Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:16 PM
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:17 PM
Gothic road, Monday morning...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:17 PM
Capitol Creek TH, Monday evening...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:18 PM
Maroon Lake, Tuesday morning, just me...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:18 PM
...and a few hundred of my closest friends...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:19 PM
Handies Peak and Whitecross Mountain, Tuesday evening...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:19 PM
Whitecross flying solo...
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:20 PM
The Castles, Wednesday morning.
Posted by Bret Edge on September 26, 2007 at 6:20 PM
Damn dude, looks like you had some killer photo conditions. Excellent work, as usual.
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 26, 2007 at 6:32 PM
So here's the details:
First, a caveat: Yes, there are lots of dead, brown trees around. But if you can't find great-looking aspens to shoot in any of the places I describe, you're not trying very hard.
UPDATE! Forgot to mention that I also drove up beyond Silver Jack Rez, and although there were a few nice stands, it is also about a week early there. Thought you'd like to know.
UPDATE #2! Offending quip removed. Sorry Nat.
Gothic Rd. and Washington Gulch both look excellent and are at or near peak. All around CB looks good, in fact.
Kebler: The farther west, the greener the aspens. The vast stands below the Beckwiths need another week, at least. There is some color to be found closer to CB, however.
Ohio Pass looks great.
McClure Pass: Lots of sickly looking trees, but some okay color, but peak is likely not til this weekend.
OTOH, the south side, while still very green, looks very healthy as well. A week from now it should be rockin'.
Collbran Rd. (FS265): Like the west end of Kebler, still very green, but looks very healthy. Next week, watch out! And watch for me in my dark grey Nissan Frontier with the "Stop Global Whining" bumper sticker on the back.
Lake City: Aspens are at peak around town, up the Cinnamon Pass road and on the way up to Slumgullion Pass. However, beyond the Windy Point overlook and on up past Spring Creek Pass, the aspen look like they've got one limb in the grave, very brownish-green and fugly.
Maroon Lake: Some peak stands, some green ones. Mixed bag, but this weekend or early next week should be about as close as it's gonna get to perfection. (I had aspirations of catching something truly legendary this year, like many of you did last year, but the persistent fog that hung around as I car camped at the West Maroon TH Monday night was but a memory by 3am on Tuesday. Of course, after I left and headed towards McClure, there was awesome fog, but it dissipated before I could do anything with it.)
Capitol Creek: It was about 50/50 when I was there on Monday, should really be looking good here pretty soon.
That's all I can think of for now, except to wish these frickin' blue skies give way to something a lot more interesting. Clouds, drizzle, an absence of wind, fog -- that's what I had most of Monday, and I wouldn't mind seeing a repeat performance.
Posted by Paul Beiser on September 26, 2007 at 6:44 PM
some ***STUNNERS** Todd!! I really really like the Handies and Whitecross shot - wow!
And, damn you have lots of friends!!
Posted by Rodney Jack on September 26, 2007 at 6:55 PM
Very Nice. I can almost breath the cool Colorado air just looking at these.
Posted by Michael Renner on September 26, 2007 at 7:07 PM
I wanted to head down to Maroon Lake tomorrow/Friday, but that picture of the shoreline makes me kinda ill...
Thanks for all the updates
Posted by Jack Brauer on September 26, 2007 at 7:23 PM
WOW. Both the Capitol and Handies shots are KILLER!!!! Nice man. Thanks for the report too.
Posted by Scott Fricke on September 26, 2007 at 9:03 PM
All great shots, have to agree with Jack, those two are my favorites.
Posted by Lars Jensen on September 26, 2007 at 10:28 PM
The Capitol and Handies shots are sweet, although I'd darken the Capitol one to bring out the color in the aspens more.
I'm not a blue sky person either but we had near total cloud cover when we were in Crested Butte a couple weeks ago and it sucked the contrast out of all the panoramic scenes, along with making it hard not to overexpose the sky, so I had to revise my thinking on cloudy skies always being better than sunny.
Posted by Don Grall on September 26, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Great shots again, Todd. I saw that CRX on the road to the Capitol Peak TH on Thursday and thought I should take a pic of it, especially since I used to own two CRX's, and post it but you beat me to the punch. I don't have any photo processing software on my laptop so all my photos taken in the past week are safe and sound on 3 external hard drives. Conditions in the Wahsatch Mtns were exceptional on Monday morning with 8" of snow on the top and 4" at the base of Alta., snow level was around 7000ft here.
I hope to be returning to Colorado late Friday.
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 27, 2007 at 12:02 AM
I knew I was forgetting something. Ferns on McClure Pass.
Posted by Rick Dunn on September 27, 2007 at 9:04 AM
Gothic Road - 10++, Handies - 10++, and the rest are merely 9s.
Heading out shortly and can't wait!!
Posted by John Zinn on September 27, 2007 at 9:58 AM
Great stuff Todd and man you get around!!! I like the Handies Peak shot and the Gothic Road shot the best!!
John
Posted by Kalin Wilson on September 27, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Great stuff, Todd! Thanks for the update. You hit many of the places I hope to get to over the next two weekends, so this helps a lot!
Posted by Todd Caudle on September 27, 2007 at 8:53 PM
Nat, I was just joking around, but I'm really sorry I offended you. I thought you were way off in describing McClure Pass as "near peak," so I was looking for, what I thought, was a humorous way to say it. I know I have an offbeat sense of humor, and I also know that what I think is funny, not everyone thinks is funny. Just ask my wife! I sincerely apologize for the wisecrack.
But this -- "You have repeatedly and intentionally put down many people here and I'm not the only one who's noticed. In fact, your attitude and comments have been the topic of conversation on a number of occasions." -- has me seriously concerned. I don't try to intentionally put other people down, but if I have said things that others have taken offense to, it would be nice for someone to mention it, as you have here, instead of talk about it behind my back. Every forum has that guy, the one everybody whispers about for one reason or another, and I don't want to be that guy on this forum. So if I am that guy, I'll just slink away quietly back into my hole.
Perhaps you could direct me to some of my repeated and intentional put-downs -- sort of a Todd's Greatest Hits -- so I know where the line is. And if anybody has a problem with the things I've said, man up and e-mail me. If I hurt your feelings, I'll apologize.
Posted by Mark Windom on September 28, 2007 at 8:30 PM
Just thought I would butt in from the PNW forum. Great stuff, Todd. Looks like Fall is in full swing down there with winter not far behind. I gotta ask, was that a camera club lined up on the lakeshore??....which tripod is yours??
Posted by Robert Helms on September 29, 2007 at 8:27 PM
Gothic Road along with Handies Peak and Whitecross Mountain are exceptional images, Todd. All are nice, but those two are wonderful.
I hope you all are having an exceptional fall season.
Posted by Bruce Painter on September 30, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Like Mark, I just thought I would stick my head in , from the SE part of the country, and see what you folks were up to. Great photos Todd.
Thank you for making me feel even worse about not being able to get out west again this year.
Well maybe next year.
Discussion
24 repliesFirst, a caveat: Yes, there are lots of dead, brown trees around. But if you can't find great-looking aspens to shoot in any of the places I describe, you're not trying very hard.
UPDATE! Forgot to mention that I also drove up beyond Silver Jack Rez, and although there were a few nice stands, it is also about a week early there. Thought you'd like to know.
UPDATE #2! Offending quip removed. Sorry Nat.
Gothic Rd. and Washington Gulch both look excellent and are at or near peak. All around CB looks good, in fact.
Kebler: The farther west, the greener the aspens. The vast stands below the Beckwiths need another week, at least. There is some color to be found closer to CB, however.
Ohio Pass looks great.
McClure Pass: Lots of sickly looking trees, but some okay color, but peak is likely not til this weekend.
OTOH, the south side, while still very green, looks very healthy as well. A week from now it should be rockin'.
Collbran Rd. (FS265): Like the west end of Kebler, still very green, but looks very healthy. Next week, watch out! And watch for me in my dark grey Nissan Frontier with the "Stop Global Whining" bumper sticker on the back.
Lake City: Aspens are at peak around town, up the Cinnamon Pass road and on the way up to Slumgullion Pass. However, beyond the Windy Point overlook and on up past Spring Creek Pass, the aspen look like they've got one limb in the grave, very brownish-green and fugly.
Maroon Lake: Some peak stands, some green ones. Mixed bag, but this weekend or early next week should be about as close as it's gonna get to perfection. (I had aspirations of catching something truly legendary this year, like many of you did last year, but the persistent fog that hung around as I car camped at the West Maroon TH Monday night was but a memory by 3am on Tuesday. Of course, after I left and headed towards McClure, there was awesome fog, but it dissipated before I could do anything with it.)
Capitol Creek: It was about 50/50 when I was there on Monday, should really be looking good here pretty soon.
That's all I can think of for now, except to wish these frickin' blue skies give way to something a lot more interesting. Clouds, drizzle, an absence of wind, fog -- that's what I had most of Monday, and I wouldn't mind seeing a repeat performance.
And, damn you have lots of friends!!
Thanks for all the updates
I'm not a blue sky person either but we had near total cloud cover when we were in Crested Butte a couple weeks ago and it sucked the contrast out of all the panoramic scenes, along with making it hard not to overexpose the sky, so I had to revise my thinking on cloudy skies always being better than sunny.
I hope to be returning to Colorado late Friday.
Heading out shortly and can't wait!!
John
But this -- "You have repeatedly and intentionally put down many people here and I'm not the only one who's noticed. In fact, your attitude and comments have been the topic of conversation on a number of occasions." -- has me seriously concerned. I don't try to intentionally put other people down, but if I have said things that others have taken offense to, it would be nice for someone to mention it, as you have here, instead of talk about it behind my back. Every forum has that guy, the one everybody whispers about for one reason or another, and I don't want to be that guy on this forum. So if I am that guy, I'll just slink away quietly back into my hole.
Perhaps you could direct me to some of my repeated and intentional put-downs -- sort of a Todd's Greatest Hits -- so I know where the line is. And if anybody has a problem with the things I've said, man up and e-mail me. If I hurt your feelings, I'll apologize.
I hope you all are having an exceptional fall season.
Thank you for making me feel even worse about not being able to get out west again this year.
Well maybe next year.
Bruce