We woke up to a heavy snow cover in our campground the second morning of our visit here. We had been watching the weather forecast and expected snow over a large area, we just could not judge how much would fall at our location, which was a higher elevation than that used in the weather forecasts .
Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone PhotoSnow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo
Judging by the depth of snow on the flat surfaces, it looks like 6-8 inches of cover.
After making a few early morning iPhone photos and taking care of a few housekeeping chores, I began to walk around the campground area with my DSLR.
I managed to isolate a few individual, snow covered trees against the overcast sky.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 2.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Monochrome Tree and Snow.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Skeleton Tree in Snow.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Towering Tree in Snow.
As I walked around, I tried to capture a few small features in the snow covered landscape.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Grass in Snow 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Grass in Snow, Monochrome.
And anything else that looked unique or interesting.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Crawling Snow Covered Tree Creature.
A distant mountainside was visible through the forest and I tried to frame that in a few photographs, but the 24-70mm lens did not allow for close ups of the distant mountains tops.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Distant Mountains 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Distant Mountains 2.
I think the individual trees are the best images that I captured here; but here are a few miscellaneous other images to give a feel for the general look of the snow covered forest area around the campground.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 1.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 2.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 3.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 4.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 5.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Snow Forest 6.Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Old and Fallen, Old and Standing.
It is good that I got out early to capture the snow, since it began to melt away even as I made my way back to my van. It was essentially all gone by late morning.
My oldest son and I have a tradition of taking an annual spring break trip, usually the last week of March. We had to postpone last year’s trip due to COVID19 concerns. I got both of my COVID19 vaccinations in February and my son got his vaccinations just in time to make this trip.
We settled upon the Bisti Wilderness in northwestern New Mexico as the most suitable place this year. The weather forecast for that area was for cold, freezing temperatures at night, but not so cold as to be of great concern and the daytime temps would be in the 50s.
I planned to arrive at Bisti a day prior to my son’s arrival, leaving home on a Thursday, since I was sure I could get a free campsite at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (LMNRA), my usual stop over place along this route, during the week. The temperatures there during March are mild, so I had no need to reserve a site with electric power for the A/C and I could still use the free showers in the good restroom facilities. Although, when I showered there on this stop over, the water was only lukewarm. This was the first time I had experienced anything other than hot water in the showers there.
I later noted a possible problem with the automatic step on the passenger side of my van. Sometimes the step did not go all the way back up. I thought maybe there might be some dirt in the mechanism, so I did not worry about that.
I left LMNRA early Friday morning heading to I40 at Amarillo. I’ve traveled this route a number of times, so I did not use the navigation system for guidance. However, I wanted to be sure to navigate around Amarillo, avoiding heavy traffic in the city, intersecting I40 on the western edge of Amarillo, so I stopped momentarily at a vacant parking lot at a church to verify that I was on the best route. When I got ready to start out again, the engine starter would not engage. I had not had any warning of a potential battery problem and the battery was not old. So I was concerned that there might be a more serious problem than the starter. It occurred to me that the problem with the step might be related.
I thought surely in a city like Amarillo that there would be a Mercedes Benz dealership, but there was not. I found that the closest MB facility was in Lubbock, 110 miles south of Amarillo and not on my route.
After a phone conversation with my dealership in Plano, Texas, I got connected to the MB roadside assistance. They dispatched a local service to come out to check the battery as a first step. The online app said the service would arrive in 18 minutes and gave me a countdown for the arrival. After 18 minutes, it just said “Arriving Soon” for the next hour or so. I checked online via my phone and found that the dispatched service had a 1 star, horrible service, rating.
I then called AAA, which dispatched a service that was to arrive within an hour. The AAA app, similar to the MB app, gave me a countdown, which expired and then it, too, said “Arriving Soon”.
About the time I thought AAA should be arriving, a work type truck, which I thought might be one of the dispatched services, pulled into the parking lot. But it turned out to be a couple of young local workers that saw my hood up and stopped to ask if I need a boost. They pulled out booster cables from the truck’s back seat area and we connected the cables. My vehicle started up with no problem. So I figured it must be a battery problem. I drove to a local auto parts store, purchased the best, most expensive battery they had for my vehicle and installed it with help of one of the parts store employees. But the problem persisted, the starter motor would not engage, even with the new battery. The auto parts employee brought out a booster battery device, connected it to the positive and ground posts under the hood and my vehicle started normally. (The engine starter battery is not under the hood. It is in a compartment beneath the floor in front of the driver’s seat). So now I’m convinced there is a wiring problem.
Via conversations with the MB dealership in Lubbock, I learned that they do not service Sprinter vans. The nearest Sprinter van service is in Midland, Texas, far to the south and far out of my way. I did get to talk to a service manager at the MB facility in Midland and got confirmation that the most likely problem would be a wiring issue between the battery and starter and/or alternator.
By now it was mid-afternoon. I called an MB dealership in Albuquerque, which was about a four hour drive along I40 and along my planned route. I talked to someone at the dealership, learned that they are open until 5pm during the week and open again at 7:30 Saturday morning. I was told that I can park on the street beside the dealership, if I get there Friday after they are closed. So I purchase a fully charged battery booster device in the parts store, figuring that if I have to shut off my engine for any reason, I can boost it. I hoped that as long as I could keep the engine running, I could drive all the way to Albuquerque.
So I began the journey. Before I got out of Amarillo, the dash displayed an “Alternator/Battery” error message; but the vehicle continued to run as normal. So I continued.
Just after passing an exit to San Jon, New Mexico, all kinds of warning messages began to show up on the dash, then the vehicle began to lose power. The engine continued to run and the vehicle continued moving down the highway, but at a much slower speed. I soon realized that it was highly likely that the engine would die. So I coasted off of the highway onto the shoulder in the shadow of an overpass. As soon as I stopped, the engine died and the dash display blanked out.
Sportsmobile dead along I40, just past mile marker 353 in New Mexico, iPhone Photo
I called the MB roadside assist again, having to be on hold for 20-30 minutes. After I explained the problem, a tow truck was dispatched from Albuquerque, 213 miles away.
The tow truck driver called a couple of times to get details about my vehicle and my location. The tow truck arrived after dark, sometime between 8 and 9PM.
The tow truck driver assured me that he knew exactly where to drop me off at the MB dealership, since he had done this many times. We arrived at the dealership after midnight. I got up early Saturday morning and went into the dealership as soon as it opened. I found the service manager, who had already seen my vehicle parked on the drive entrance behind the service area. He informed me that I’m at the wrong place. The Sprinter service had been moved to another location about a mile away and they are not open on Saturday!
The service manager said I needed to call roadside assistance for a tow, as they are not allowed to call on my behalf. Remembering how long it took to get through on the telephone to MB’s roadside assistance, I decided to call AAA. I was told a tow truck would be there in about an hour. The towing service called to ask for a photograph of my vehicle, which I sent right away. The tow service called to tell me they dropped me off there last night and I’m at the correct location. I had to inform them of their error, referring to signs posted on the building just behind my van with the address for dropping off Sprinter vans.
The tow truck showed up around 9AM and it was the same truck and driver that dropped me off last night. He had just gotten home, barely gotten into bed, when he was called out again.
When the tow truck driver dropped me off alongside a city street, adjacent to the cement block wall around the MB Sprinter service center, he told me this might not be a good place to leave my vehicle unattended. So I decided it best to stay in the van, rather than have my son drive down from the Great Sand Dunes, where he was currently. (We had talked earlier and our tentative plan, so I would not waste all of two or more days, was for him to pick me up and we would go to the Great Sand Dunes. I would call the Sprinter service on Monday morning to figure out what to do after that. There could be more days of delay, depending upon when the service center began looking at my vehicle and if parts had to be ordered, etc.).
So I mounted my solar panels on the roof to keep the house batteries charged and stayed with the van Saturday and Sunday nights, leaving a light on to make it obvious that the vehicle was occupied.
I was tired from not getting much sleep the previous night, but I decided I might as well find a place nearby to grab lunch, since I was stuck here anyway. I consulted my iPhone and found a food court place called Tin Can Alley a few blocks away.
After calling home to update my wife on my status, I went out looking for the Tin Can Alley. I actually got all the way there and realized that I had forgotten to bring a mask, which was required to enter. So I had to walk back to my vehicle, retrieve a mask and walk back to the food court.
Now really tired, I ordered a BBQ slider and coleslaw from one place, then took my order across the food court to a beer place. I figured I had earned at least one or two beers. Ironically, they had a pale ale on draft called “Happy Camper”, so I had one with my meal and a second one for desert before hiking back to my vehicle, where I crashed on the bed for a few hours.
I stayed around my campsite in the afternoon, waiting for my son and his wife to arrive from the Denver area. To occupy some of my time I sat outdoors, enjoying the mild weather, reading on my Kindle.
Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.
I kept seeing a curious chipmunk scampering about the campsite. It even jumped onto the arm of my camp chair, startling me.
A curious chipmunk. iPhone photograph.
At one point, I noticed the chipmunk on the side step below the side door of my vehicle, peering inside. This immediately alarmed me and I jumped up to shoo it away. Even though I had the bug screen zipped closed, I had neglected to completely fasten the bottom velcro seal. It was too late. The chipmunk entered my vehicle. I went in to try to find it and encourage it to go back outside.
There are plenty of places inside my vehicle for such a small animal to hide. While I was searching for the chipmunk, my son and DIL arrived. I left the vehicle to greet them, after which I continued to search for the chipmunk. I never found the chipmunk and I feared it pouncing upon me as I lay sleeping at night. Even if the chipmunk did not do harm itself, the shock of being pounced upon in the middle of the night might have caused a physical reaction resulting in my harming myself. I was also concerned it might hitch a ride back to my home or die inside the vehicle. To my relief, it apparently found its way back into the great outdoors of Colorado.
Late in the afternoon, we walked into the forest for an afternoon shoot.
Our wandering through the forest eventually led us to an open area on a steep slope, above another portion of the forest below. I saw streaks of light highlighting the grasses, similar to those I had shot, without great success, the previous day. But today I managed to get a much better image, with the image below, my favorite from this afternoon’s shoot. I cropped the image to remove the tops of trees and some sky in the wide angle image that distracted from the main subject, a beam of light, cutting diagonally across the image and ending at a small Aspen.
Leaving this area, we walked back towards the utility roadway. Until I looked closely at the image below, I had not realized that it included a portion of my DIL near the bottom left. I was shooting up from a slope and she was just on the other side of a rise.
Aspens and Late Day Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), 1/200s, f/11, ISO 800.Aspens and Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 200.
I shot the image above from the utility right of way, looking into the forest to the west of the roadway.
I will cover the last portion of this shoot in the next blog.
After my morning shoot near my campsite, I drove westerly along FSR 380. There were several possible campsites that I had noted from passing through this route earlier in the week. I drove past the first couple of sites to a large open unrestricted camping area that seemed to be popular with hunters. There were maybe a few places in that site that might have worked, but it was hilly, uneven, partially muddy and crowded with hunters. So I backtracked to the only other suitable site in a utility right of way.
Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.
There was plenty of room here for my vehicle and my son and DIL’s vehicle and trailer. They were planning to meet me here tomorrow. So I put out a couple of cones to mark an area for them, to discourage any other campers or hunters from moving in.
The view from the Sportsmobile awning window. iPhone photograph.
As I was mounting my solar panels on the top of my vehicle, a cowboy on horseback, herding a couple of cows, approached from a little side road into the forest. He stopped to ask if I had seen any cattle nearby. When I said no, he then asked if I was a hunter. When I told him I was here only for photography, he told me about one of his relatives that was a professional photographer who traveled around the world making photographs.
After the cowboy moved on, I noted a few passing vehicles slow to look over my campsite, then move on. Sometime later a pickup truck pulled up next to me, the driver asking if I was staying or leaving. He was a hunter looking for a campsite for he and his son, who was to meet him later. We chatted for awhile, then he went a short distance down the side road and set up his camp there. He stopped by again sometime later to chat again and his son happened to drive up as he was there. They soon moved on to their campsite and I did not see them again.
Late in the afternoon, I took my camera into the woods to explore the area.
I had some difficult getting good images during this outing. Part of this might have been due to my thinking that my photographs in the forest were becoming too much alike and in trying to do something different, I was just not very successful. When I got around to reviewing my images from this afternoon, I initially passed over nearly all of them, considering them not worthy of processing. Later, I decided to revisit those images, taking a closer look at each. I still rejected most of them, but I salvaged a few mediocre ones.
Forest Light, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200.In the Forest, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 200.In the Forest, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @14mm (before crop), 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200.Fallen Aspen leaves on old mossy log.
Driving westerly along FSR 380, I came to a vacant campsite just off of the roadway. This was a site that I had noted, when passing by on my trip into Del Norte earlier in the week. The forested area around this campsite looked promising for photography, so I pulled into the site.
Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.Forest Campsite. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/60s, f/11, ISO 200.
As I was walking around the camping area, I heard a loud, raucous bird, that seemed angry about something. Thinking that I might be in danger of being attacked by an irate bird, I turned to look for the bird, catching a brief glimpse of it as it flew past me. It crashed hard into the side of my vehicle and fell to the ground. It was a beautifully colored woodpecker, which moved a little as I kneeled to inspect it. I hoped it was just dazed and would recover consciousness and be ok, so I gently picked it up and placed it in the wooded area nearby the campsite.
Kamikaze Woodpecker. iPhone photograph.
Unfortunately, it did not recover. I can only surmise that it objected to the red color of my vehicle or saw its reflection in the vehicle and thought it was another bird intruding upon its territory, or it was giving me a warning buzz that ended tragically.
Such events always make me wonder about the uncertainties of life and the random convergence of events leading to such tragedies. Would this have happened, if I had not parked here at this specific time or had I slightly modified my parking spot or backed into the campsite rather than pulling forward into it?
I just hope that I am not the cause of any other tragic events.
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.
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.
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 arose early in the morning, still not sure that I wanted to tackle the creek hike with my heavy camera gear. I peeked outside to see what the weather and sky looked like, before deciding to prepare for the day.
The sky appeared to be mostly clear, so I had an herbal tea and a light snack, then gathered my gear for a morning shoot, having decided to have a go at getting to those two waterfalls.
I knew that I would need to be careful with the gear and with my footing and balance during this trek, so I brought along my hiking stick as an aid in balance and control. I usually do not use the hiking stick, since it is just another item to keep up with and easily left somewhere. I also tend to use my tripod as a hiking stick, whenever I carry it in my hands.
I also wanted to have both hands free when walking, so I fastened the tripod to the back of my Camelbak, slung a filter pouch over my head and shoulder and clipped the DSLR to the front of the Camelbak via carabiners and an old camera strap that I had cut and sewn to the pack years ago. The camera can still swing away from my body, when I have to stoop over, so I still have to hold onto it sometimes to prevent it from bumping into something.
Thus I began the hike up the steep slope along the ridge above the creek. I knew that I should have gotten out a little earlier, but my hesitation to even try this, resulted in a late start this morning. I also did not want to start this hike in the dark and I knew that the mountain to the south would shield the very early morning light until later, so the sun would already be fairly high in the sky before I saw it.
Waterfall and Stream. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 70mm, 1/6s, f/20, ISO 800.
I was glad to have the hiking stick this morning as it was a safety aid in going down and across steep slopes and helping my balance, when crossing the stream.
The photo set up procedure was a bit slow and awkward, whenever I stopped for a photograph. I first released the carabiners holding the DSLR onto my backpack and put the camera in a secure place, then I removed the filter case from around my neck, then I removed the Camelbak, then I unstrapped the tripod from the Camelbak. After shooting at a location, I reversed this procedure to put all items back into place before moving on to the next location.
Wispy Waterfall. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, 1/6s, f/22, ISO 800.Mountain Stream. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/6s, f/18, ISO 500.Cascade and Mossy Rocks. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 800.
To get the shot above, I had to get into a tight place and crouch on my knees, being very careful not to drop something into the creek. As I was preparing to get out of this uncomfortable position, I could not find the metal plate lens cover for the Progrey filter holder and I was afraid that it might have slide behind me into the creek. I looked into the creek and did not see the cover from my vantage point. A closer examination of the filter holder case revealed the cover hidden between the individual filter cases, where I tend to habitually put it, when it is not in use.
No Name Waterfall. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 42mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 40.
When I arrived at the second waterfall, I stood below an undercut cliff on the south side of the creek, where the 24-70mm lens let me isolate the waterfall, excluding all the unattractive and distracting clutter around it.
The last image here was selected for Flickr’s Explore page, where as of the date of this writing, it has received 4,213 views and 103 favorites. This is not a record for me and far short of the number of views and favorites that others on Flickr have, but still nice for my level of activity on Flickr. I’m pleased with these photos and glad that I made the effort to get them. I might never have such an opportunity again.
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.
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.
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.
