Williams Creek Trail, Colorado, July 2020

During my second day at Teal, after reserving my site for another night, I drove further up the road to Cimarrona Campground.

Just past Teal Campground, I stopped to photograph an old ranch building in a valley below the mountain side to the east.

Scene adjacent to Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 80mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.

Continuing to Cimarrona, I found this campground is significantly different than Teal.  Here there were Aspen trees, rather than Ponderosa Pines, the campsites seemed to be closer together and the campground more confined by the Aspens.  There were no good views from this campground, but I expect it would be quite nice in the fall, when the Aspens turn their golden yellow.

I continued on to Palisades (the horse campground) Campground at the end of forest service road 640.  There is a parking area in this campground for Williams Creek Trailhead.  Williams Creek trail goes far up into the mountains, eventually connecting to the Continental Divide Trail.

During my trip planning, I had noted the possibility of finding waterfalls along Williams Creek, which feeds into the Williams Creek Reservoir.  In viewing the trail via Google Earth, I could see that, while I might see falls or cascades from the trail, the view would probably be from so far away, that it would be impossible to get good photos of falls or the creek from the trail.  There appeared to be some possibility of walking along the creek for some distance; but eventually it looked impossible or difficult to follow the creek to the possible falls.

I decided to hike up the trail to check it out.  I could tell from the map that the trail was fairly steep in some places and I did not want to carry a heavy load, so I did not take my DSLR and heavy camera gear.  I did wear my Camelbak with a full water reservoir, a few snacks and items that would be useful in case of inclement weather or an unexpected event.

Gnarly Fallen Tree Trunk. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This fallen tree trunk was so twisted that I had to take time to photograph it along the way up the trail.

A typical view along Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is a typical view of the trail.  It was much steeper in some places and flatter or downhill in others; but the trail was mostly uphill.  I could hear the creek flowing in the distance much of the time, but not see it very often.

A view from Williams Creek Trail, Palisades Campground, Colorado. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I finally got to a place where I could see one of the features that I had spotted via Google Earth.  I was correct in surmising that the trail was so far above the creek that it would be impossible to get a good photo of the falls or cascades from the trail.  In the photo above the little white areas in the lower left are cascades or small falls in the creek.

While at this point another hiker came down the trail and said this was the best view point for this feature.  He said there was another view a short distance up the trail, but it was not as good.  I hiked up to check out that view and found that he was correct.  So I came back here and zoomed in on the creek with my iPhone.

Williams Creek as seen from far above on Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is the result and not very satisfying.  I cannot even judge the scale of these water features from this distance or this photo.  This feature on the creek is not the best one that I spotted on Google Earth, but it was evident that it would not be possible to get to the better possible falls or even get a good view from this trail.

It had been cloudy all the time I was hiking and I could hear thunder far in the distance.  The thunder finally got loud enough that I knew it was time to head back down the trail.  Since it was mostly downhill on the way back, it took much less time to hike back to the parking lot in Palisades Campground than it did to hike up.

Approaching Storm. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see the heavy clouds of the coming storm in the photo above.  I made it back down to my vehicle and back to my campsite just before it began to rain lightly.  I’m sure it was raining heavier in the higher elevations.

I’m still hoping to get good sunset light this evening at Teal Campground.

Stay tuned to see how that worked out,

Ken

 

Teal Campground, Colorado, July, 2020

Teal Campground, north of Pagosa Springs, Colorado is nestled among tall ponderosa pines on the west side of Williams Creek Reservoir.  The drive into the campground is long and, after the pavement ends, is on forest service roads, the conditions of which are highly variable.  During my visit, some sections were relatively good, while most sections were rocky, bouncy, pot holed and washboarded.

The setting for the campground is attractive with good views of mountains across the reservoir and in other directions.  The campsites are available on first come basis and a fee is required.  With my National Parks Senior Pass, I only paid $11/night.  A number of campers were already there, but I was fortunate to find a perfect site for my Sportsmobile.

Teal Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There are a couple of other campsites just up the road and I was uncertain about whether I wanted to stay here or in one of the other two campgrounds.  Before I paid for my site, I walked around and found the camp host in his pickup truck talking to other campers.  He was very adamant that no smoking was allowed in any outdoors area nor in his “very clean” restrooms.  Fortunately, I am not a smoker and I did not want to use the restrooms during the pandemic anyway.  The host told me that the other campsites usually had vacancies, unless Teal was full, but one site, Palisades, at the end of the road, was only for those with horses.

I decided to stay at Teal for at least one night and check out the other sites and Williams Creek hiking trail from Palisades the next day.

After lunch, I set out to check out the area for possible photo locations, testing compositions with my iPhone.

Contours. Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Some of the big pines had interesting features, but the one above is my favorite.

The Fallen. Teal Campground Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

The ground under the pines was covered with fallen needles and pine cones.  I thought the stray section of old rusty barb wire among these made for an interesting photo.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I found a number of boulders scattered around in the grassy area near the reservoir that might make good foreground objects at sunset.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

It was an increasingly cloudy afternoon and I began to think that there would be no golden hour at sunset today.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I think I found some good possible compositions and the clouds will be great to have.  Now I just need to have golden hour light to make these better.

Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Scouting Photograph, Williams Creek Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Aren’t those clouds magnificent?

Wildflowers in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

There were numerous varieties of wildflowers around the open grassy area surrounding the campground, too.

Now I just need to have an early dinner, prepare my DSLR gear and wait for sunset.

Until then,

Ken