September 2016 – During the last ten days of September each year, the San Juan Skyway in the Colorado Rocky Mountains becomes one of the most dazzling places we have ever visited with our RV.

Astonishing color on an autumn RV trip along Colorado’s San Juan Skyway. WOW!!

Beginning around September 20th and continuing through the first few days of October, this 235 mile long drive comes alive in utterly spectacular color.

Colorado fall color.

Towering mountains on either side of the road are covered in swatches of vivid color as the aspens don their golden cloaks.

Autumn splendor in the Colorado Rockies

Patches of yellow spring up in every direction, and as the days go by, green becomes yellow and yellow turns to vivid orange.

Patches of brilliance.

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The trees join together and form patterns in the Rocky Mountains, and visitors carrying cameras of all shapes and sizes gape in awe at the splendor of Nature’s majesty.

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In places, lakes reflect the glory of the mountains on their glassy surfaces, mirroring the stunning fall colors in their depths.

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Along with dozens of other grinning, camera wielding tourists, we stopped along Colorado’s jaw dropping Million Dollar Highway to take in the views and take some photos. It was early morning on a grey day, and we watched a duck swimming across a small lake.

Vivid colors brighten a grey morning at Crystal Lake.

As she headed towards the shore, she swam into the reflected colors.

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The undulating surface surrounded her in golden ripples as she quietly floated across this magnificent backdrop.

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She stabbed the silky water with her beak, seeking out yummy morsels, and tiny water droplets fell from her beak as she turned.

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The lake mirrored the vivid, patchwork hillsides in the water, creating a breathtaking image.

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On the side of the lake, tourists set up camp chairs to admire the mountain views.

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And what a view they had.

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Both from a distance and from up close, the colors of the trees were awe-inspiring.

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Like Utah’s Scenic Byway 12, the San Juan Skyway is an All American Road. It is a loop drive that passes through some of Colorado’s most charming mountain towns.

Rico is one of many cute towns along the San Juan Skyway.

Beginning in Dolores, Colorado, the San Juan Skyway follows SR-145 northeast through the village Rico to the trendy town of Telluride.

Right from Crayola!

From Telluride, the San Juan Skyway continues northwest on SR-145 to the town of Placerville where it heads northeast again on SR-62 to the town of Ridgway.

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From Ridgway, the autumn colors intensify as the San Juan Skyway turns south on US-550, also known as the Million Dollar Highway, and travels through Ouray and Silverton to Durango.

A fish-eye lens and a starburst – what fun!

This portion of the San Juan Skyway takes RVers on tight hairpin turns and 10% grades to climb over three mammoth mountain passes that range between 10,000 and 11,000 feet.

Stunning reflections and post-processing fun.

This is an extraordinary road that is easily traveled in an RV that has a strong engine or is towed by a strong truck (semi-tractor trailers traverse the Million Dollar Highway 24/7 in large numbers).

For first-timers, is worthwhile to drive the road in the toad or tow vehicle at least, just so you know what is in store. And who wouldn’t want to do this drive multiple times during those magical autumn days?!

Heading up the Million Dollar Highway.

We have been fortunate to sample various portions of the San Juan Skyway on three separate occasions since we started RVing full-time. Each time we have been wide-eyed with wonder at the sensational scenery all around us.

San Juan Skyway – An INCREDIBLE drive!!

For RVers planning an RV trip on the San Juan Skyway, there are various informative links below.

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Further Resources:

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Info for Colorado’s San Juan Skyway:

• San Juan Skyway Details – Colorado Department of Transportation Official Website
• Location of the San Juan Skyway in Colorado – Interactive Google Map

Other blog posts from our RV trips to this part of Colorado:

• Brilliant Fall Foliage + Snow in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
• Colorado’s San Juan Skyway – An RV Trip in Dazzling Fall Color!
• San Juan Mountains Colorado – And then it Snowed!
• RV Trip on Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway – Ouray to Silverton
• Ouray – Finding the COLOR in Colorado on an RV Trip!
• Colorado GOLD – A Fall Foliage Photography Workshop
• Ridgway, CO – Peak fall foliage on the Dallas Divide – WOW!!

More blog posts from our RV trips to Colorado:

• Hartman Rocks – A Different View of Colorado near Gunnison
• Creede, CO – Mining History & Championships + 4th of July!
• Buena Vista Colorado – What a Place for an RV Breakdown!
• Rocky Mountain National Park & Trail Ridge Road: RV? Dog??
• Lake Granby Colorado RV Trip – A Summer Beach Vacation!
• Remote RV Camping: Antero Reservoir & Blue River Colorado
• Burro Days! Burro Races, Llamas & Outhouses in Fairplay CO
• Crested Butte – Wildflower Capital of Colorado!
• Silver Thread Scenic Byway in Colorado – Fire in the Sky!
• Telluride Gondola Ride in Colorado – FREE and Dog Friendly!
• Rocky Mountain High: Alpine Beauty in Colorado + Trout Lake!
• Where All News is Good News – At the Saguache Crescent in CO
• Lakes and Light in Wyoming and Colorado
• Colorado’s Stunning Scenic Drives…by Porsche!
• Cowboy Poetry Gatherings in Durango, Colorado, and Alpine, Texas!
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO – Steep and Deep!
• Romance at Maroon Bells Colorado!
• Colorado National Monument & Fruita CO – Red Rocks, Cycling & Wine!
• Mesa Verde National Park, CO – Life on the Edge with the Ancients

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More of our Latest Posts are in the MENU.
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The Million Dollar Highway

October, 2014 – We were loving our stay amid the golden aspen of Ouray, Colorado, where every view we saw in every direction we turned was a true jaw-dropper. Our cameras were going non-stop.

Ouray sits in a valley surrounded by mountains with a narrow ribbon of highway running through it.

This highway, US Route 550, is a part of the San Juan Skyway, a breathtaking scenic loop drive that takes in some of the best mountain views that Colorado has to offer.

A fifth wheel takes in the views

Swinging through Telluride, Ridgway, Silverton and Durango, the San Juan Skyway winds all through the mountains, soaring over the peaks and dropping down into the valleys.

This is great motorcycle country!

When it gets to Ouray, drivers headed south are at the starting point of one of the most spectacular 25 miles stretches of road in America.

Nicknamed the Million Dollar Highway, the views are worth every penny (lol)!

The origin of this name is uncertain, but it may have come about because it was thought that a million dollars’ worth of gold dust was in the gravel and dirt that was used to build the road in the late 1800’s. Or, the name may have come from the cost of paving the highway in the 1930’s.

Million Dollar Views on the Million Dollar Highway

If those stories aren’t the real source of the name, there is also a joke that perhaps this gorgeous bit of road got its nickname from an early traveler who, wide-eyed with terror, exclaimed, “I wouldn’t go that way again if you paid me a million dollars!”

Really? Oh yes, indeed!

The views along this road are beyond stunning, but you’ve gotta steel your nerves when you drive it, especially if you are in the passenger seat heading south from Ouray to Silverton.

Nevermind the beauty. This road is one of the most hair raising and dangerous highways in America.

As we approached Silverton the aspens were ablaze!

As we drove it the first time, we both kept saying “WOW” the whole way.

Half of those “wows” were because the scenery was so incredible. But half of them were because of the utterly sheer and totally unprotected drop-offs that fell away from the truck’s right tires, falling hundreds of feet straight down to a chasm below my door!

We stopped a few times at various pullouts and peered over the edge.

OMG. At one spot we saw an upside down car way at the bottom of the gorge below us!

Some consider this road among the most dangerous of America’s highways.

Yikes! Lord knows if it was from a fatal crash or if kids had rolled a car off the highway to watch it fall.

Over the decades I’m sure both of those things have happened!

Yet, frightening as this drive can be for first-timers, semi-tractor trailers traverse it all the time, climbing up and over the three mountain passes that lie between Ouray and Durango, Colorado.

I’m not sure that we ever saw any trucks hauling super heavy loads, but Freightliners and their like made up a significant percentage of the traffic on this narrow twisty road.

It’s certainly intimidating when the weather gets ugly!!

This gave us heart, because we were planning, at the end of our stay, to take our fifth wheel over this road.

We ended up driving the Million Dollar Highway and its highest summit, Red Mountain Pass (at 11,000+ feet), many times during our two week stay, because the peak of the fall foliage color was happening all up and down its wild walls.

So we got to know the many twists and turns and scary parts of the road.

When the weather turned nasty for a few days, and the road got soaking wet, the clouds dropped into the canyon and filled it with fog, and the rain fell in blinding torrents on our truck. At least we knew what lay ahead!

On a sunny fall day, this is motorcycle heaven!

But on beautiful sunny days this is a drive people come from miles around to enjoy.

We watched lines of touring motorcycles, groups of shiny new Ferraris, and even a caravan of rental RVs out for a scenic drive on this thrilling road.

After crossing over the summit of Red Mountain Pass, the road begins to descend towards Silverton, and the fall colors jumped out at us from all sides.

Then the valley opened up, and Silverton lay before us, a tiny town with a big mining history.

Silverton is one super cute Colorado mountain town.

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a fun stream train ride.

Once home to 1,100 people (in the late 1880’s) when the nearby silver and gold mines were flourishing, Silverton houses just 500 or so hardy souls today.

Tourists love it, and it is a great spot to spend an afternoon or a few days.

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway is one of the biggest attractions, and we saw it in the distance, chugging up into the valley under a thick cloud of black smoke that trailed off behind it.

Not only is the town photogenic, but it’s a great place for western-themed portraits.

This railroad was built in 1882, and it carried both mining supplies and tourists right from the get-go.

Today it carries only tourists, and it is a major attraction in the area.

40+ years ago in the early 1970’s, one of the train’s brakemen had a younger brother that was an avid cyclist, and one day they challenged each other to a train/bike race up the mountain from Durango to Silverton.

The cyclist bested his brother on the train, and the Iron Horse Cycling Classic was born.

A family get ready for a western photo session.

Now the Iron Horse is a huge affair with pro cyclists, recreational riders, volunteers and sponsors of all kinds participating.

Their website gives the annual race results for each group of cyclists that competes, but the one thing I couldn’t figure out was: how did the train do?!

No matter how you get to Silverton, by car, train or bicycle, this town is a great stopover.

It’s very photogenic, with colorful old buildings lining the dirt streets that are set against a vivid mountain backdrop.

Photographers set up western-themed photo shoots for tourists too, and we watched a family getting set up for a fun photo.

There are old mining ruins and old homesteads all over the place.

Two little girls donned big flower hats and long dresses, and a little boy hugged a bottle of whiskey while his brothers brandished rifles. Mom had a pistol, and the baby wore chaps. What a hoot!

Of course, it’s one thing to dress up like old times and have a meal at one of the western themed restaurants in town.

It’s a whole different thing to have lived here in the mining camps 100+ years ago.

The Million Dollar Highway can be negotiated by the biggest rigs on the highway — if you dare!

The ruins of both the mines and the homes are scattered among these mountains, and it is startling to picture that life.

Living at 10,000 feet in remote mountains where snow comes in early October (and sometimes sooner) must have been an unbelievable challenge.

What’s worse, the mining companies didn’t care a lick about safety. Falling down a mine shaft or having the whole mine collapse on your head were accepted risks that were just part of the job.

In 1918, Silverton was brought to its knees by the influenza epidemic. A staggering 10% of the population died in a six week period.

More recently, a rock slide in January, 2014, brought the town to its knees once again. Route 550 was suddenly impassable, and the town was cut off from its main supply route to the north.

Just keep your eyes on the road (hah!)

The few vehicles that made it to Silverton had to drive nearly 500 miles out of their way to get there.

But hardships of remote mountaintop living aside, it was the gold and silver of yesteryear and the majestic scenery of today that put and keeps this area on the map.

For all the grittiness of the mining life in these mountains, I imagine that when the miners found a spare moment to soak in the scenery, it was as precious to them in those days as it is to us today.

The scenery here inspired us for weeks.

Back out on the road heading back to Ouray, we saw lots of big RVs navigating the hairpin turns on the Million Dollar Highway.

I had looked for info on taking an RV on this road in some of the online RV forums, and lots of people had said there was no way they would ever take a big rig on this road.

But many people do it, and we never saw anyone having trouble. Driving it a few times in a smaller vehicle first definitely helps!

Prior to towing our 14,000 lb. trailer over these passes, we installed an Edge Evolution Diesel Tuner on our truck to give it a little more power, and it worked great! (Our installation of this engine tuner is described here).

Fall color at Crystal Lake near Ouray.

For more info about this glorious drive and the Silverton area, check out these links:

Scenic Roads and Drives:

• Million Dollar Highway – US Route 550, Ouray to Silverton
• Red Mountain Pass on Route 550
• Red Mountain Pass – Current Road Conditions
• San Juan Skyway – Scenic Loop Drive

Silverton Area Attractions:

• Silverton Colorado — things to do
• Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
• Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
• Silverton Colorado RV Parks

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Related posts about Colorado’s spectacular fall color and where to see it:

• Brilliant Fall Foliage + Snow in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
• Colorado’s San Juan Skyway – An RV Trip in Dazzling Fall Color!
• San Juan Mountains Colorado – And then it Snowed!
• RV Trip on Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway – Ouray to Silverton
• Ouray – Finding the COLOR in Colorado on an RV Trip!
• Colorado GOLD – A Fall Foliage Photography Workshop
• Ridgway, CO – Peak fall foliage on the Dallas Divide – WOW!!

More blog posts from our RV trips to Colorado:

• Hartman Rocks – A Different View of Colorado near Gunnison
• Creede, CO – Mining History & Championships + 4th of July!
• Buena Vista Colorado – What a Place for an RV Breakdown!
• Rocky Mountain National Park & Trail Ridge Road: RV? Dog??
• Lake Granby Colorado RV Trip – A Summer Beach Vacation!
• Remote RV Camping: Antero Reservoir & Blue River Colorado
• Burro Days! Burro Races, Llamas & Outhouses in Fairplay CO
• Crested Butte – Wildflower Capital of Colorado!
• Silver Thread Scenic Byway in Colorado – Fire in the Sky!
• Telluride Gondola Ride in Colorado – FREE and Dog Friendly!
• Rocky Mountain High: Alpine Beauty in Colorado + Trout Lake!
• Where All News is Good News – At the Saguache Crescent in CO
• Lakes and Light in Wyoming and Colorado
• Colorado’s Stunning Scenic Drives…by Porsche!
• Cowboy Poetry Gatherings in Durango, Colorado, and Alpine, Texas!
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO – Steep and Deep!
• Romance at Maroon Bells Colorado!
• Colorado National Monument & Fruita CO – Red Rocks, Cycling & Wine!
• Mesa Verde National Park, CO – Life on the Edge with the Ancients

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Ouray, Colorado, is a classic western mountain town.

September, 2014 – Continuing our journey south through Colorado, we left the rugged Black Canyon of the Gunnison and traveled on to the classic Rocky Mountain town of Ouray (pronounced “you-ray”).

This tiny town of just 1,000 people is tucked into a valley that is nestled in the clouds at nearly 7,800 feet, and it is surrounded on all sides by mountain peaks that soar into the sky.

We first discovered Ouray fifteen years prior to this year’s visit on a tent camping trip long before we were RVers.  We promptly fell in love with the town and the entire area around it.

We hadn’t been back since that first visit, and we were delighted to find that not much has changed.

Home to just 1,000 residents, Ouray is a charming mountain town.

Even the barista at the cute coffee shop and chocolatier called Mouse’s Chocolates & Coffee confirmed that in the dozen or so years she’d been in town things have remained pretty much as they were.

That’s a rare thing in the popular western states, and it’s a good thing there hasn’t been a huge press for growth, because there is absolutely no room for this town to grow.

Sheer mountains frame every view in every direction, and the streets on the edges of town turn sharply upward.

Most of Ouray’s architecture dates to the turn of the last century.

The town fills the whole little valley, and the town’s dirt streets that are away from the main drag are wonderful proof that progress is taking its time here.

Settled as a base for miners working the thirty or so gold and silver mines in the nearby mountains, Ouray was home 1,000 residents way back in 1877 too.

What a place to go RVing!

From 1887 until 1930 the Denver & Rio Grande Railway brought people and goods to and from Ridgway 10 miles to the north.

Today the town boasts beautiful architecture on the main street with wonderful Victorians dotting the view.

The aspen trees were a brilliant orange.

For us and for many fall visitors, the real draw to Ouray, which many call the “Switzerland of the Rockies,” is the stunning visual drama of the fall foliage season.

Two years ago we attended a photography workshop in the Ridgway/Telluride area put on by the incomparable Nasim Mansurov of PhotographyLife.com, a massively popular website.

At the workshop we were blown away by the brightly colored aspen that blanketed the mountainsides beneath the gray craggy peaks on the Dallas Divide.

Nasim is a very unusual person.  Born and raised in Uzbekistan, he is gifted with that special kind of charisma and leadership ability that have ensured him a massive following (in the hundreds of thousands), not just for his photography blog but in past years when he led an online forum dedicated to Central Asian students studying abroad. To see just how unique he is, read his inspiring essay on why he traded a hugely successful corporate career for a simpler life doing what he loves. As you enjoy his eloquent writing, note that English is his second language!.

When we discovered he was offering his fall foliage workshop in the Ouray area again this year, we rearranged our travel plans to get us there in plenty of time.

Mother Nature did not disappoint.

Driving these mountain roads was sheer delight.

When we arrived in Ouray, the mountains were on fire — not with smoky wildfires but ablaze with the brilliant reds and golds and oranges that transform Colorado’s aspen trees in autumn.

Arriving a few days ahead of time, we eagerly explored the spectacular scenic drive that heads south from town on Route 550.

After negotiating a series of incredibly steep 180 degree switchbacks that made us feel like we were driving skyward into a kaleidoscope of yellow and orange, the road skirted some very sheer cliffs and delivered us to Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake reflects the puffy clouds and vivid colors of the mountains

This small lake was as still as glass in the morning hours, and we circled around the entire body of water, checking out the awe-inspiring views from every vantage point.

I’ve become very fond of photographing reflected images in mirrored water, and I’ve made the most of the scenes we found in Grand Teton National Park Wyoming and Maroon Bells Colorado.

Crystal Lake gave us the same kinds of fun photo ops and totally delighted us both.

A few wildflowers were still in bloom at Crystal Lake.

The mirror images of the white clouds hovered on the surface of the water while the rocks that were totally visible on the bottom showed their faces through the crystal clear water too.

The golden aspens had just started to color the shoreline, and as the weeks went on during our stay, all the hillsides around the lake soon took on a bright yellow and rich orange hue.

A few straggling wildflowers were still blooming at the water’s edge.  I’m sure if we’d been there a few weeks earlier they would have been even thicker.

There is beautiful scenery every way you turn!

I got a kick out of getting reflection shots at this lake.

The spectacular fall foliage season in Colorado is hardly an unknown phenomenon, and we found ourselves in plenty of company as we repeatedly drove this jaw-dropping drive over the coming weeks.

From iPhones held out car windows to photographers with huge cameras and tripods, everyone was out and about taking photos in the abundant sunshine and even more abundant color.

As the road climbs into the mountains, taking one tight switchback turn after another, the views into the valleys become ever grander.

Is this a “scenic” drive? I think I would call it a “Knock Your Socks Off” drive!!

What a gentleman – he shaded his wife with his umbrella while she painted!

Not far from town we came across a couple standing on a bridge.

I did a double take as we passed because the guy was holding an umbrella.

Looking closer, I saw he was holding it over his wife’s head as she painted the river scene in front of her with oil paints and canvas on an easel.

It is crazy, but this is something like the fourth or fifth time we have run into “plein aire” artists painting out in nature this year.

Mark captured this beautiful reverse silhouette of an aspen in autumn.

From Phoenix, Arizona to Sun Valley, Idaho, to the Tetons we keep stumbling upon artists happily recreating beautiful landscapes on their easels in nature.

I joked with the woman that she had found herself a very special husband if he would willingly stand next to her and hold an umbrella over her for hours on end, keeping her shaded while she painted.

“Isn’t he lovely?” She agreed. “I’m very lucky!”

Indeed!!

And he didn’t seem to mind one bit.

A perfect still-life was all set up for me here.

The fall colors in Colorado can easily awaken the most artistic feelings in even the least sensitive soul, and we got caught up in the excitement of Nature’s vivid display along with everyone else.

Cars were pulled over at one hundred yard intervals for miles along the highway, and we scampered around the meadows with all the others, scoping out one magical scene after another.

Mark created a beautiful image of an aspen reverse-silhouetted against blackness, and I found the most amazing ready-made still-life with colorful leaves lying on a log.

Starry-eyed with aspen leaves!

I didn’t put any of it in place there, honest!

The scenery was so majestic it was intoxicating.

Caught up in the thrill, Mark suddenly grabbed two aspen leaves and held them over his eyes.

“Take my picture!” He said.

I laughed as I got his pic. What a goof-ball.

But that’s the kind of silliness and joy this place inspires at this time of year!

Ouray is a gorgeous place to visit in late September and early October.

Sometimes we took pictures, but a lot of times we just stood and stared…

The host “hotel” for the PhotographyLife.com fall foliage photography workshop this year was the KOA campground in Ouray.

Nasim and his wife Lola are enthusiastic RVers, and they set up camp with their young family in their beautiful new 38′ Cougar fifth wheel trailer.

Other attendees came in assorted RVs, and many stayed in the KOA camping cabins as well.

The campground common room was quickly transformed into a lecture and seminar room, and people loaded down with eye popping photography gear of all kinds began to assemble.

What a view to wake up to!

The weather in the mountains at this time of year is very unpredictable, and Nasim deftly got everyone out onto the spectacular forest roads in the area when the sun was shining and brought the group back indoors for lectures when it rained.

The mottled skies made for some beautiful photo ops, and no matter how many times we drove in and out of town or up and down the forest roads, our eyes were riveted on the gorgeous scenes all around us.

The trees seemed to change even as you looked at them, fading from lime green to the lemon yellow and darkening from yellow to a rich orange hue as the hours and days passed.

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This is an incredible area for an autumn RV road trip from late September through early October. There are several RV parks in Ouray in addition to the KOA. Just 14 miles away, lovely Ridgway State Park has hookups and sites for bigger rigs. For more information, visit these links:

• Ouray Chamber of Commerce
• Ridgway Chamber of Commerce
• Wikipedia’s Ouray page..

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Related posts about Colorado’s spectacular fall color and where to see it:

• Brilliant Fall Foliage + Snow in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado 11/22/16
• Colorado’s San Juan Skyway – An RV Trip in Dazzling Fall Color! 11/18/16
• San Juan Mountains Colorado – And then it Snowed! 11/14/14
• RV Trip on Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway – Ouray to Silverton 11/02/14
• Ouray – Finding the COLOR in Colorado on an RV Trip! 10/26/14
• Colorado GOLD – A Fall Foliage Photography Workshop 10/21/12
• Ridgway, CO – Peak fall foliage on the Dallas Divide – WOW!! 10/19/12

More blog posts from our RV trips to Colorado:

• Hartman Rocks – A Different View of Colorado near Gunnison 10/13/23
• Creede, CO – Mining History & Championships + 4th of July! 09/23/23
• Buena Vista Colorado – What a Place for an RV Breakdown! 09/15/23
• Rocky Mountain National Park & Trail Ridge Road: RV? Dog?? 09/01/23
• Lake Granby Colorado RV Trip – A Summer Beach Vacation! 08/25/23
• Remote RV Camping: Antero Reservoir & Blue River Colorado 08/18/23
• Burro Days! Burro Races, Llamas & Outhouses in Fairplay CO 08/05/23
• Crested Butte – Wildflower Capital of Colorado! 07/29/23
• Silver Thread Scenic Byway in Colorado – Fire in the Sky! 07/20/23
• Telluride Gondola Ride in Colorado – FREE and Dog Friendly! 07/12/23
• Rocky Mountain High: Alpine Beauty in Colorado + Trout Lake! 07/05/23
• Where All News is Good News – At the Saguache Crescent in CO 11/25/22
• Lakes and Light in Wyoming and Colorado 10/14/22
• Colorado’s Stunning Scenic Drives…by Porsche! 07/23/17
• Cowboy Poetry Gatherings in Durango, Colorado, and Alpine, Texas! 11/30/16
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO – Steep and Deep! 10/21/14
• Romance at Maroon Bells Colorado! 10/09/14
• Colorado National Monument & Fruita CO – Red Rocks, Cycling & Wine! 10/18/12
• Mesa Verde National Park, CO – Life on the Edge with the Ancients 06/19/12

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More of our Latest Posts are in the MENU.
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Photo workshop students line up for the sunrise shot.

Late September, 2012 – We went to Ridgway, Colorado, for a landscape photography workshop, and the Colorado Rockies were bursting with fall foliage colors when we arrived.

The rising sun lights up our view.

Our group of 20 or so photography enthusiasts gathered at Ridgway Lodge the night before the big shoot to review our camera equipment and basic photography techniques.  My, oh my, I have never seen so many top-of-the-line Nikon cameras in one room.

The next morning, before dawn, we all piled into four cars and set off for our first shooting locale.  A scenic overlook along Route 62 heading to Telluride is a favorite among photographers, and we all lined up in front of a fence to get shots of the rising sun as it cast its pink and golden light across the colorful foothills leading to the San Juan mountains.

Sunrise at the San Juan mountains.

Our instructor, Nasim Mansurov, gave marching orders for how to set up our cameras for this shot.  He wanted us to shoot in manual mode, something Mark understands but that I’d never done before.  His instructions were spot on, and as the landscape before us came to life, the images on our cameras miraculously did too.  How funny it was, though, to stand shoulder to shoulder with other photography buffs in the pre-dawn light, waiting for the magic to happen in front of us!!

Golden aspens and evergreens.

As we progressed from one shooting location to the next, Nasim explained the importance of using “leading lines” in our photos to draw our viewers’ eyes into our pictures.  “If you go to Rome or Egypt you’ll see that the ancient architects used leading lines everywhere,” he told us.

At a small pond along Dallas Creek Road, he explained that the pier could be used to create a leading line coming in from the lower left corner of the photo.  Suddenly all the cameras pointed that way to try to get the shot he described.

We learned about using “leading lines” in our photos.

We stopped again, trying this time to incorporate an old, crooked, wooden fence into our images.  Nasim explained that the fence in the foreground would lead to the golden aspen in the mid-ground and then to the craggy mountains in the background.  Neither Mark nor I were happy with our results, but an elk hunter who was watching all of us crazy photographers crawling all over the wooden fence got a chuckle out of the scene.

A hunter tells me of a celebrity wedding on Ralph Lauren’s property.

The hunter and I began chatting and he told me that at this time last year Jeb Bush’s son and Ralph Lauren’s daughter had gotten married on Lauren’s massive estate (he owns most of the stunning land in this area).  What an event that must have been, with Secret Service protecting two former presidents, and helicopters bringing in celebrities from all over.  Apparently all the national forest roads were blocked off for several days, annoying more than a few hunters and campers who were stuck on one side or the other!   Isn’t it ancient wisdom that if you’re gonna throw a big noisy party you gotta invite all your neighbors??!!

The aspen get paparazzi treatment!

When we came to an unusual canopy of aspen trees shrouding a section of Last Dollar Road, Nasim asked us all to hold back before we walked in among the trees so we wouldn’t get in each other’s photos.  This made for a funny paparazzi crowd at the entrance to the aspen grove.  Those aspens were getting celebrity treatment worthy of Ralph Lauren himself!!

Photography students roam around under the canopy of aspen.

After a few moments we all wandered into the stand of aspens and let our cameras loose.  What a blast!

True love.

Mark and I were lucky enough to be passengers in Nasim’s station wagon for the entire workshop, so we were privy to some lively exchanges between him and the other very knowledgeable folks in the car about the merits of all kinds of gear and various photography techniques and tricks.

A mascot comes along for the ride.

We heard about polarizing filters, graduated neutral density filters, and the quality of this lens versus that.  We chatted about figuring out an image’s hyperfocal length and dividing an image’s composition into thirds.  The discussions were fast and furious.  For us, it was an intense immersion into a new, exciting world.

As we piled in and out of the car all day, camera bags got loaded on and off laps at every stop.  And although each pocket of every camera bag was stuffed to the gills with the latest and greatest gear, Mark found one pocket that had been reserved for a special companion…

Inspiring Colorado views!

When the day began to wind down, we stopped for a sunset shot looking back across fields of hay bales towards the mountains.  Unfortunately, the sky didn’t cooperate with magical colors, and many of us had worn out our shutter fingers by then and reached the point of saying, “No more!!”  But Mark was still going strong, and he took one of my favorites shots for the whole day of a fence tucked snugly into a field of wildflowers.

Folks had flown in from all over the country, and some didn’t have to leave for another day or two, so an impromptu group gathered to take more photos the next day.  But the weather was deteriorating rapidly, and the crisp blue skies gave way to clouds and rain.  When we finally left the area, a heavy rain had fallen overnight, which blessed us with a sprinkling of snow on mountains.

What a glorious drive from Telluride towards Dolores!

Our drive from Telluride southwest to Dolores was among the most beautiful I have ever seen.  The aspens were rich in color and heavy with moisture, and the skies seemed to be brooding about the coming winter.

Majestic scenery in every direction.

The aspens filled in the valleys with a vivid tapestry of green and yellow, and when I caught Mark smiling beside the edge of the road at one point, it seemed like he was standing in front of a painting.

Is that backdrop real??

The views continued to inspire us as our buggy sashayed along the twisting mountain roads through the mountains.  We stopped briefly at Lizard Head Pass and again in the tiny hamlet of Rico, shivering in the growing cold and sharing the exquisite views with all the other lookie-loos who’d gathered in the scenic pullouts alongside us, cameras and grins flashing.

The misty mountains got a little blue sky.

Nature’s tapestry.

Colorful mountains beside Trout Lake

Finally, and sadly, the postcard landscape eventually came to an end.  We had been treated to a glorious stay in this gorgeous part of Colorado at the most colorful time of year.  As we dropped south out of the mountains into more mundane scenery, the brilliant images we had left behind became a blur in our memories.

Fields of gold.

What a place.  If you haven’t seen the fall colors in Colorado, it really deserves a spot on your lifetime bucket list!!!  The magic happens sometime around the third week of September…

Rico, Colorado – near the end of this magical drive.

Of course, our next stop in New Mexico’s Bisti Badlands was pretty exotic too, and it capped off one of our best summers in our trailer!

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Related posts about Colorado’s spectacular fall color and where to see it:

• Brilliant Fall Foliage + Snow in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
• Colorado’s San Juan Skyway – An RV Trip in Dazzling Fall Color!
• San Juan Mountains Colorado – And then it Snowed!
• RV Trip on Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway – Ouray to Silverton
• Ouray – Finding the COLOR in Colorado on an RV Trip!
• Colorado GOLD – A Fall Foliage Photography Workshop
• Ridgway, CO – Peak fall foliage on the Dallas Divide – WOW!!

More blog posts from our RV trips to Colorado:

• Hartman Rocks – A Different View of Colorado near Gunnison
• Creede, CO – Mining History & Championships + 4th of July!
• Buena Vista Colorado – What a Place for an RV Breakdown!
• Rocky Mountain National Park & Trail Ridge Road: RV? Dog??
• Lake Granby Colorado RV Trip – A Summer Beach Vacation!
• Remote RV Camping: Antero Reservoir & Blue River Colorado
• Burro Days! Burro Races, Llamas & Outhouses in Fairplay CO
• Crested Butte – Wildflower Capital of Colorado!
• Silver Thread Scenic Byway in Colorado – Fire in the Sky!
• Telluride Gondola Ride in Colorado – FREE and Dog Friendly!
• Rocky Mountain High: Alpine Beauty in Colorado + Trout Lake!
• Where All News is Good News – At the Saguache Crescent in CO
• Lakes and Light in Wyoming and Colorado
• Colorado’s Stunning Scenic Drives…by Porsche!
• Cowboy Poetry Gatherings in Durango, Colorado, and Alpine, Texas!
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO – Steep and Deep!
• Romance at Maroon Bells Colorado!
• Colorado National Monument & Fruita CO – Red Rocks, Cycling & Wine!
• Mesa Verde National Park, CO – Life on the Edge with the Ancients

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