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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 combined 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

 

 

 

A pull over on the road looking over the same headwater area of the Rip Grande that I photographed from lower elevation.

  As you move further up the pass you come to what is called the most photographed waterfall in Colorado North Clear Creek Falls It is an open high mountain meadow area with a creek meandering through that just suddenly an unexpectedly drops off a steep cliff that looks like it doesn’t belong there.  We couldn’t drive into the normal area because they were apparently redoing it, it was unclear exactly what they were doing but with it being Sunday there was no actual work going on, which was good as they were not whipping dust up into the air.  We had to park out on the dirt road and walk in to even see there was a falls there.

This is where we parked looking away from the falls

First good view of the falls.  There were some rocks you can get up and to see the falls before this point but there was a photographer up there with a huge set up.  He was the type that you get the feeling he just needed attention so he brought a truckload of equipment to look important LOL  I mean hey he was there midday when the light is not ideal so if he was a pro with lots of time he would have been there  at first light since thunderstorms were predicted for late day.  I just hate those kind of pompous people in general and even more when they call themselves photographers.  I headed down the trail and actually preferred some of the views down the trail than where he was anyway.  But he wouldn’t have gotten any attention down the trail

This one I backed off to show the open high mountain area

In this one I liked the rock at the right

 

The trail wound around to follow the canyon a little ways

 

I took so many that it was hard to pick my favorite but I like the ones that capture the creek continuing on down through the frame.

   

I zoomed in on these black rocks that captured my attention

After leaving Creede We start heading up higher on the Silver Thread Scenic Byway.  This piece of road goes between South Fork Colorado and Lake City Colorado and goes over two passes.

This looking out over the headwater area of the Rio Grande River

When we pulled into the Silver Thread campground we found a site and made lunch in this lovely little aspen grove.  It is a small campground with maybe 15 sites if that and primitive just a simple pit toilet.

 

There was a painter in the camp who had this painting out drying, and another about twice as big, covered and tied to the side of his or her motor home

 

This is a little part of the trail that goes to the falls.  The falls is tucked away off to the right.  The trail is about a quarter mile although somewhat steep most of the way.

First shots of the falls, it was already midday and so I didn’t think I would be able to stop down my camera to use a slow shutter but I brought the tripod anyway.  My little Olympus sp-550uz has a  smallest aperture of f-8 so midday was not the best time for waterfalls but it is when we were there
 

Some clouds came up from building thunderstorms and that allowed enough light shift for me to get a couple of the slow shutter velvety falls look before the sun came back out.

 

A little flower along the trail

 

I’ve posted photos of Pagosa Peak and it’s range and the Weminuche  peaks but I wanted to show where they connect so when I went into town on the 17th and the weather was good I drove into one of the neighborhoods at the west end of town on the south side of highway 160.  This shot shows it nicely although part of the range that Pagosa Peak is part of is behind the hill on the right.

This one shows a little more of that range

This one goes the other direction showing the range with with Pagosa Peak and then over to the eastern range

On the 19th the weather was looking good so I decided to head up toward Wolf Creek Pass to see if I could get a good panorama in the beautiful little valley right below the pass

This is from East Fork Road

Also East Fork Road but zoomed out a little

Boot Jack with the moon

Here is a vertical panorama of Boot Jack

and a vertical panorama of treasure falls

 

Off Highway 160

Off East Fork Road

 

The Boot Jack

This shot was taken at the top of Wolf Creek Pass at the entrance to Lobo Overlook.  I couldn’t go up to the overlook as it’s a snowmobile trail this time of year.

  

Indian Head

This one was from an overlook above the valley I couldn’t take any photos of the valley because the sun was in the wrong place, but right below was this rock with the snow drifted over it and little animal prints that I thought was cool.