Ouray County

• Rabindranath Tagore.

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Another Colorado shot, this one is of the San Juan Mountains of the American Rocky Mountain Range. While on our stay at Ridgway we took time off to explore the many county roads leaving the main highways around the town. These narrow winding unpaved roads provided us with so many stunning vistas at every turn, it was unbelievable.

This shot was taken on County road 9, that a guide book suggested we do last since it had the least amount of views. So we did that drive on our first day which was very overcast, but the vies were just stunning. We came across this amazing ranch while driving and it had totally awesome looking fence around it and I had to make a panorama shot with the very rustic fence framing the mountains. Almost as if it’s the little hence is protecting the mighty mountain.

• Douglas MacArthur.

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In this modern age of cellphones and advanced GPS handhelds that can fit into the form factor of a watch, it's extremely rare to go genuinely explore. Our real chance to explore happened during a trip to Colorado, some years ago. After extensive research, we identified a small town called Ridgway as our home base for exploring the San Juan Mountains. We planned to explore the various county roads that lead into the mountains. One of the roads that we marked for exploration was the County Road 8, while it didn’t go into the San Juan Mountains, this road has some amazing view of Cimarron Ridge South, Turret Ridge, Courthouse Mountain & Chimney Rock.

While following the google map direction, we soon realized that the map was plain wrong, the road identified by the map turned out to be a long driveway. A check on the field guides didn’t help much, but when I switched to the satellite view on the map, I saw something that looked like a road. So reversed all the way and started trying out the other options at the intersections. After a couple of false starts finally, we got on the actual county Road 8 and managed to get to the point where we were going. The subject of this image is the stunning Cimarron Ridge South; we spend a fantastic evening photographing it in the best possible light, the fall foliage didn’t hurt either.

• Francis Bacon.

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Another shot from county road 8near Ridgway, Colorado. This was one of the most spectacular vistas I have ever seen with almost a 270 degree views of mountain and ridges and valleys. Plus we were there just past the fall peak on chilly autumn sunset lighting up Chimney rock formation.

This is a panorama stitch made of about 8 images just before sunset with Colorado’s spectacular yellow fall foliage in the foreground.

• John Donne

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Here is another shot of the magnificent courthouse mountains and the chimney rock along with Turret ridge perfectly bathed in autumnal sunset light. We had to go through some pretty rough roads and some serious bushwhacking to get to this vantage point and boy was it worth it to get this view.

The town of Ridgway was the surprise of this trip, we met a lot of wonderful people, had amazing food and got to see some amazing scenery all around the little town nestled in the San Juan Mountains. We didn’t had enough time to explore some of the stunning hikes around the area and would love to comeback and explore some of the stunning vantage points I'd marked up while we were there.

V. S. Naipaul.

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Saw this cool little waterfall as we were driving back from Ouray, CO. The water flowing had a brilliant yellow color to it and there didn’t seem to be any signs of a flood. Moreover, we noticed that the water was discoloring the rocks that came in contact. We were really curious about what was giving the water the yellow color and later while stopping to take a shot of another mountain came across some local kids who explained why the water was so yellow. Basically, the water comes from snow melt of the nearby mountains which are highly rich in various minerals, these minerals then dissolve in water and gives it the brilliant yellow color.

It was beautiful to watch and we got so mesmerized by the color that we forgot all about our destination the bear creek falls. All in all, it turned out great that we got to see a beautiful and unique waterfall.

• Anton Chekhov.

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This one is a favorite shot of mine from Ridgway, Colorado. before we did this road trip, I didn't even know the existence of this little town but when I started mapping out the places I want to cover before our trip about half the locations were around Ridgway. and when we were looking for a hotel we were surprised how few choices we had considering its central location. However, I did manage to convince my very skeptical wife that this was indeed a good location and so off we went to a small town in Colorado which we have never even heard of before.

We took a gamble and boy did it pay off, Ridgway is a surrounded by spectacular scenery of the San Juan mountains and autumn just provides a sprinkle of colors to make it that much more spectacular. I made this shot by stopping just by the roadside. No major detour or hiking was involved just the standard point and shoot. Nothing technically complex either just used a polarizing filter and picked an early morning to take this shot. That's all of my efforts, but the location just is spectacular, there is no need for much more.

• Audre Lorde.

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County road 8 near Ridgway, CO twists and turns its way through a ridge that provides superlative views on both sides of the stunning. There is a small inlet from the main road that leads to an elevated ledge from which spectacular views can be observed anywhere you look. One of the vistas you can view from this point is the valley between the mountains, basically looking over the township of Ridgway.

This sky came about after sunset when we almost packed up and was about to leave. There was very little light in the foreground and I was using a 2 stop ND grad, the image still came out a little underexposed in the foreground. But the colors in the sky was just spectacular.

• Oscar Wilde.

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This was a shot I took on our first day in Colorado while we were exploring the picturesque county roads that dart between the San Juan Mountains. This part of Colorado is stunning from every angle and it is pretty tempting to just snap away at the majestic vistas all around you. I have been trying to step away from that aspect of landscape photography and bring some visual interests to my shots other than just the grandeur of nature.

Our first day in Colorado was overcast so we decided to explore county road 9 on our first day as visible foliage is lesser on this road compared to CO-7 and CO-8. But this road has one of the best views of the mountain peaks compared to other roads and the views are more expansive. I noted this little cabin while we were on the drive and on our way back stopped for the shot I had been visualizing. Hope you all like it.

• Michel de Montaigne.

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Another beautiful view from Ridgeway, Colorado. This town is so small but the road leading away from it are spectacular in their scenery, especially highway 62 which snakes through pristine ranches with the Sneffels range in the background. This shot was taken in one of our drive to Telluride, Co where we found some amazing restaurants.

I took this shot basically from a highway pullout, all I did was point and shoot, also added a polarizer to get a bit of pop in the colors. I don’t know when I will be back but I can’t wait to come see this place again.

• William Cullen Bryant.

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CO-62 is a fantastic piece of road that connects the small towns of Placerville and Ridgway. When I say small, I mean tiny. Both these towns are small and usually not a prominent stop. Nearby towns like Telluride and Montrose attract most of the tourist traffic. While I was planning our trip to Colorado, I went through my usual practice of tagging all the target locations in google maps. Ridgway immediately stood out with so many sites nearby, and we decided to make it out the first basecamp. When we started to look for hotels near Ridgway, and it turned out to be a struggle. But finally, we got a reservation even though I was apprehensive about selecting such a small town as our basecamp.

In reality, the town turned out to be even smaller than we imagined. But we found some fantastic restaurants, and the motel was superb. We met some wonderful people as well, but the genuine surprise was the natural beauty around the area. We drove up and down the main highway that leads out of Ridgway many times. The road had some of the best fall scenery in the USA, and we often found ourselves pulling over and taking shots every few miles.

• Robin Williams.

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On our last day at Ridgway, we explored county road 8 and I found out that the county road is marked wrong in Google maps. Basically, the road splits at a certain location and if you take the road Google maps suggest you will end up on a private road. I found this by chance as I was reading John Fielder's guide to Colorado and his directions to CO-08 didn't match the road which I mapped out in Google maps. So I switched to satellite view and found a road that was not visible in the normal map view of Google maps. I was still not sure so I kept an eye out while my wife was driving and as we reached the split in the road I noticed that the right turn would lead to a private road that was gated and locked.

Thankfully I had downloaded Jason Hatfield's fall guide to Colorado, which by the way I highly recommend and it had great directions to this awesome spot along the road. This spot gives great views of Cimarron Ridge South, Turret Ridge, Courthouse Mountain & Chimney Rock. There are some parking spaces and a small hiking path leading away from the lot to a small rock outcropping which provides this amazing view of Cimarron Ridge South. Thanks again for visiting.

• John Burroughs.

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This shot was taken near Ridgway, Colorado which is one of the most stunning places we got to visit during our trip. The town is pretty small but the county roads leading out of it that leads to spectacular vistas like this one. The first day we explored the nearby country road 9 as it was cloudy and overcast. Which ia way worked well with the lighting but robbed shots of contrast a bit. I used a ND Grad and a warming polarizer to balance light and bring the colors out.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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From a travel or photography perspective, I don’t have much luck with the fall season. Every year my wife and I plan trips for the fall and almost every year without fail something or other will happen that will render our plans useless. One exception to this string of badluck happened in 2016, I was about to start a new job and I managed to negotiate a delayed start to my new job enabling us to free up a week and tour some of the fantastic fall hotspots of Colorado.

While we didn’t time our trip perfectly, we managed to have a fantastic trip and see some of the best mountain scenery in North America along with some amazing fall colors. This shot is a panorama shot taken aong a highway that croses the spectacular San Juan Mountains near Ridgway, CO.

• Jack Welch.

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Another shot from the magnificent CO RT-07. This shot was taken at the private pond on the county road just after sunrise. This pond provides a beautiful reflection when the water is perfectly still. I also got some really nice light on the trees around the pond and the autumn foliage. We had a fun time exploring these stunning county roads and I can't wait to return.

• Claude Monet.

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Courthouse and Chimney rock are two of the most prominent rock formations that you can observe from the stunning CO-08 near Ridgway, CO. We timed to get to this location just before sunset and had enough time to find the trail to get to the photo spot from which all the landmark rock formations and the valley which contain the town of Ridgway is visible.

Adding to the stunning rock formations where the carpet of brilliant yellow provided by huge groves of aspens everywhere. This was one of the most memorable places from our trip and I can’t wait to get back.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

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When driving on County Road 7 near Ridgway Colorado, you will come across this small little pond just as the road turns right and if you are there during sunrise you will see photographers by the shore getting reflections of the mountain in the still water. County road provides a lot of stunning locations to shoot so we decided to pass on this spot and were in a hurry to get deep into the mountains when my tire pressure warning light came on, I was not sure if I had a flat tire or not. So after discussing it with my better half we decided to turn around and get the tire checked up and to go shooting another day.

On our way back we passed the pond again, so I stopped for couple of minutes and took some quick shots of the mountains and their pond reflections. so county Road 7 still remains as a compelling reason for us to return to the beautiful little town of Ridgway, CO.

• Marilyn French.

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This one is one of my favorite shots from our fall road trip to Colorado. This shot was taken a short distance away from Ridgway just off the highway and the subject is the beautiful Double RL ranch. This particular highway is just too stunning for words, every stretch and turn comes with amazing views of the San Juan mountains.

This was just after sunrise and the sun was beautifully lighting the mountains and the amazing fall colors on the trees and shrubs in front. Other than using a polarizing filter all I did was just point and shoot. Hope Y'all like it and have a great and flourishing 2017.

• Carl Sagan.

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Another shot of the mighty San Juan mountains from one of the many county roads leading out to Ridgway. I encountered this viewpoint as we came round a corner and suddenly it looked like the snowcapped peaks were just jutting out of nowhere with the dirt road leading straight up to it. If you have followed my stream, you will recognize this theme often when I am around mountains, something about mountains and roads just seems irresistible to me. Often these are such fantastic and easy shots that result in brilliant scenery.