09.28.10
Posted in photo, travel, vacation at 11:48 am by heidihoho7
Avalanche Ranch
So our last morning we slept in yet again, but then again that would be the case for getting up anytime after 6am! Kay had enjoyed the ranch the day before and suggested we do the same. Although I didn’t explore very far it was a very cute place with lots of fun animals and adorable cabins. We wandered for a while looking at the animals and buildings before deciding we had a long drive ahead of us with a few pit stops to make. We eventually packed up, said our goodbyes to Barb and Chuck, and got back on the road.
Ashcroft Ghost Town
Our first stop was Ashcroft – a little ghost town in the Castle Creek Valley just south of Aspen. It has some interesting history… in 1880 the town started booming due to mining and had up to 2500 residents, but within 20 years it was down to 2! The info boards also stated that many of the homes had been wheeled in, and in turn wheeled back out – most to Aspen further down the valley.
A reflection in the saloon windows.
You can tell i liked this house with the yellow curtains- they matched the yellow aspens!
Just 4 days earlier that mountainside was all yellow, what a difference a few days can make!
On the road back to Aspen we stopped again to enjoy the beautiful fall color.
After hitting aspen for a quick lunch and tripod return, we were headed up to Independance Pass. After our week of beautiful mountain passes I thought it was pretty, but in a different way… many more evergreens and above tree line for much of it – in addition to the crazy skinny roads that you had to share. It was a fun ride, but i think i’d take Keblar any day! After a few hours we were back in Frisco.
My final images of the trip – more aspens! This pretty tree called to me while i was filling some time waiting for my shuttle. We stopped at a cute little park where some teens were slack lining (fitting i thought!) and just enjoyed the views for a minute before i headed back to Denver.
A wonderful trip, and a highly recommended location for anyone who loves fall color, aspens, or just getting into the mountains and being awed around just about every bend in the road! 
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09.27.10
Posted in General at 12:56 pm by heidihoho7
McClure Pass
For the first time in a few days we all decided to sleep in, which was a nice change of pace after the last few crazy days. After a while though Barb and I started to get itching to take photos so we decided to get on our way and start exploring the nearby mountain passes. Just south of the ranch is McClure. The East mountainside was “toast” but the main pass area was just beautiful with many vivid yellow aspens. We made a few stops on the way up and really enjoyed the main summit view. You can see our chauffeur Chuck (Barb’s husband) patiently waiting at one the stops… this was the first of many to come for him!
Barb and I noticed this cute corral in the valley beyond McClure. As usual Barb paves the way to wonderful photographs, and in this instance literally! We had an ok view from the road but the real shot was after sliding down a hillside to get the great view. Barb almost hit some thistles, and i got burrs… but soo worth it!
Keblar Pass
We continued on to the well known Keblar Pass. KP is a dirt road for about 30 miles on the way to Crested Butte that passes through/by a few different mountain ranges. We were ecstatic to see that many of the trees still had their leaves and even saw a few orangey red at higher elevations. We also decided to play around and try to get fun sun stars in a few aspen groves… One of the coolest things about Keblar is that it lays claim to the title of largest aspen grove in the world.
The following images are in the Mt. Owen, Ruby Peak & the Dyke area – and I dont think these actually include Mt. Owen or Ruby but that’s because this little area was just too wonderful! We had many quickie stops but this was one of our favorites and we worked it as best we could. After we felt content we continued on to Crested Butte for lunch where Barb and I relived our memories from our previous trip there back in 2003 for the wildflower festival.
Ohio Pass
On our return trip we decided to take a quick detour on to Ohio Pass. We didn’t go terribly far but the views again were spectacular. Off in the distance we could see the “castles” – a mountain ridge that resembles it’s name. After a crunchy turn around (sorry trailer hitch) we were back onto keblar for a late afternoon return trip.
Redstone
After a few more stops for photos we decided to head in to Redstone, CO to explore this quaint little town. The Crystal River runs through on the west side of town (with a lovely reflection of the early evening sky). We then continued to the Inn where no one knew the story of the metal statue out front. We drove on through the little town and just thought the colors of the homes were awesome – every one a different color or scheme, and some had cute paintings on them. One had the mona lisa peaking out a curtain, and another had Mozart in a window (i mistakenly thought it was Washington, my bad). The owner of mozart scared us a slightly with hints that we should pay him and prove what we were going to do with our images… he got distracted by a couple looking for ice cream from the closed shop next door and we took the opportunity to do a grabshot and quickly run away!
Back to McClure Pass
We realized it was close to sunset and might want to head back to McClure to see if we could find a great sunset spot. On our way up the pass we happened upon a cute deer that quickly jumped into the nearby aspens. Cameras now at the ready we continued on for sunset. We hadn’t planned ahead and after a bit of driving just enjoyed the wonderful warm light on the aspens from the van seats… We’d had plenty of great images and were quite content. On our way down the mountain we saw the cute deer yet again, but this time we were ready (or more so). This was my last picture of the day…
We enjoyed our last quiet night at the ranch and had talks of future trips… no decisions yet but I’m sure we’ll figure something out
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09.26.10
Posted in General at 12:49 pm by heidihoho7
We were done with Aspen and now needed to work our way toward Redstone. After a quick stop in Carbondale to get some food for our stay, we continued on to Avalanche Ranch. It is a cute set of rental cabins along the crystal river and just a few minutes from Redstone.
We only had a few minutes to spare in order to make it to our next adventure so we got back on the road and headed towards Marble. In our research of the areas we heard about Crystal Mill – the 2nd most photographed location in Colorado (the bells are the first). So we figured why not photograph them both in the same day? We’d heard some rumors that the drive up there could be done in a 4WD vehicle but that you might want high clearance and confidence. Now had I had my Annie (Jeep) I would have happily driven, but we didn’t want to risk hurting Kay’s SUV and also wanted the pleasure of taking in the views without worrying about driving, so instead we booked a Jeep Tour which ended up being the right choice… So we arrive at Crystal River Jeep Tours and met our driver, “Smitty” the owner! (we lucked out too as i had called the day before and while we were deciding if we wanted to do the trip another group booked the time slot, luckily Smitty decided to take us anyways!) We noticed a pretty old school Jeep out front (a Willy) with it’s front windshield down and a set of seats in the back and i thought how cool would it be to ride in that one… as fate would have it that was our jeep! So with our hair flying in the breeze we started our 4 hour adventure up to Crystal.
After much bouncing and Smitty pointing out interesting things (like all of the white marble comes from this one area) we finally arrived at Crystal Mill. We opted for an extra hour (well worth it!) to be able to take photos from multiple angles and not feel rushed. We scrambled down to the river and then waited in line to get the typical shot from above on the cliff.
We get the time’s up message and all hop back in the Jeep to head up to the town of Crystal Population 4. Well maybe more but that’s how many people we know were staying up there at the time. No electricity or amenities but they do get running water from a stream that runs through town. They have a pipe further up the mountain that follows the stream and builds up pressure so that they have enough to have showers and even run sprinklers for their lawns! I found the basket of beverages in the steam pretty cool – the natural fridge.
We wandered town a bit and just enjoyed the quaintness and beauty of this town up in the mountains. Eventually we have to head back and hop back in for a bumpy ride back to Marble. After the slow 4W-Low we were amazed at how fast 20 mph felt. We had a blast enjoying the breeze. We were all quite amuzed as we pulled into town and a few folks on the patio of a BBQ restaurant started yelling- “stop! Smitty- we’re out of food!” We thought they might have been joking as Smitty canceled his dinner with them to take us out, but it turns out he really thinks they were out of food haha!
We finished our night with a yummy spaghetti dinner made at the ranch. I was feeling a bit sick – i’d forgotten my sunglasses and after “riding the horse” (i stood up in the back of the jeep for most of the ride) for a long time i think i just needed a good night’s rest (and some advil). We turned in early and decided we might even sleep in!
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