The finale of my 2016 version of the fall colors tour was another visit to Last Dollar Road. If you have read my previous posts, this road was a bit of an enigma leading up to last year’s trip when Scott and I made the decision to go over this road for the first time in Scott’s Nissan Altima. That turned out to be a great success, and a grand victory for us.
Also as mentioned in a previous post, this year I chose to rent an SUV for a few days of this trip. Last Dollar Road was the impetus for that decision. I still maintain that was the best call I made on this trip, and Last Dollar Road did not disappoint in that regard. This year, the road was an order of magnitude worse as far as road condition is concerned. There is no way I could have gone over that with my Altima. There were huge ruts, puddles (more like lakes) in the road, washouts, and large rocks. But having the SUV was exactly what I needed. I think that is a tradition I will continue in future fall trips.
The Drive
I started on Last Dollar Road (LDR) in the afternoon on Sunday, with the goal of making it to the North side of the ‘summit’ overlooking the Mt. Wilson Mesa in time to get a sunset shot. To that extent, I somewhat rushed along LDR faster than I would have liked. However, I have been thinking about getting this specific sunset shot for a year, and I didn’t want to take any chances of missing that window. It was windy, but the clouds looked to be cooperating, so I limited my stops and just enjoyed the views for myself along the drive.
I would highly recommend this drive for any Coloradoan, especially during the changing of the Aspen. There just isn’t anything like it, and photos are not an adequate substitute for seeing it for yourself.
I finally made it to the spot on the road that was closest to the spot I wanted to set up on. There is a small 4WD road that goes up the steep hill to the summit. I tried to go up it a bit with the SUV, but I decided to stop and go back after only about 30 yards or so, because the climb was incredibly steep, the road was so narrow that the SUV would barely fit between some trees, and I saw up ahead that there was a downed tree across the trail. So I went back down, parked the car, packed my gear up, and hiked up the road. Yes. Nick hiked up a mountain. Voluntarily. I went really slow, but I made it, and it was worth it.
The Money Shot
The view from this location very well could be the best view I have ever seen. I go to the spot about 40 minutes before sunset. I was surprised that I had cell service all the way up there, so I posted a live video on Facebook, which perhaps some of you may have seen. Although I was all alone on top a mountain, I was only about 10 miles away from Telluride, where I am sure the rich celebs demand great cell service.
Out of nowhere, another photographer showed up. I was a little surprised. He was a little older than me, but he was definitely a ‘mountain’ person. He was a little strange, and he wouldn’t stop talking to me, while continually humble bragging about his ‘beat up and old’ equipment that just happened to be a full frame Canon DSLR with a super expensive lens. Oh well, I just had to ignore him and focus on my camera.
Eventually, the sun set, and just before the sun dropped below the mountains to the west, we got some color in the clouds above Mt. Wilson. It was amazing. That is what turned into the image below. I am really happy with how it turned out.
After the sunset faded away, I packed up and hiked back the hill to my car. At this point, it was nearly dark. I slowly drove down the south side of LDR and made my way into Telluride, where I stayed for the night. What a day. I was exhausted physically and mentally, from taking in so much, and at the same time hoping that all these shots would work out and look good when I got home and loaded them up in Lightroom.
The next morning, my last of the trip, I had great intentions of driving back over LDR one more time, as I had to get back to Montrose to return the SUV before heading home. However, the wind really kicked up, and there was patches of rain every few minutes. Given that the road conditions on LDR were so bad the previous night, and that the wind would prevent most good photos, I decided to take the easy was around Placerville.
I got back to the Montrose Airport, returned the SUV, and got back into my Altima. But before I could really hit the road for home, I make a quick trip into the nearby Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I love National Parks, so I couldn’t pass up the quick detour to go through the park again. The weather was pretty poor, with total cloud cover, so I didn’t get any really good photos from the park. But it was still worth it.
Expensive Tape
As I made the long journey home (about a 6 hour drive from Telluride), I had to make a quick stop in Gunnison to drop off the camera lens I rented at a FedEx drop point. The drop point I found with my phone was a small mom and pop shop shipping company in old town Gunnison, which was a cool little part of town I hadn’t seen before.
The reason I mention that here is because to return the lens, you just pack it back into the box that you received it in, stick on the pre-paid FedEx label, and drop it off. But being on the road, I needed one single piece of tape to close up the box. No problem, they’ll have plenty of tape at the shipping place.
I walked in the store, put the package on the counter, and told the gentleman there that I was just there to drop this off, but I also needed one piece of tape. He said sure, that will be $0.50. I thought he was joking, so I kind of laughed it off as he took the package, turned around to a table behind the counter, and put the one single piece of tape on the package. He turned back around, and ‘rang it up’ on the register, which then displayed my total to be 50 cents. He is serious, isn’t he? All I had was 20s, so I gave him one, and he gave me back the $19.50. For a single piece of tape. Oh well. I just thought that was funny.
Homeward Bound
Finally, I got on the road and drove home. The end to a long and fun solo trip. Looking back at it now, and the photos I got from it, I am surprised (and happy)to see how far I have progressed as a photographer. As photographers, we are always our own worst critics, and I don;t think that will ever change. But it is nice to see how much better my photos were on this trip versus last year. I guess I owe that to lots of practice, hours of YouTube tutorials and lectures, getting out so much to shoot, and being involved in such a great photo club, Focus Camera Club, which has really pushed me to continually improve my photography.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate all the support from friends and family as I keep pursuing my journey on photography.