper petal):
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200.
More Columbines with backlight:
Columbines at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/640s, ISO 200.
And that is all for this post, mostly photos with few boring words.
After leaving Cold Sprints Campground in Routt National Forest we traveled to Vaughan Lake Campground.
Along the route we encountered a modern day cattle drive:
A modern day Cattle Drive. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This is a through the windshield iPhone photo of one of the batches of cattle we drove by on our way to Vaughan Lake. There were cowboys and a very young cowgirl on horse back, loosely guiding the animals down the roadway. Mostly the cattle seemed to know where they were going. Occasionally, we saw a cowboy moving a wandering animal back onto the route. There are always a few independents in every herd!
We expected there to be many wildflowers in the Vaughan Lake camping area and we were not disappointed, although some were not yet in bloom, due to a late season following a very snowy winter.
There were many Columbines, my favorite Colorado wildflower, near our campsite. Consequently, I have many photographs of Columbines to share and I will devote another blog post entirely to Columbines.
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO 400.Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 220mm (before crop), f/11, 1/500s, ISO 1600.
I’ve tentatively identified the wildflower in the above image via an online wildflower site, but there is some uncertainty. If any reader can dispute this identification, please let me know.
An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/16, 1/500s, ISO 2000.
I could not determine the identity of the above wildflower. It might by American Vetch.
Dandelion at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 800.
There were numerous dandelions in the area. I recall picking these as a child and blowing on the seed pods, dispersing the seeds. This is a crop from a larger image, as are all of the wildflower photos posted here.
Silvery Lupine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/500s, ISO 800.
I think this is Silvery Lupine, but there seem to be a number of variations and hybrids of this flower, so I can’t be sure of this identification.
A seed pod and sail at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 310mm (before crop), f/11, 1/800s, ISO 1600.
I was actually trying to get a shot of the orange bell like flower seen in the lower left of the above image; but I did not succeed in getting that flower in focus. However, I did note that this leaf with what appears to be a seed hanging onto its sail was in focus, so I cropped this portion of the image.
I should add that I was hand holding my camera with the big 80-400mm lens, so it was a bit difficult to maintain focus on the intended subject. Keep in mind that there was some wind motion in the flowers, a shallow depth of field in these shots and much unsteadiness of the camera and lens in my hands. Readers might note the high ISO values that I had to use to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to freeze the motion.
An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 360mm (before crop), f/8, 1/800s, ISO 1600.
Here is the orange flower that I was trying to shoot in the previous photo. Here I managed to get the bottom bloom in focus.
Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 135mm (before crop), f/8, 1/640s, ISO 1600.
And finally, another Fendler’s Waterleaf.
I will have more on this area in subsequent blogs. Until then,
Up at 4AM and out of the Sportsmobile by 4:45AM, we arrived at Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness about 30 minutes prior to sunrise. I found the place that I had scouted the previous day and set up, taking a few test shots, while waiting for the sunrise.
The light was good, but it was breezy enough that the lake surface was rippling, so no glassy, mirror like reflections were possible. I also had to go to 2500 ISO and F/8 to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the vegetation motion. The high ISO resulted in more noise in the photos, requiring attenuation in post processing.
I used 3 basic compositions, shooting multiple shots of each, as the sunrise light illuminated the mountainside on the far side of the lake. Two of the resulting shots are presented here.
Smith Lake, Routt National Forest, Colorado Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.Smith Lake in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 2.5s, ISO 64
Note that the second image above is made with a slow shutter speed (2.5s), which smoothed the water, but the vegetation may not be really sharp due to some wind motion.
I noted that the light on the mountainside might actually be best prior to sunrise, probably due to the sun already being up fairly high before the mountain received the sunrise light.
After this morning’s shoot, we broke camp and headed to Vaughan Lake Campground, so stay tuned for photos from that area.
There were scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and more storm clouds were approaching well prior to the normal time we would go out for sunset shots, so we decided to go out early and try to get some shots before the storm arrived.
I went down the road to the small field of Columbines we had seen earlier in the day, arriving there shortly before the storm blew in. There had been sunlight, but by the time I arrive at my destination, clouds obscured the sun. I only had time to get a couple of shots before the wind and thunder convinced me that I should hasten back to the campground for cover from the storm.
Storm Clouds over Routt NF, CO Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640.
Not long after getting back into the vehicle and zipping up the penthouse window covers, it began to rain, followed quickly by pebble size hail. As the rain and hail stopped, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campground and there was light on the mountainsides to the east and south. It was still far from certain that the storm was completely past, so we hung around the vehicle until we were fairly sure the storm was over before going out again.
My son shot via his drone, launching it from the campground, while I went back to the field of Columbines. There were clouds and good sunset light with a beautiful sky, as there often is just after a storm.
After the Storm, Flattop Mountain, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.
It was still windy and I was trying to get the Columbines in the foreground, so I went to high ISO in the dimming light to get a high enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the flowers. The high ISO shots in the dim light were noisy and I was not able to filter out the noise enough to make most of them presentable.
Flattop Mountains, Columbine Meadow, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/10, 1/125s, ISO 320.
I was disappointed with many of my shots, which I think were good compositions, but those with Columbines in the near foreground were mostly too fuzzy due to wind induced motion of the wildflowers or noisy due to high ISO and/or failure to chose a better focus point. On the other hand, focusing on the close up wildflowers would have resulted in fuzzy distant objects. I only have three shots from this shoot that I thought presentable.
A previous post referred to the areas that we scouted during our second day at Cold Springs Campground, looking for potential places for more sunset and sunrise photo shoots. This post will present a few of the iPhone shots taken during that scouting with some comments.
A dead tree near Smith Lake Trail, Routt National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This striking looking dead tree trunk, spotted along the Smith Lake Trail, looks like a good photographic subject, but it was so tall one would have to have a really wide field of view of shoot upwards from near its base to fully capture it. We never got around to trying to shoot this properly.
A wilderness boundary marker along Smith Lake Trail. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Efex Pro 4.
This boundary marker has nothing to do with photography, I just thought it interesting to see this marker. Someone, wondering around in the forest, not hiking along a trail, would never know when entering or leaving a designated wilderness area.
Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This view of a mountainside with Smith Lake in the foreground, suggested that early morning light would make this a good place for a sunrise shoot.
Smith Lake Panorama. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A panoramic view of Smith Lake and the mountain in the background, suggests possible multiple compositional possibilities.
Columbines and fallen tree. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I found this batch of Columbines down the slope from the roadway south of the campground. (Click on the photo to view on Flickr).
Approaching storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Looking up the hillside south of the campground, it was apparent that it was time to return to the camp before getting caught in a storm. However, after getting to the Sportsmobile, I did take a chance and try to shoot at a field of Columbines, but I had to beat a hasty retreat again as the storm came in.
Near the end of the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
As the storm began to subside, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campsite. The complete semicircle rainbow was visible at one time, but I could not get a shot of it with my iPhone. One can see sunlight from the west striking the mountainside in the lower left, so as long as the storm clouds, which were moving westward, did not obscure the sunset, we would get good after the storm light.
Possible good indication for sunset light after the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A fuller view of the sun lite mountainside south east of the campsite as the storm passed, gave us some hope of getting sunset light on the mountainside.
A subsequent post will cover the actual sunset shoot after the storm.
In the morning of July 13 we shot sunrise photos just east of the lake at Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest. We began shooting from a hillside just east of the lake.
An area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISOAn area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISO 64.
I thought that the weathered tree stump made an appropriate foreground object here.
The lake made a great mirror, reflecting the clouds in the sky and the trees along the edge of the campground. None of the other campers were up and about yet. We tried to be as quiet as we could so as not to disturb them.
A scene adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, CO. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, f/16, 1.3s, ISO 64.
I put the weathered stump and a taller stump with slight side lighting at the edge of this photo.
After shooting on the hillside, we moved down into the meadow at the base of the cascade. There were lots of white and blue wildflowers in the meadow, especially around the cascade and stream. The area below the cascade was wet and marshy, which I had not anticipated and I was not wearing my water resistant hiking shoes. My shoes, socks and feet got soaked with cold water.
A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1.6s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.
As you can see, I got multiple compositions of the cascade with varying amounts of the surroundings. I used slow shutter speeds to get the silky effect of the flowing water. There was not much wind, but there was enough motion in the vegetation to keep from getting really sharp images of the wildflowers. I tried to make the images at times when the wind was most calm in hopes of getting sharper images. This works with only limited success.
After breakfast, I hiked to the marshy area above the cascade, where there were many wildflowers in another meadow around the stream. By the time I got there the clouds were mostly gone, the light harsh, still a little too much wind and many swarming mosquitoes. I tried a few shots anyway, but those were not presentable. Somewhere in there, I apparently lost my Rocket Blower, which I had just put into a pocket for convenience, rather than take it along in my backpack, which I left behind in the vehicle. (For non-photographers, a Rocket Blower is a device for blowing dust off of lenses, filters and camera sensors. This is an essential piece of gear, in my opinion, so I have since acquired another one. For the rest of this trip, I had to borrow my son’s whenever I needed it).
Later in the morning we walked 10 minutes down the road to Smith Lake Trailhead. Smith Lake Trail is only 0.7 miles, steep in a few places, mostly near the start, but mostly an easy trail. We hiked to Smith Lake and decided to return the next morning for sunrise photography.
On the way to Smith Lake Trailhead, we noted a small field of Columbines, which would possibly be good for foreground shots at sunset, assuming the clouds cleared by that time, as it had gotten much cloudier and rained lightly off and on during the day.
We also walked back to the reservoir, hiking a short distance along one of the two trails starting at the reservoir. We turned back as lightning and thunder got closer and more active. It only sprinkled lightly and we took time to explore more in the area south of the roadway, along the stream from the reservoir.
That is it for this post. Stay tuned for the sunset shoot results,
To avoid possible monotonous posts, I’ve decided to mix up things a bit. I still have a week’s worth of photos from a May visit to the northern area of the Bisti Wilderness, but since I’ve had many consecutive posts about Bisti, I will now intersperse posts about other areas with the Bisti posts. This means getting posts out of the heretofore chronological order. I hope this will keep followers from being overly bored and will not result in confusion due to the lack of timeline continuity. This is the first such out of chronological order post.
In July, 2019 I traveled to my oldest son’s place north of Denver, Colorado and we set out the following day for a week of camping and photography in the northwestern portion of the state.
Our first destination was Cold Springs Campground in the Routt National Forest adjacent to the Flat Tops Wilderness, named for the Flat Top Mountains of the Rocky Mountain Range.
When we arrived at the campground, there was only one spot left in the first come, first serve campground. Even though it was not the most sought after camping spot for most, it was actually a good spot for us and the Sportsmobile, since it was fairly level, easy to pull into and out of and had full sun exposure, which was perfect for utilizing the solar panels for maintaining the battery charge. The spot was closest to the roadway, so we got some dust from passing traffic, which tended to travel faster than the speed limit, but the dust was minimal and not a real problem.
The Sportsmobile in Cold Springs Campground July 2019. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Since all other campers or those looking for an empty spot had to pass our location on the way into and out of the campground, we had several people asking about our camping vehicle and taking photos of it. One couple even stopped beside us in their vehicle, as we hiked along the roadway towards the reservoir, after they had seen us around the Sportsmobile. They asked questions about the vehicle and seemed interested in looking into acquiring one, making a note of the Sportsmobile name.
The biggest problems at this campsite at this time of the year were the mosquitoes and other swarming insects, which swarmed us every time we were outside for any length of time. This is typical of forested mountain areas in the summer, especially those near water and there was a small lake adjacent to the campground fed by a mountain stream cascading into it on the north end of the campground. We used lots of insect repellant, still it was difficult to concentrate with so many mosquitos and/or other insects buzzing about. I also had to edit out a number of mosquitos from some images. There might be others hidden in the image details that I did not see, when editing.
There were fairly abundant wildflowers in the area, especially around the wetter areas near the streams.
Mountain Stream and Wildflowers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 40mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 800Mountain Stream and Wildflowers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 30mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 320
I tried to use higher ISO to get faster shutter speeds to freeze the flowers, but with limited success, since I still wanted to have a slow enough shutter speed to get a silky effect on the flowing water.
There is a small reservoir, maybe a half a mile up the road, where the roadway ends. We hiked to the reservoir to check it and the area to the south of the roadway, looking for suitable areas for photographic interest.
We also explored around the small lake adjacent to the campground, determining that we could do sunrise photos on the east side of the lake.
A Gnarly Tree Stump in the forest near Cold Springs Campground, Routt National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
At sunset, we got good light, after the afternoon clouds opened, shooting south of the roadway.
One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/50s, ISO 800One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, f/8, 1/8s, ISO 400Routt NF, CO, Near Coldsprings Campground. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 38mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 400.
The bands of color in the sky of this photo are in the raw file. I thought this was not normal and would not have included this photo, but my son convinced me that this is not the abnormal banding sometimes seen in digital photos. He thinks there are just layers of clouds that are separating the colors in this manner and I can see some layering in the atmosphere. It just looks so unusual to me, so I am still not fully accepting that this is normal coloration.
Stay tuned for more about our Colorado experience and resulting photographs.
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.
