A landscape photographer's tour

Keith's travels in the Colorado Rockies - September-October 2008

Steamboat to Leadville

Down CO131, I70 and US24

Colorado is a great place for a vacation, or just a road trip round the state to photograph some of the scenery. If you've any questions about the hotels/inns/motels where I stayed, then please do feel free to drop me a line.

What's the weather like? National Weather Service radar Geological maps Webcams What are the roads like? (CO)	Daily pages 27th Sept.: to Denver 28th Sept.: Estes Park 29th Sept.: Rocky Mountain National Park 30th Sept.: Grand lake to Steamboat Springs 1st Oct: Steamboat Lake 2nd Oct: Steamboat to Leadville 3rd Oct: Leadville to Aspen
	4th Oct: Aspen and Castle Creek 5th Oct: Aspen to Ouray 6th Oct: Telluride 7th Oct: Durango via Silverton 8th Oct: Durango to Gunnison 9th Oct: Ohio Pass 10th Oct: Gunnison to Salida 11th Oct: Salida to Frisco 12th Oct: Loveland Pass 13th Oct: Via Mt Evans (almost) 14th Oct: Flying home

We headed off down CO131 south of Steamboat. I've been this way before (see the last Colorado blog) and was keen to see how different some aspects look.

The shed below (near Yampa) is in several of my photos, but never in such strong colour...

Just a bit further south comes the aptly named 'Finger Rock'

The plains get higher and flatter as you head south

There was a great sky though

As the road descends, there's plenty more colour (this blog is getting a bit yellow isn't it? :-)

The road goes down sharply as we head for the Colorado River

Not all trees have changed yet.

Minor genetic variations in different related groups of trees affect the precise timing of leaf drop. Trees tend to be related to those near to them. Of course, rock type and drainage have an effect too.

After reaching I70 and driving along (East) for a while, we turned south at Minturn, towards Leadville on US24

The weather was definitely looking worse as we carried on

Eventually we reached Leadville

A reminder for vistors finding it a bit bleak at 10,000 feet :-)

After stopping of at a motel, I went for a quick ride to turquoise lake.

This is the road at the top of the dam that creates the lake

The following shots just show some of the 'interesting' weather :-)

Meanwhile, back in Leadville, it's lost none of its unique charm ;-)

As you can see, the weather wasn't looking to improve any time soon...

Time for an excellent coffee at the "Provin' grounds"

A quick walk round the town afterwards - but not too far, I'm used to living at 150 feet above sea level, not 10,000.

I saw this lorry and remembered that some product names just wouldn't transfer across the Atlantic :-)

Don't know what/who you'd expect at the Bimbo USA web site, but it probably wasn't cute, white and furry...

After a day at altitude I think a couple of days at somewhere a bit more upmarket...

>> Next Day >> To Aspen via Independence Pass

27th September >>28th September >>29th September >>30th September>>1st October>>2nd October>>3rd October>>4th October>>5th October>>6th October>>7th October>>8th October>>9th October>>10th October>>11th October>>12th October>>13th October>>14th October

Other travel blogs

Fall 2010 - Visit to the USA, Pacific Northwest	'Cascade Colours' from Keith's Autumn 2007 visit to Oregon/Washington
The North Californian coast - part of Keith's April 2007 tour	The photo above is a sample from Keith's photo-diary of his 2006 visit to Colorado