Cold Springs Campground – Day 2 – Sunrise Photography

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.

Coldsprings Camping Area, Routt NF, CO
An area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISO
Coldsprings Camping Area, Routt NF, CO
An 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.

Coldsprings Campground
Cold Springs Campground Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.

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.

Coldsprings Camping Area, Routt NF, CO
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.

Water Cascade, Coldsprings Campground, Routt NF, CO
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.
Water Cascade, Coldsprings Campground, Routt NF, CO
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.
Water Cascade, Coldsprings Campground, Routt NF, CO
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.
Water Cascade, Coldsprings Campground, Routt NF, CO
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,

Ken

Cold Springs Campground Day 1, Routt National Forest, Colorado, July 2019

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
Mountain Stream and Wildflowers. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 40mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 800
Mountain Stream and Wildflowers
Mountain 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.

Routt National Forest Scene
One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 64
Routt National Forest Scene
One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1/50s, ISO 800
Routt National Forest Scene
One of the Flat Top Mountains in the Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, f/8, 1/8s, ISO 400
Routt NF, CO, Near Coldsprings Campground
Routt 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.

Ken

 

Scenes Along 4 Wheel Drive Roads in the Ouray, Silverton and Telluride Areas of Colorado, Part 1

In late July, 2018 my oldest son and I traveled a number of four wheel drive roads over high mountain passes in Colorado near the towns of Ouray, Silverton and Telluride.  My son did the driving, I just hung on for dear life.

All of the photos in this post (part 1) were shot with an iPhone with some editing in Lightroom.

My son used a GoPro attached to the driver’s side front fender of his Jeep to capture video along some of the drives.  Edited versions of those videos are posted on U-Tube:

Ophir Pass, Imogene Pass, California Pass/Hurricane Pass/Corkscrew Gulch and Engineer Pass.

The videos may make the rides look fairly smooth and fast.  Trust me the roads could not be traversed very quickly and the ride was very bouncy.

In a previous post I shared photos taken in Yankee Boy Basin.  Continuing up the 4 wheel road past those photo areas, the road leads to a lake and a trail head popular with hardy, mountain hikers.

A small lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road near Ouray, Colorado (iPhone photo)
A portion of the lake at the end of the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road and a mountain peak in the background. (iPhone photo)

Many, maybe all, of the 4 wheel drive roads over these mountain passes were made by miners, during the exploration phase and production phase of mining operations.  There are remains of many abandoned mines visible from these roadways and there are some active mines, as well.

An abandoned mine along the Yankee Boy Basin 4 wheel drive road (iPhone photo)

One may encounter much wildlife along these roadways and almost anywhere in this area.  We saw numerous deer and many marmots.  Marmots are usually rather shy and run away as anyone approaches them either on foot or in a vehicle.  But one little marmot only gave up its ground hesitantly, moving only a short distance away several times as I intruded into its space, while trying to get a shot of a really long water fall.

A not so shy marmot.  The depth of field in this shot is very shallow.  The rock just above the marmot is actually across a deep ravine, through which a stream flows down the mountainside. (iPhone photo)

The marmot was lounging near a very scenic waterfall and cascade with a great view across a valley and mountain tops.  Maybe that is why it was so reluctant to move away as I approached.

Low water flow in this really long waterfall and cascade along which the marmot was lounging. (iPhone photo)
The marmot’s view into the valley and across the mountain peaks (iPhone photo)

There are many small lakes in the mountains that are popular with fishermen and popular places to camp, although the mosquitoes can be quite a bother.

Clear Lake and Fishermen at the end of Clear Lake 4 wheel drive road near Silverton, Colorado (iPhone photo)

The mountains at these elevations are rugged and continually eroding.

Rugged, eroding mountainside above Clear Lake (iPhone)

Wildflowers were past their peak, but there were still quite a few scattered around.

Wildflowers in the meadow around Clear Lake (iPhone)
Wildflower and a busy bumble bee near Clear Lake (iPhone)
A few of the remaining wild flowers near Clear Lake (iPhone)

(To be continued in Part 2).

 

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin, located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Ouray, Colorado, is accessible via a 4 wheel drive road.  My oldest son, who provided the 4×4 Jeep, and I spent several early morning and evenings in the basin, since it was a relatively easy place for us to get to and there were multiple photography opportunities in the area.

Yankee Boy Basin

It is best to have a high clearance vehicle with skid plates and good off road tires before attempting to travel this road.  If the road is not wet, it might be possible for a high clearance vehicle equipped with only stock tires and an experienced driver to make it up the road.  On one of our outings there, a thunderstorm came up at our destination, so we went back down to a safer place to wait out the storm.   We encountered a young man in a Subaru Outback, who was planning to make the trip up the 4×4 road.  His vehicle had stock tires and no skid plates.  My son, who has some 4 wheel drive road experience and has been up this road a number of times, advised him not to try the road with his vehicle;  however, he told him that he could follow us, if he liked, and at least he would have someone nearby in case he had difficulty.   He tried to follow us up the road, but very soon got to a point where his tires could not get sufficient traction on the wet rocks and he turned around.

We ended up aborting one of our planned evening shoots due to a continuing storm.  We had hoped to get gorgeous views with clouds and mountainsides illuminated with the late evening light as often happens after a storm; but the storm and sky showed no signs of clearing, so we retreated to our campsites, where we were treated to sky, clouds and a double rainbow; but I only had time to shoot a few iPhone photos before these all faded away.

A view from Ridgeway State Park, Colorado, after an early evening rain.
This is the kind of sky we had hoped to see during our aborted Yankee Boy Basin evening photo shoot.

Yankee Boy Basin is a picturesque setting and can be covered with wildflowers in the early summer months.  There were some wildflowers remaining during our visit in late July, but they were mostly past their peak bloom.

Early morning view in Yankee Boy Basin

The 4 wheel drive road follows a stream much of the way and there are a number of waterfalls and lovely cascades along the way.

Early morning light above Sneffles Creek
Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin
Sneffels Creek Waterfall
Early morning light in Yankee Boy Basin along Sneffels Creek
Yankee Boy Basin Waterfall
Yankee Boy Basin Waterfall
Early morning in Yankee Boy Basin
Sneffels Creek Cascade
Sneffels Creek Waterfall/Cascade
Close up view of a portion of a waterfall on Sneffels Creek
Close up view of one of the Yankee Boy Basin waterfalls

At the end of the 4 wheel drive road is a small lake surrounded by mountain peaks.  A popular hiking trail begins at the end of the 4 wheel road that takes one to Mount Sneffels, 14,158 feet high mountain, which many hikers like to bag.

The elevation everywhere in this area is high enough that one not used to it might have some difficulty with the thin air.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noted that higher elevations are more of a problem, but so far I’ve not had altitude sickness.  I can move around quite well at altitude, as long as I am not carrying a load; but as soon as I pick up a loaded day pack and camera gear, the effort to walk up an incline becomes noticeable, requiring frequent stops to catch my breath.  I’m sure that my normal sea level life adds to the altitude effect.

One of the fun things about such outings as this is meeting other people with similar interest.  On our first morning in the basin, we chatted with the only other person there, who was also into photography and from the same metropolitan area as me.

I hope that you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments and suggestions.