Fall Colors Trip 2016: Ridgway, CO

First of all, no I did not misspell the title of this post.  At the intersection of Highway 62 and Highway 550 (aka the Million Dollar Highway), there is a small town called Ridgway.  Each time I have driven through that town, I tell myself that this is the place that I want to retire.  It is a quiet little town at the base of the Sneffels Mountain range.  You can look in any direction and you will see a beautiful landscape in front of you.  

Ridgway is also in a very good location to access other beautiful areas.  Head down Highway 550 and you will find yourself in Ouray, which some refer to as the Switzerland of America.  After that is Red Mountain Pass and then Silverton.

If you instead drive West from Ridgway on Highway 62, you will drive by some spectacular views of the Dallas Divide, then over to Placerville and around the corner to Telluride.  That is, unless, you take the more scenic route of Last Dollar Road, which is one of the ‘heavy hitters’ of fall colors photography that take you over Last Dollar Mountain and down into Telluride directly.

Finally, If you are in Ridgway and need amenities normally only found in larger cities, head North on Highway 550 back to Montrose, which grows larger each time I visit that area.  There are now even department stores there now!

The next day of my fall photo journey started from Ridgway, where you can find the beginning of County Road 5.  This was a long but very fun day of shooting.  The only downside was that the clouds didn’t cooperate for most of the day.  All morning and into the afternoon, it was mostly cloudy, which is frustrating to shoot landscapes with, because you get so many uneven highlights and shadows on every mountain or hillside.  But it was awesome just to see it with my eyes, regardless of any photos.

County Road 5

County Road 5 was a nice long road heading directly south towards Mt. Sneffels.  In my mind, I would characterize this road as a line of ‘big’ views.  In other words, there were many wide open viewpoints which lead to some different shooting techniques.  One such shot is this panorama.  It is a 9 frame stitch that was only possible because of the clearing in the trees and bushes.  This also shows how the clouds create such a challenge in getting even light across the entire view.

 

County Road 7

Moving West to County Road 7, I was amazed at how dramatically different compositions you can get of the same mountains with only about a mile difference in location.  To me, County Road 7 provided several ‘Wow’ views.  Towards the end of it (where the photo below is taken), you really do feel like you are a world away from civilization.  While this may have been my favorite road on this day, the clouds limited the photographic options severely. Since I left that road, I have continually thought about how I will shoot it again next year.  Nonetheless, something this beautiful is hard to keep down.  

 

County Road 9

Next up, I again moved one valley West and found my way along County Road 9.  At this point, I really run out of superlatives, as this was another beautiful drive filled with Colorado’s best.  There weren’t a large number of ‘money shots’ on this road, but the shots there were great, and at this point, the clouds started to work with me a little.  Below is one such shot that I really like, and it’s even better in person!

 

That will do it for this post.  Next post, I’ll go over my return to Last Dollar Road to get the money shot that I had been wanting to shoot for a year.  Take care.

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