Colorado Trip Reports

Beats the shit out of my cell phone. Great pics. I need a real camera.

 

Arrasta Creek

Mining buckets that went all the way to the top you see there. Silver lake is a hike that can be down at the end of the trail. The foot trail is visible in the distance to the left.



Looking back down where the cars started at the bottom.


As far as we went but the lake is up on top there.




Sweet truck at the bottom...

 

Sony and a golden doodle...

 

Damn, @TBuzz the photos look great! You and @aero3685 have convinced me to jump on the Sony bandwagon.

 

way to get out there @TBuzz i really need to get down there and explore some new areas...

 

It was recommended to me by quite a few people. I knew nothing about cameras before picking this one up. I have the Nex6, paid $330 for a used one on eBay that came with the regular lens. The lenses are the expensive part I quickly found out! But I read some basic on photography and manual camera settings and usually shoot in manual mode so I can figure out and learn how to adjust it. The step up from mine is the A6000.

The only thing that I regret so far is getting a 55-210 lens instead of a 18-200ish lens. Since I have to swap back to the one it came with (16-50/55) to get wide shots, or shots of the truck without walking 50 feet away. Of course, the wider range means opening up the wallet much wider. And I am happy with "skimping" on a cheap Amazon adjustable tripod and adding a better head (top part that connects to camera). I probably have $50 into the tripod instead of spending $150 on some carbon fiber tripod. I borrowed a friends tripod before I got one, and quickly realized that I wanted to get something light after lugging that heifer around.

 

From July 4th; Alpine Loop. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/alpine-loop-sw-colorado-july-4th-weekend.440930/#post-12812142

 

Jones Pass...
Its a bit snowed in. All clear until the last switchback. Leading up to this point, you can squeeze along the snow and the ledge.

Where I am standing is where the road is... 20-30 feet below. The drift continues for 100+ feet. It is clear at the actual pass and looks clear all the way down the west side. The edge of the trail would be about where the snow starts on the right edge of the picture.



Getting up there was sketchy but not too bad. Getting back down however.... I started to take a step, lost my footing and got to the bottom only to see my FOKING hiking pole stuck in the snow at the top. I climbed my cold wet ass back up to the top, nice and slow (in my crappy tennis shoes with a -10 water resistance rating and micro spikes on). As I get up to the top, the hiking pole is sitting about horizontally looking like its going to fall down. I grab it, try to make some footing holes in my what might as well be furry slippers... got one foot hold, and then slipped. This time I brought both poles so I did not have to do it again.


It was crazy how quickly I gained speed... and smashed into those soft foam blocks at the bottom of the snow.

 

Break out the flamethrower and get it cleared for us.

 

I'd be up for getting a group to clear it.... if it were humanly possible. But its not.

 

Old Flowers Road. Fairly close to town and the first time I have run it since the High Park fire, which torched most of the trail.



1st 4-5 miles goes through private land. So please stay on the road.


Flowers.The road is literally littered with the things. Chicks dig this trail.


Lots of burned forest but the last few years have seen some returned growth.

 

Shack in the middle of nowhere that survived the fire.






I'll bet the winter contrast is amazing

new tree growth.

Oasis.

 

San Juans yesterday, had to change up our plans, which was ok since it was super windy and smoky. Need to edit these at some point.



People killing time at this construction zone



View coming back down Minnie Gulch...not many flowers at all on this road.


These guys absolutely torment my dog.

 

That is considerably greener than when I ran it right after they reopened it. Granted I did it in the fall, but I have a few similar pictures to that and it's a blackened moonscape. Friend of my roommates was going to take that up to camp at Jack's Gulch on Friday for a wedding, asked if I wanted to run it with him. I should have gone. Might have gone with you if it'd been announced.

Assuming this was yesterday. I went for a bike ride around town... and nearly hit five different people/groups playing that damn Pokémon game just randomly stopping or stepping out onto the trail without looking.

 

damn missed you guys...we made it up minnie sunday before heading back, funny

yea, no flowers at all up there

we ended up camping saturday night at the old cabin spot at kite

ended up taking owl creek pass on our way back...very scenic

 

Thanks to @Littles and @Lifeofbrian for a great time on Moon Gulch trail and some history lessons. I few pics I took...


going up...


looking back down trail...


getting tight. let the pin striping begin

 

At least my slide was caught on camera! First slide was not. I got to the bottom, looked up and saw my hiking pole stuck in the snow just below the ledge, had to go back up for it. Got it, and tried to turn around in the hard packed/icy snow...

Camera looked like a snowball, shorts were full of snow. It was fun, after I realized I was still alive.

 

Haha we did just miss you, maybe next time. Sounds like you got some good seat time in there. I look forward to your report and pictures. Next time you head this way I've got some spots that don't get mentioned much.

Did you feel it was crowded? It seamed pretty tame to me. Mostly older retirees out from Arkansas and Texas in an off week.

 

tons of texas haha

more people than i expected in that area honestly...but not bad at all...really glad we made the trip over

 

Red Cone - St Johns - Middle Swan - SOB Hill yesterday. Didn't pull out the camera till SOB: