[LargeFormat] Suggestions for Fall Color - Columbus to Chicago
Verna Knapp
largeformat@f32.net
Tue Oct 7 21:30:01 2003
Yes, you have my sympathy on the fuel prices. This one is even expensive
to fill here in the US. After my 400 mile trip I put a bit over $50 US
into the tank.
Saturday I took it up into the Rocky Mountains to shoot fall colors. At
the first stop, a painter stopped to talk to me and told me of his
favorite place to get *into* the aspens. After packing up my gear, I
tried to follow his directions. I found the road off to the side up by
Meeker Park. Drove for a very long ways (he had said 2 miles off the
road) so I probably took the wrong initial turn. I think I drove more
like 10 miles. There are two roads with the same number. Eventually I
was on a steep road with rocks poking up and no turnaround. This is in a
Ford Econoline E350 extended body van jacked up for a four wheel drive.
It is a good 4x4 (Quigly) but tall. There were a few washouts, but not
bad, as it was dry. Only slightly worse than the road I live on was
after that huge storm washed most of it out. I got lucky with a turnout
with the returning traffic. Eventually I reached Johnnycamp, which is a
primative hunting camp. It has a nice grove of golden leaved aspen I
could get into. Along with guys in ATVs and hunters. I pulled
into a campsite on the other side of some rocks, and did some
exploring.The big pile of rocks was gorgeous. Lichens and various
colored up bushes growing out of it. I got my 4x5 out and made a number
of exposures. Because of the shadow patterns I kept waiting for the sun
to go behind clouds. I even found a use for my wide angle lens, and
darned near wrapped the camera around a tree while trying to shoot along
a rock face with tiny bushes growing out of it. This was an all out
photo trance. I never did get into the grove of aspen. I stopped when I
ran out of film, then decided to go home and sleep in my own bed, though
the camp site was a lovely one, and I'll probably use it in the future.
Still, there was no point in staying for the morning light, as I didn't
have the film to take advantage of it.
I kept wishing I were driving a jeep or a hummer on that trail! The
beast, as I call my van, is awfully long and awfully tall, though she
did fine on the way out of the camp, where high road clearance was
mandatory. Still, she is a fine vehicle for camping in the places I can
get her into. And I'm not sure I really want to go into the hard core
4x4 trails anyway. I have a notion that big muscles and a lot of
testosterone would be helpful when doing that, and I don't tolerate
overdoses of adrenaline all that well. On the other hand, a class in 4x4
driving would probably be very useful up here in the Rockies.
The Rockies are amazingly beautiful and amazingly rough. I love them.
Verna
>
> Verna,
>
> You probably know about fuel prices here in the UK - one of the reasons
> that the Land Rovers had to go. The pre-owned section of the web site
> does have some bargains. All I need to do is emigrate to the US with a
> few packing crates full of camera gear.
>
> The colours are starting to change now on the trees here and just in
> time for the forthcoming f32 large format workshop. This has been taking
> up a lot of time recently and I'm looking forward to an exclusive 4 days
> of large format photography.
>
> The list has been amazingly quiet over the last few days - maybe the
> colours have changed already in other parts of the world....
>
> Anyway, hope you enjoy the trip Karl.
>
> Cheers,
> Clive
--
"Seize every minute of life...look at it and really see it...
live it...and never give it back."