Picking back up where we left off, it was very cold the morning we were in Crested Butte. The car thermometer said 24 F, and I would have to guess it was at least that cold. It certainly rivaled the 16 F morning I experienced camping at Devil's Den State Park in northwest Arkansas in 2018. The problem this time though was that in the Arkansas experience, we were anticipating the extreme cold, and everyone was well-prepared. This time, it was colder than expected, and it was for one night of the trip, making it difficult to justify packing for extreme cold for one night. I basically prepared by wearing as many layers as I could, but absent thermal layers, wool socks, and extra blankets, it was still quite cold. But after a quick breakfast, we warmed up the car, and headed out.
The main attraction this day was Kebler Pass between Crested Butte and Paonia. Kebler Pass is an unimproved road that goes through the West Elk Mountains, peaking at an elevation of 10,007 ft (3,050 m). While I say it's an "unimproved" road, it's actually a very well-maintained gravel road. We saw sedans on the road while there, mind you it had been very dry as of late. The road closes in the winter after the first big snow. Kebler Pass is known for being one of the best places for fall foliage in Colorado, and sometimes makes it on to lists for best places in the country. It did not disappoint.
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| Kebler Pass Road just west of Crested Butte |
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| Yes, the colors are that rich. |
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| Looking towards East and West Beckwith Mountains (I think?) |
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| Zoomed in view. This is a great example of where using a telephoto lens can be very useful in landscape photography for enhancing the detail. Particularly if you are looking at something far away. This photo was of the same scene above, but using a 55 mm focal length (on the zoom lens) instead of 16 mm (on the wide-angle lens). |
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| Detail of the aspens using 102 mm focal length. I actually got this photo printed from Shutterfly and framed as a Christmas gift for my parents. |
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| Again, it really is that colorful. |
So again for a photography tip here, make sure to bring a zoom lens with you. When doing landscape photography, it's tempting to stick to the wide angle lens, and to be sure, it's usually my primary lens of choice, but as you can see in the photos above, you can capture some incredible detail, particularly of distant landscapes, by using a zoom lens. I own three lenses: an 11-18 mm wide-angle, 18-55 mm kit lens (i.e. the one that came with the camera), and a 55-300 mm zoom lens. And I'm shooting with an entry-level Nikon D3300. I could do a whole blog on this, but as an aside, don't think you have to have the $2,000+ full frame camera. All you need is a DSLR camera (an entry-level, cropped-sensor camera like mine will do just fine), be willing to spend a little money on lenses (you still don't have to break the bank), and just practice. The best photography comes from good technique, not from spending more money on expensive lenses and camera bodies. But I digress...
For the hike on this particular day, we hiked a loop that was about 6 miles (9.7 km) long and used the
Dark Canyon, Irwin, and Dyke trails. The hike began at 8,903 ft (2,714 m) and attained a maximum elevation of 9,984 ft (3,043 m). The entire hike was very beautiful, but the real payoff in my opinion was an incredible overlook at around the two-mile mark (on the map link above, note that we went around the loop in a clockwise fashion, i.e. doing the western side of the loop first). I actually would have been content turning around here, as this would have been a four-mile (6.4 km) round trip with a climb to 9,394 ft (2,863 m), and this is probably what I would recommend.
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| Beaver dam along the trail. Unfortunately, we did not see any beavers. |
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| Aspen leaves resting on a log. This photo was actually taken with my Google Pixel 3a. |
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| The overlook near mile two. |
Now the reason I said I would have (in retrospect) turned around after the overlook ahead is the next few miles of trail got a lot more difficult as we started that climb up to around 10,000 ft. I should point out, I am not in the best shape. More critically, mistakes were made. Specifically, I was dressed too warm (after the cold morning in Crested Butte), and I did not bring a lunch besides just a few small trail snacks. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure by the end of the hike, I was legitimately suffering from low blood sugar. I didn't seem to have symptoms of dehydration (I had actually been drinking plenty of water, with some electrolytes added to it), but instead felt a bit shaky, very fatigued, and was extremely hungry. I had not eaten anything since some oatmeal for breakfast while still at camp in Crested Butte. I absolutely should have brought something like a peanut butter sandwich or two along with me. I would later find (from this bad experience) that also bringing things like fruit snacks along can help with the blood sugar issue. At any rate, once we got back to the car, I drove us Paonia where we stopped at a supermarket so I could get some blood sugar replenishing snacks/beverages and use the facilities. Within several minutes of downing a regular Gatorade and an entire sleeve of saltines, I was feeling about 90% better. I had Curtis drive us to Montrose where we stopped for dinner at a Freddy's Steakburgers (by this point, it was getting a bit late to seek out something local, but it was great after a long hike nevertheless). We made a quick stop at Walmart to get a few more supplies, then headed to Ridgway State Park to establish camp where we would spend the next few nights.
Two big lessons learned this day: telephoto lenses can work great in landscape photography, and bring a lunch when planning to hike more than a couple of miles and/or for more than a couple of hours, especially when you haven't already had a "real" lunch.
Tomorrow, we explore the vicinity around Ridgway and Ouray, and make a stop at the filming location for a classic movie.
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| Hiking route (GPS trail recorded by Justin Keller, one of the guys on the trip) |
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