| Author | | Thread: the best sights in colorado |
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libofosho
steamboat springs, Colorado USA
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The_Kansan
Claxton (Powell) , Tennessee USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 6:19 AM CST |
libofosho wrote:what are the best spots in colorado for photography?
Yay! Finally something I can answer! 
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is downright awe inspiring. Grand Mesa can be pretty fantastic as well. Down in the slickrock country around Rico and Delores, there are photo ops around nearly every bend. Same goes for the drive along US550 from Montrose through Ouray and over the top to Durango - It's called "The highway that runs through the clouds" for a darn good reason. And while you're in that part of country, take a ride on the Silverton train from Durango - I promise you won't regret it.
Mesa Verde is pretty darned neat, as is 7 Falls just outside Colorado Springs, but they've both become too commercialized for my taste. The Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Monument can be both awe inspiring and a little daunting, but if you're a backpacker and have the resources/personal abilities to cross the dunes into the mountains beyond you'll wonder why you didn't pack more film.
Dinosaur Nat'l Monument to the west of you has some really neat, almost moonscape terrain features, but it's also high desert, so be prepared to bake during the day and freeze at night if you're backpacking in.
Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park also has some pretty awesome scenery, but a lot of people go there and it's nearly been photographed into submission.
And if it's ease of access you're after, then I-70 runs right through Glenwood Canyon - 13 miles of 'strain your neck to see the sky,' pure, glorious ruggedness (which just happens to have a major interstate highway at the bottom).
I could go on and on - The Spanish Peaks, Garden of the Gods, Devil's Thumb, Thumb Butte, Cache La Poudre River, McClure Pass, The La Plata mountains, Rollins Pass... I've hiked, backpacked, ridden and driven thousands of miles in Colorado and there's always a new vista waiting to be seen; One more eagle to be glimpsed soaring amongst the peaks... One more Aspen grove alongside one more stream to offer shade and music to one who takes the time to sit and listen...
Hope these suggestions helped! 
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dcj22
Somewhere, South Dakota USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 6:45 AM CST |
Kansan - You obviously spent quite a bit of time in Colorado. I used to live just out of Durango.
Now the other guy you should have been able to ask, lives near you there around Steamboat, but he just went to Iraq, which is too bad.
But there so so much beauty in Colorado and Utah. If you get over into Utah, take a drive into the Uinta Mountains. Theres a relly pretty place up there called Christmas meadows. And up into Wyoming, the valley that runs north up to the Snake River Canyon to Jackson Hole. That valley is very beautiful. In fact, I remember when I lived up there, someone saying that National Geographic had said the valley was one of the prettiest in the world.
You've reached Gods country, my young friend. Enjoy. One day, I'll make it back out there too.
Dana
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Max47
Schenectady, New York USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 6:52 AM CST |
I drove from Vail to Aspen in the fall going by Leadville up to Independence Pass (I think thats whats its called)All along there is nice.Also an out of the way place up near Fort Collins is a place called Poudre Canyon. I was there almost 30 years ago not sure what its like now.
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The_Kansan
Claxton (Powell) , Tennessee USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 7:07 AM CST |
In response to:Kansan - You obviously spent quite a bit of time in Colorado. I used to live just out of Durango.
One of my brothers used to live outside of Durango as well. He worked for a time as a hunting guide for Rocky Mountain Outfitters in Pagosa Springs. Several years before he moved there, I spent almost an entire summer backpacking alone and loosely following the Rocky Mountain Trail from Durango to Denver. One of the greatest summers of my life until I moved to Tennessee last year.
I've also spent time in the Wind River and Bridger Mountains in Wyoming, the Sawtooths in Idaho and up on the San Rafael Swell in Utah, as well as down in the 4 corners country. The American West is just nothing short of amazing! (But you have to like lonely country!)
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The_Kansan
Claxton (Powell) , Tennessee USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 7:40 AM CST |
One more thing I might mention: It doen't matter how good your photgraphic equipment is - Unless (and maybe even if) you're a professional photographer, the very best pictures will be the ones taken by the camera of your mind. Those are the ones that will remain with you your whole life long, no matter what happens to the ones stuffed into albums and shoeboxes and shuffled from place to place to eventually be lost in the quest for the future.
I can close my eyes right now and be back in the glade at Deadman's Gulch even though I haven't seen the pictures I took there in almost 15 years.
Look, see, absorb and then, no matter where you go the mountains will always be a part of you and you of them...
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dcj22
Somewhere, South Dakota USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 8:36 AM CST |
The_Kansan wrote:One of my brothers used to live outside of Durango as well. He worked for a time as a hunting guide for Rocky Mountain Outfitters in Pagosa Springs. Several years before he moved there, I spent almost an entire summer backpacking alone and loosely following the Rocky Mountain Trail from Durango to Denver. One of the greatest summers of my life until I moved to Tennessee last year.
I've also spent time in the Wind River and Bridger Mountains in Wyoming, the Sawtooths in Idaho and up on the San Rafael Swell in Utah, as well as down in the 4 corners country. The American West is just nothing short of amazing! (But you have to like lonely country!)
I lived at Vallecito Lake.
My ex-husband, his grandfather, father, and brother used to go to the Anasazi Indian Ruins before it was a national park. They had all built dune buggies, so would see something they wanted to explore and tie off to the bug and drop down. They explored that area for years. My ex was from Ogden. He spent most of his time in the Uintas.
It's just such beautiful country out there. I've wanted to go back since I left in 1990.
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colorgirl09
Middle, Tennessee USA
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| | the best sights in colorado
Posted: Feb 17, 2008, 11:48 AM CST |
You all are making me homesick. Ute Pass at Colorado Springs was my home for 26 years, until 2006. I would suggest exploring the many photo ops near Westcliff, CO...incredible mountain vistas...and wildlife. As the Kansan implied so eloquently, nothing compares to the photos imprinted in my mind.
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