We pick up this journey after going over Kebler Pass.  This would be a long day of shooting, starting in Crested Butte with a goal of getting a sunset shot of Chimney Rock near Owl Creek Pass in the evening before ending back in Montrose for the night.

From Kebler Pass I made my way to Montrose, where my first stop was actually the airport.  No I wasn’t flying anywhere, rather I rented an SUV, which turned out to be a Hyundai Santa Fe.  Looking back on this roadtrip, the decision to rent this was the best decision I made.  After miraculously making it over Last Dollar Road last year in my friend Scott’s Altima, I did not want to temp fate again by going over that road in my Altima.  Although I wouldn’t go over that specific road until Sunday evening, I rented the SUV a day early because I didn’t know how the roads would be in the spots I was going.

In hindsight, I definitely could have driven over these other county roads with my Altima without much problem, but it would have been much slower.  Many of these roads were at least very bumpy and/or has wash-boarded sections along the way. However, because I was in a rental SUV, I could drive fast without any concern, which really made this trip a lot more enjoyable.

County Road 8 and Silver Jack Reservoir

After my brief stop in Montrose,  I raced south towards County Road 8.  My goal was to make it all the way to Silver Jack Reservoir, then get back to Chimney Rock in time for sunset.  Driving along County Road 8 was amazing.  It was beautiful from start to finish.  Almost every five minutes, I found myself in an argument with myself.  On one hand, I wanted to stop so many times because I saw something beautiful.  On the other hand, I knew that if I kept stopping, I would never be able to get to Silver Jack and then back to Chimney Rock in time.  I knew Chimney Rock would be my ‘money shot’ for that day, so I had to be disciplined and keep driving.

Not only was the drive along CR 8 beautiful, it was simply a lot of fun to drive.  The road winds in and out of aspens groves, over streams, through narrow paths in pine trees, and over Owl Creek Pass.  I will definitely make this drive again next year, likely dedicating more time to it.

Eventually, I did make it to Silver Jack reservoir, which is a really neat place, a big open area with plenty of camping areas and surprisingly adequate facilities for being in the middle of nowhere.  From a photography standpoint, the stop at Silver jack was pretty much a dud.  Although I had scoped out a really good location to set up at, the water level in the reservoir was really low and the sky was really overcast, making for really boring shots.  maybe if I had more time I could have found other nearby spots that would have worked better.  However, a small storm cell was moving in, so I packed up and headed back towards Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock

I arrived at ‘the spot’ to get the iconic shot at sunset, which is a meadow just North of Chimney rock, which is surrounded by bright yellow aspens.  This meadow was actually the film location for the original True Grit movie starring John Wayne. When I got to the spot, I was about 45 minutes before sunset, but there were already about four or five other photographers already there setting up.  It was really fun to meet some of these other like-minded people and compare notes and stories of where we have all been in the recent days trying to catch the fall colors.  I met a few professional photographers who were traveling all over the US.  In fact, when I got there, one of them was flying around a DJI Phantom 4 drone, which was really fun to watch.  That is something I will have to try soon.

As sunset approached, more photographers kept showing up.  By the time sunset was in full effect, there was about 20 of us lined up along the edge of the meadow.  Although I knew this would be a popular spot, it was still funny to think about this tight group of people huddled together, given that we were about 10 miles back into the forest on a long county road.  

Ironically enough, just before sunset, I turned around and right behind me was my favorite professional Colorado landscape Photographer standing right next to me.  I will keep him anonymous for the sake of this post because I think I kind of embarrassed him that night, as I was was in total ‘fanboy’ mode, and he was there leading a photo tour of about 6 or so people.  I owe him a lot though, as he has provided a ton of resources online for planning fall photo trips as I was on, including a Facebook group that he leads of people reporting tree conditions in real time.

Above is the money shot from that evening.  We really lucked out.  Just before the sun few below the horizon, it broke out from below the clouds and lit up Chimney Rock in dramatic fashion. The aspens were nearly on fire in the foreground.  It was somewhat of a surreal experience. All 20 or so of us photographers were firing off hundreds of photos in the mater of a minute or two when the light was optimal.  If you look in the bottom right corner of this image, you will see a large rock in the meadow.  This is the rock that John Wayne himself was sitting on in the scene they shot here for the movie.

Eventually the sun faded and we all packed up and made the long drive back to civilization.  I turned North and drove back to my hotel in Montrose for the night.

Looking back, I have to say that this was perhaps the most fun day of photography I have ever had.  From start to finish, I was inundated with the beauty of Southern Colorado.  I met some really nice photographers, including one of my personal favorites.  I shot 375 photos on this day alone!

That is it for this post.  In the next post, I will discuss the next day of the trip around Ridgway.  Thanks for reading.