A landscape photographer's tour

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

Aspen and Castle Creek

A drive up Castle Creek road and Saturday in Aspen

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

I drove up Castle Creek road last time I was in Aspen, where there had been a light overnight snowfall and lots more up in the mountains.

It's quite a dull day, so I wasn't expecting quite such brilliant colours as earlier in the trip.

This is the view just entering the creek road (I'll be going to the left of the mountain in the middle of the shot)

There are far more stands of aspens that have lost all their leaves already - one good storm and much of the colour will be gone.

Further along the valley you can see the road heading towards Castle Mountain

More trees and a bit of colour

Eventually (after about 14 miles) the road runs out and it's only walkers and cyclists can continue.

Oh, and one more tree picture :-)

The water below is from a beaver dam.

You can see the lodge where I'm assuming the beavers are getting ready for the lake to freeze :-)

Not many leaves left in some areas

Anyway, back to Aspen, where it's the Saturday market

As you'd expect for Aspen, this is a slightly more up-market affair.

None of the cheap sets of tools, dodgy DVDs or vegetables with a shelf life of hours, that I might in some UK markets.

I also noticed that getting a camera out did not elicit the looks of suspicion you will find at UK markets - presumably the people here are not worried about people checking if they are claiming unemployment benefit ;-)

Chillis and pumpkins

And of course, a stall from the Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy...

Lots of interesting stalls (including a particularly good pasta seller - that's presents taken care of)

Nearby, the usual mode of transport

I settled down to a cup of coffee at Zele (opposite the Dior shop)

Even the back alleys are not allowed to look untidy here

Yet another shop with lots of branches...

Although sadly not open right now...

All kinds of shops, including tacky fur shops, that seem to think fur looks good on rich people.

Meanwhile, walking past the park, we noticed a couple getting married in the park band stand

Oh, and that gas station I mentioned yesterday that doesn't advertise its prices.

If you have to ask the price, then you can't afford it - only in Aspen... :-)

The weather is definitely getting worse, so tomorrow we're heading south west...

>> Next Day >> Aspen to Ouray

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