Last Chance for Fall Colors

the last day I could really get out to the high country was the 12th  We had gotten a bit more snow so I decided to go back to the Blanco Basin Road because I thought it would be so amazing back there with snow on the mountains.  The sky was clear and pure blue it was a perfect fall day in the Colorado Mountains.

   

 

 

The Blanco River

 

 

 

Panoramas

 

 

 

 

on the way home I stopped at the lake along 160 and tool this one

Sunset Over Chimney Rock

The Sunset on the 10th was beautiful

Return to the Upper Piedra

I went back to the Upper Piedra on the 9th figuring the colors should be more advanced and they were.

Pagosa Peak on the way up along Piedra Road

There was a little coyote in the field

 

Williams Lake

 

I took the forest service road into the Weminuche Valley past the Williams Lake cutoff.  It is  a steep climb and a skinny road it was getting late and I was wondering if I would get some views as the trees next to the road were pretty thick.  When you first come into the valley you see this falling down building.

From the Valley floor

First view from up the hill

Up top as far as I went was a real panoramic view this photo doesn’t do it justice.  I’m not sure what the elevation was there but high enough to really get my heart pumping when I wander up a little path to get this photo

Coming back down the hill the sun was hitting this lighter stripe of rock in this mountain and it really caught my eye

Looking out over the valley again as the sun is getting really low in the sky

When I got back down to the valley this cow was outside her fence, the night before there had been a who bunch outside the fence along Piedra on the way home.

 

McManus Road to Piedra Falls – Liquid Gold

On the 8th I went up McManus road then drove part way up a forest service road off the end of that, then returned and went out to Piedra Falls.

 

There was a group of very orange trees that were so beautiful against the blue sky.

 

 

It was getting late as I headed toward the falls so some areas were difficult to photograph.

 

 

I finally got down to the river (the Middle Fork of the Piedra River)

along the trail to the falls there is this interesting tree

 

When I was almost to the falls an older couple was headed out the man says to me “you’re running out of light”  I though yep I sure am!  The sun was hitting a rock cliff above the river and falls and making the water a beautiful amber color so after taking some photos of the falls themselves I set up my tripod and focused on the river.

  

When I got home and put the photos onto the computer the amber was this amazing liquid gold!

 

This one is my favorite because the pool of water looks like molten gold not water.

 

 

 

First Snow

On the we had a couple days of rain and it was supposed to be snow in the high country so when I got up on the 6th to blue skies I headed to the edge of the hill to see if the mountains were clouded in and if they had snow on them.  They were clear and beautiful.  I wish I could have taken off for the day but the car wasn’t going to be available so I headed to town to get the mail and figured I had about an hour and a half to see if I could get some photos around town of the fresh snow.  Before I left I caught this spider in my sink he couldn’t figure out how to get out I guess so I took him out and then the was lost in my bathroom for two days so he must have been a brain challenged spider.

This is from when I headed down the street to see if there was snow up there

A little snow and a little aspen color

   

From Cloman Blvd.

 

from Piedra road

On the way home a hawk landed on a tree in front of me about 1/2 mile from the house

 

Panoramas

I think this was on scenic drive

 

Cloman blvd. Damn power lines there is no way to avoid them

 

Steven’s Lake Road

 

Piedra Road 

Blanco Basin Road

October 3rd I headed up Blanco basin road for some reason in the six years I have lived here I have never been up this road.  I leads up behind square to a major mountain you see from all over town to this gorgeous secret little valley.  The valley is all privately owned but surrounded by forest service lands.  To the east are the peaks of the continental divide that are part of the southern San Juan Wilderness. the back side of square top is on the other side and the valley runs up to big mountains to the north so it forms a U at the top.  Every direction is beautiful!

There were nasty chemtrails all day but I headed out anyway and asked for some piece of the sky to be cleared and trusted my intuition to tell me where to go.  I did get some blue skies at the beginning the slowed faded to the discusting chemtrail haze.

first you start going around square top

You go up over a big hill then start to come down into the basin this one is part way down.

When you get into the basin you meet the Blanco River

 

There were lots of trees in the area that had not turned yet which surprised me based on how the colors were in the upper Piedra and Wolf Creek areas.

I can upon this ranch entrance that I thought was interesting

 

A nice little pond, this place I notices was actually for sale.  Just a mere 1.3 million, it has river frontage though and 40 acres or so.

 

After going up to the end of the valley I went back and cut off on a forest service road.  There was a  fox there waiting for me but he didn’t hang out long enough to get his photo taken.  The aspens up there were brilliant, but the sky was whiting out! 

Panoramas

Square Top

 

The Divide

 

The Blanco river

 

The river valley

Headed Up Wolf Creek Pass

On October 2nd I headed up Wolf Creek Pass, it was mostly cloudy again and I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get a blue sky day.

Here is a close up of one of the hills

The Bootjack

 

Treasure falls was almost non existent we haven’t had much rain the last few weeks.

 

up to the overlook

I always have to get a shot of this tree for some reason it just calls to me with the  rock with a hole in it.

The was a crow hanging out on the cliff making some noise and he kind of makes an interesting silhouette.

 

On to Lobo overlook at around 11,000 feet it is 3 miles of dirt road of the main highway at the top of the pass.

You can see there were hills full of aspen but at this time of the day they were in the shade that combines with the clouds makes them pretty dull.

 

Here you can see the parking lot of the Wolf Creek Ski area

Coming back down the pass I stopped in on the west fork road

 

Took a little deer by surprise

 

West Fork of the San Juan River

 

Panorama’s for the day

bootjack

lobo overlook

 

This lobo overlook view has all of the Ski Area

 

The viewpoint above treasure falls  

First Day In The High Country

on the 30th of September I headed out to the high country to see how the aspen were coming along.  I went north of town to the upper Piedra and Williams Lake.  It was mostly cloudy but still beautiful.

These were pretty much the first aspen I came upon

Here you can see how many are still green, still I love the contrast that they offer to the yellow and the dark green pines.

This is the first good view spot of Cimarrona Peak in the Weminuche wilderness area.

Williams Lake

trees reflected in the lake

  

Looks like a pretty great place to be a cow

 

The sun was fading but this hillside was lit up

 

The sun went down as I pass a little pond on the way home

Then it lit up the other side of the sky high above Pagosa Peak

Oh I almost forgot here is a panorama by the lake taken from the boat launch area.

 

More Oak Are Lighting Up

These are from walks around the neighborhood hood on September 26th and 29th.

Here is one of the bigger oak in the area

These grasses had turned orange and the sun was hitting them and lighting them up.

  

 

 

Leaves Starting to Turn

September 22nd: When I went to town I noticed a few bright red oak on the hillside of the little canyon I have to drive through so when I got home I took my camera on a walk on and some leaves were turning yellow and some red, but most are still green.

Here is the hillside from the car

I loved the way the light was hitting these yellow leaves

 

This little bugger was on the ground I am not sure what kind of tree it came from