A landscape photographer's tour
South Park / Fairplay

Keith's travels in Colorado - April-May 2006

In 2004 I took my then fairly new Canon 1Ds camera on a driving tour round the Rockies in the USA. This photo-diary covers my second driving trip around Colorado in April/May 2006. This collection of photography and comments has been re-written to make it easier to follow than the original (big) web page. On my return to the UK, I wrote a more technical article about the photographic aspects as a follow up to my original "Keith's first all digital visit to the Rockies"

What's the weather like? National Weather Service radar Webcams What are the roads like?	Daily pages 27th April London-Denver 28th April South park 29th April Leadville 30th April Aspen 1st May Aspen 2nd May Steamboat Springs 3rd May Steamboat Springs 4th May Steamboat Springs 5th May Delta 6th May Gunnison 7th May Gunnison 8th May Gunnison 9th May Fairplay 10th May Pikes Peak and back to Denver

South Park

Well, after a good night's sleep (loads of waiting at airports helps). It's a trip round Denver and along US285 to Fairplay. Not even too much trouble remembering which side of the road to drive on...

Unfortunately it's raining in Denver and sleet/snow while heading on to Fairplay. Not bad enough to make travel difficult, but certainly enough to hide the big mountains that the maps say are here...

A dull day in the mountains does not make for the best source material for black and white pictures

News to some of you in the UK - there is a real South Park :-)

This sign from a scenic (in good weather) overlook at Kinosha Pass

Some roads were just not worth going any further on...

A fine breakfast (OK, early lunch) at the Brown Burro in Fairplay

Just as I was sticking a pin into Leicester, on the world map behind, I heard another English accent. Paula from Cirencester, who now lives here (with Jeff) and raises and trains sled dogs. Seems she funded the trip a while ago by selling a Ford Cortina...

I'm staying at the rather nice Hand Hotel in Fairplay

Where do you go when the weather is a bit dismal...

Why, over to the Fairplay Hotel, where people are being locked up for a fund-raising drive for a local clinic. Never being one to avoid free food, I went over to see what was happening.

Live music and drinks at 4:30pm :-)

Do those lights look at all unusual?

Yes, they are shotgun cartridges -

And here are three ladies I had a chat with at the bar :-)

Note to visitors to the area - Beer is much more effective at altitude (this is around 10,000 feet), so remember to drink lots of water :-)

Some of the South Park characters were supposedly based on real people here -- I can say no more :-)

Tomorrow it's off to ... Leadville

27th April>>28th April>>29th April>>30th April>>1st May>>2nd May>>3rd May>>4th May>>5th May>>6th May>>7th May>>8th May>>9th May>>10th May

More Travel blogs

October 2008 - Travelling in Colorado (picture from 'Photo-blog')	'Cascade Colours' from Keith's Autumn 2007 visit to Oregon/Washington
Fall 2010 - Visit to the USA, Pacific Northwest	The North Californian coast - part of Keith's April 2007 tour