This past Thursday I was talking with Ed Dent, MD, a primary care doctor here in Eagle. We were talking cycling, of course :), and places to ride here in Eagle county. One of the rides we talked about is a nice loop ride. This ride starts in Eagle and heads east down Highway 6 to where it meets Highway 131 in Wolcott. In Wolcott you take Hwy 131 and head north towards Steamboat. Some miles into the ride, you come across a left turn on to the Colorado River Road. This is the same road I road last Saturday. This section of the loop takes you to Dotsero, CO on I-70. From here you then ride east along Highway 6 back to Eagle.
I knew I wasn’t ready to do this loop on my bike, but I had heard it was also a beautiful drive for photography. So this morning I decided to try it out. As I was driving, I came across a section of the Colorado River with this brilliantly red ridge running next to it.
(By the way, all of the landscape shots are taken with my Nikon D800, the 24-120mm f/4 lens and a circular polarizer filter to deepen the blue of the sky and enrich the colors of the landscape. If you haven’t photographed landscapes or flowers with a polarizer filter you are missing out on some great colors.)
Once you turn off of Highway 131, the first 20 miles or so of the Colorado River Rd are a well maintained dirt road.
There are some amazing views across this valley from Highway 131. These photographs were taken while I was still high up on the side of the valley before you drop down to the Colorado River.
At the start of my drive along Hwy 131, I came across 3 Golden Eagles in the top of a tree. Unfortunately, by the time I got turned around and changed lenses on my camera to my 300mm, all but one had taken off.
These next couple of shots are actually from a few days earlier. I was standing on the balcony of my apartment watching a storm front move in. The sun as it was setting all of a sudden filtered through the clouds. So I ran inside and grabbed the camera for a couple quick shots, as the light was fading fast. This is first one is castle mountain, I believe. The second is the ridge directly east of it. I love how the light highlights the ridge details.
Anyway, it was a great drive through some pretty country. I don’t think I am anywhere near ready to do this loop on my bike! But something to shoot for, maybe….
Here are all of the keepers from the morning.
