View allAll Photos Tagged 4wheeling
This is the beautiful Lake Como in the San Juan Mountains. The lake is around 11,700 feet, and I am over 12,950 when I shot this on California Pass. Hurricane Pass is to left of this photo.
When I go to the San Juans, I always do the Corkscrew Gulch, Hurricane Pass, and California Pass roads. All the trails I do are beautiful, but these are the most beautiful in my opinion, and Lake Como is one of my favorite spots on those trails.
So in mid September, I will be back on those roads. I will be taking friends from North Carolina with me and Shirley, that have never done these roads. Although these roads are relatively easy, when people get on ledge roads with huge drop offs, it tends to bother them the first time they do it. Hopefully they will enjoy it as much as we do.
This is Crystal Lake. It sits near Ironton on the Million Dollar Highway. Didn't get the sun and clouds this year.
This year was weird because MDH was closed from 8:30 am to noon, and from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM to repair the road for landslides. Made a long day for doing any kind of 4wheeling.
I shot this on the final ledge road to the top of Imogene Pass on the Telluride. You can see road go all the way down through the valley. You can't actually see Telluride, but it sits just to left and little further down from where you see the road end.
I am just a couple hundred feet below the 13,114 foot Imogene Pass. Second highest pass you can drive in Colorado. Telluride has an elevation of 8750 feet.
"Don't worry honey, it'll be great! I've got a cool place all picked out for us right near the train station. It has an open floorplan with lots of skylights..." I'm not sure if this was a loading station or a case where the cabin jumped into the path of a speeding train, but either way sure shows some interesting history.
This image was taken from the ruins of the Genessee Mine near Red Mountain Pass between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado. I found this location while doing some scouting on a trail off of Red Mountain Pass so I decided to return at night for a capture that included the Milky Way. As it turned out, this composite image used just two captures, both with the same settings. I just used the two to make up for some weak light painting I did in the foreground on each of the single exposures.
This is road is located in the Gladstone area. This was a new road for me. This road went a lot higher and was on very narrow ledge road. I have no idea what elevation we got to, but road was a dead end.
Shirley wanted to rest before we headed home, so I was a passenger in Don's 2014 Trail Edition 4runner. Since we had done most of the standard roads we always do, we decided to go to some roads we have never been. In one of my 4x4 books I found several roads in the Gladstone area we have never done.
This was a road Don and I had never done, but we were very happy to find it. The sky wasn't good any of the mornings we were in Colorado, but thought I would post this because it was new to me.
I shot this from Last Dollar Road. The clouds started building up in the mountains. After lunch in Telluride we headed for Ophir Pass. Ophir is a very easy pass, but was a lot different in a snow storm.
I can tell you that Shirley wasn't happy with me doing any 4wheel drive pass in a small blizzard. In truth has wasn't enjoying it to much, and started worrying about going down the other side of the mountain with snow that road.
I think in the future if there is a dark cloud in the sky, and Shirley is with me, I will be doing highway driving.
This was shot while climbing up Corkscrew Gulch. Aspens were gold everywhere. Probably the best year for aspens I have seen in over 30 years of going there.
This was shot from Corkscrew Gulch Trail. I have shot this many times, but this year was different with the dark clouds and more shadowed peaks.
Corkscrew Gulch is my favorite trail, especially when I include Hurricane Pass and California Pass. If everything goes as planned, I will be back here the end of September.
This is Shirley and my daughter-in-law pointing out the view for our granddaughter.
This is one of my favorite views in Colorado, and it's located at the top of Corkscrew Gulch. It was a very cloudy day when we were there this year, but still is beautiful to me. I couldn't do my usual route this year, so I came from Gladstone, which is a back way to get here.
Salt Tram in Death Valley. Accessible by 4-wheeling or dirt biking! I had a blast 4 wheeling on the way to the lake. This lake was mined for salt in the early 1900s. All the pink stuff is the crystallized salt on the lake. The whole place was stunning!
This is just the top of Cinnamon Pass Road on the Lake City side. We have done these several times in the snow, or just after a snowfall. Cinnamon Pass is 12,400 feet in elevation, but is one of the easier trails we do in the San Juan Mountains.
So if you are doing 4wheeling for the first time, I would recommend this trail for you start out on. No matter the trail, you still need to be very careful.
Just a little ways past the views of Telluride Box Canyon, is this area. It is very tight through here, and even the pullouts for other vehicles to pass is narrow. Since I was driving toward Ouray, it requires that drive on the ledge side of the road, which has the dropoffs you see in this picture. This requires co-operation for the people driving this road. You have to drive defensively, because you never know how much experience the other driver has. Imogene Pass Road is not for the inexperienced driver.
Imogene Pass Road is one of the most beautiful roads to drive in the San Juan Mountains. It has many narrow ledge roads, but the views are incredible. If you want to see them, you can do one of the jeep tours out of Ouray. You can also rent a jeep in Ouray, and you can drive this road. If you do this, please be very careful. If you choose this option, it would best if you could go with someone that has experience on this road.
This is located on Yankee Boy Basin. Yankee Boy has some rough places up to the falls, but surprisingly I have seen vehicles do it that I didn't expect
I didn't go to the top of Yankee Boy Basin. It really gets difficult from this point up. The funny thing is that 4wheel drive books say it's a hiking trail from this point up, but I have done it several times. It is a trail that I have to work to find the right line, and if you don't, there is a jarring bump.
That's 4wheeling.
This shows the California Pass Road that goes down from the pass to Como Lake and on to Hurricane Pass. The view from California Pass of Como Lake is one of my favorite views in the San Juans. California Pass is over 12,900 feet.
As far as difficulty, the Corkscrew Gulch to Hurricane Pass to California Pass to Animas Forks Ghost Town are easy for people experienced in driving these roads.
One of my favorite things to do when the wildflowers are blooming in Colorado is to explore the rugged San Juan Mountains near Ouray and Telluride. Sometimes, I like to go for a hike and other times, I let my vehicle do the work. Here I'm car camping near the 4WD high point in Governor Basin below some beautiful Colorado Columbine and rugged Saint Sophia Ridge...
See the story behind this image, how I got the shot, and get free wallpaper from www.coloradocaptures.com/colorado-car-camping.
Another in the series of images taken during our autumn 4-wheeling, backcountry adventure through southwestern Colorado ... hosted by Rick Louie Photography. :-) This area of the country is absolutely AMAZING and full of varied landscapes and views at every corner. As you can see, it was a magnificent day as far as the weather goes and a bit cold ... just what this south Florida girl was looking for. Nothing like being out in the wilderness with the sun, clear skies, and views like this.
For more images and info about our day, please check out the blog at: www.tnwaphotography.wordpress.com
Thanks for stopping by to view and Happy Hump Day to all.
© 2016 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
Imogene Pass Road is the second highest pass you can drive over in Colorado. The highest is Mosquito Pass near Leadville Colorado, and I rode over many years ago. Imogene Pass elevation is 13,114 feet.
You can see the ruble from the Tomboy Mine about dead center of this picture. You can see the road as as meanders up to the top. Just a little bit of center right just below the skyline you can see the road. It is a ledge road on both the Ouray and Telluride sides in the final push to the top.
Imogene Pass Road is a beautiful drive, but can be dangerous if you aren't careful.
Bret has a plow attached to the front of the four-wheeler, and he is "working" really hard to plow the driveway! Max, of course is his right-hand man!
This was shot from a new road I went up. It is just off the backside of Corkscrew Gulch Road.
I really like the view of Hurricane Pass from this position.
During the Thanksgiving Day holiday, my daughter and her husband joined us in Colorado, with their 2 adorable dogs. Kelli wanted to ho out into the mountains to explore the terrain, and give her dogs a chance to get out in the open landscape. We knew right where to go ... Ouray & the San Juan Mountains. Less than 2 hours away, it's a virtual extravagancy of places to go and things to explore. We grabbed a quite bite at an amazing coffee shop/restaurant and then headed up into the wilderness, accessed by 4WD only. It was fabulous ... the air was crisp, the sun was bright and there was snow in the open fields. The absence of crowds was much appreciated, but not as much as those clouds in the sky that came out to play.
I know that everyone is getting busy with the holiday preparations, as we are ... sort of. My daughter is not able to get away from work and therefore we get to take a "do-over" in mid-January to celebrate Christmas. I celebrate our birthdays over our "birthday week", so why not Christmas. LOL
Thanks so much for taking a moment to stop by to view. Hope that your holidays are wonderful.
© 2017 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
www.tnwaphotography.wordpress.com
The most recent blog post features images and stories about our time, in October, spent 4-wheeling the backcountry wilderness of Colorado. On this gorgeous weekend (at least from where I'm at in sunny south Florida), you should venture outdoors to enjoy nature, but if you're not and have the time, feel free to check out the blog at the link above. :-)
We had the best time out in the true wilderness areas, exploring such areas as Ouray, Telluride, and Ridgeway. Taking the 4WD roads, being hosted by our friend Rick Louie, allowed us to explore such amazing "off the beaten path" places. The beauty abounded at every turn of the road. We were encouraged to let him know when we wanted to stop for pictures, but truth be told, if we did, we would still be on the drive. LOL. Too much scenic opportunities to explore.
We can't wait to get back out that way for "Round 2". I highly recommend the services of Rick Louie Photography if you need assistance out that way. :-)
Thanks for stopping by to view and Happy Weekend everyone!
© 2016 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
And if you look really close, you can see a reflection of Baby Big Bird 4-Wheelin' in my kitchen sink...
And, well, ummm... I reserve further comment on the GROUNDS (no pun intended)... lololol...
Corkscrew Gulch with Hurricane Pass and California Pass are my favorite drive in the San Juans. It isn't a hard drive, and it has some of the most beautiful scenery in the San Juans.
It does require 4wheel drive, high clearance vehicle, so don't think about doing it with a car, unless you have an outback. I see people drive cars everywhere. They see a road on a map and they think anything can go over it. Crazy!
I shot this from Hurricane Pass. This lake is at an elevation of 12,000 feet. To get some perspective of size, there is a suv parked on the light colored area on the opposite side of the lake.
So if you have been following along with the pictures I have posted, I started with Crystal Lake, than Corkscrew Gulch, now Hurricane Pass, and next California Pass.
I hope you are enjoying the trip.
I am always trying to show people what these trails look like. This was shot through the windshield and the other picture was also shot that way, so for the purest, you won't like these. I am just trying to give a feel for what these roads are like, and this is the way I see them.
In this photo I am traveling down Corkscrew Gulch. I am headed to Hurricane Pass which is the V area dead center just below the clouds. The other picture is located about where the evergreens are left of center in this photo.
I hope this gives you some idea of the roads. These are actually some of the easier ones.
Just above the California Pass sign is this view. The ridgeline provides an excellent view of Como Lake. The trail you see by Como Lake is Poughkeepsie Gulch Trail. It goes to the north and connects with Engineer Pass Road. I don't drive Poughkeepsie, because it is considered a "vehicle damage trail". So for you that thought I would drive anything, that isn't true. I don't want to damage the 4runner. There are plenty of videos on Youtube of people driving this road. Matter of fact you can see almost all the roads on Youtube.
If you have a narrow, high clearance 4wheel drive vehicle, I think the California Pass, Hurricane Pass and Corkscrew Gulch are easy roads to drive. You will still have to drive on some ledge roads with dropoffs, but if you can get by that, you should try them. If you know you can't handle the ledge roads, please don't go. If you can do it, you will see some of the best scenery in the country.
This is shot from Imogene Pass. I have no idea what the mailbox is for, probably some mountain humor, but it has been there for many years.
You can see the Imogene Pass Road continue on the shelf road. You can see the road to the right which is the road to the Imogene Overlook. The road to the left is Imogene Pass Road continuing to Ouray.
If you look closely you can see my friend Don's vehicle on the top of the overlook. If you ever do this road, be sure to go to the overlook. Be careful on the shelf road, it is very narrow and people have went over the side.
...the Atlantic Lake trial to be exact. A tough hike for me due to the fact that I was in sandles. But, it was worth it. Sights like this one have a tendancy to keep you going, enticing you to want to peek around that next corner.
One of the most beautiful drives in the San Juans is Corkscrew Gulch to Hurricane Pass to California Pass to Animas Forks. The really surprising thing is, it isn't really a hard 4wd. It has some most beautiful views you will see in the San Juan Mountains.
So if you have a narrow 4wd vehicle with good clearance and good all terrain tires, you should do it. You will have a few ledges to drive on, so if you have a problem driving on the edge of a drop off, you shouldn't do any of the roads.
Rolling grassy fields close to CA 99 s. Amazing views and I had to pull over by the freeway to get this shot!
This image is the result of close to a year of planning, shooting, and then post-processing - a bit of a term project if you will. It's funny that I don't consider myself to be a big fan of post-processing, but at times, I find it adds significant value. In this case, the capability actually provided the inspiration for the capture.
I first got the idea for this after having seen some key post-processing technologies emerge - panoramic stitching, comet-like star trail processing, and star trail extension. On their own, these technologies can be pretty impressive, but I wondered how engaging it could look to capture star trails in an image so wide that it shows curvature of the trails from both poles...
There is a lot more to this post... see the rest and get free wallpaper from:
www.coloradocaptures.com/fine-art-photography-gallery/won...
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Back From The Dead
I know I pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth, but I had my head down on a couple of important projects - and I'm happy to say they're now complete. And now that I'm back, I invite you to join me in celebrating the release of a lot of cool new stuff.
New Website: I had ambitious goals that featured a faster, more flexible, and easier to use store plus a learning center forum. So over the last 9 months, I put in a boatload of hours and worked with consultants in Poland, Belarus, India, the U.K., and the U.S. to get it done. I'll leave it to you to decide if it was a significant improvement (I hope you think so):
• www.coloradocaptures.com/fine-art-photography-gallery
Product Line Additions: With the new store, we now have several new and unique additions to the product line including Stack-A-Plaque, Aluminum, Acrylic, and Stone.
• www.coloradocaptures.com/print-format-choices/
Learning Center Discussion Forum: It's been a dream of mine to build a discussion community in the Colorado Captures website. I learned along the way that this was a whole lot more challenging than I had realized although I was able to reach all of my goals in the end. Now that it's complete, the topics cover a lot of techniques and suggestions that an aspiring photographer would be interested in. So please help build the community by participating in the forum.
• www.coloradocaptures.com/forum
Photography Workshops in RMNP: After months of preparation, I'm now offering photography workshops in Rocky Mountain National Park. As a compliment to the classroom training and learning center discussion forum, the photography workshops are a natural fit with a choice of either hiking workshop or driving tour.
• www.coloradocaptures.com/instructor-led-training/photogra...
Beyond all these enhancements, I'm also still fine tuning the website to make your experience as good as it can possibly be. And to be honest, I've been looking forward to saying that for a long time now... Thank you for your patience everyone. Be well and stay tuned for more images coming soon!
You better buckle up if you're riding this Bronco. This vehicle and many more participated in the Cars and Coffee event held at the Kansas City Auto Museum in Olathe Kansas.
On August 11, 1965, Don Frey, the Ford Motor Company Vice President and Ford Division General Manager introduced the Ford Bronco by noting the company had added another pony to the stable to join its big brother, the Mustang. The Ford Bronco became the first automobile called out specifically as a “Sports-Utility Vehicle,” and an American classic was born.
The original Ford Bronco only stuck around for 12 years, but it's presence undoubtably overshadows the succeeding generations. In a lot of ways, the indirect successor to the World War II era Ford GPW - the Blue Oval's license-built version of the Willys MB Jeep the 1965 Ford Bronco was designed to complement the then-new Ford Mustang as a fun, youth-friendly off-roader.
Ford also had Jeep square in its sights in designing and engineering the Bronco. Like the Jeep CJ-5 of the time, the Bronco was small—its wheelbase is about the same length as a modern Mini Cooper Hardtop—and designed with simple flat surfaces that were both cheap to manufacture and easy to keep protected from rocks. The Bronco was offered up in three body styles: the "Wagon," which was a two-door with a removable hardtop, a "Roadster," which came roofless and with inserts instead of doors (much like the contemporary CJ-5), and as a "Sports Utility Pickup", better known as the "half-cab," which did away with the two-person rear bench seat of the roadster and hardtop in favor of a mini pickup bed. The Roadster would last until just 1968, making it a particularly rare vehicle. The Bronco half-cab would stick around until 1973, leaving the popular wagon as the only body style for the remainder of the first-gen Bronco's life.
At launch, the Bronco was powered by Ford's venerable 105-hp 2.8-liter I-6, paired with a three-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drive. A 4.7-liter V-8 producing 200 hp found its way under the Bronco's stubby little hood in 1966 before being replaced by a bigger 4.9-liter V-8 in 1968. In 1973, the base I-6 was replaced by a 3.3-liter I-6, and a three-speed automatic joined the fold.
According to FourWheeler, a total of 225,585 first-generation Broncos were built between 1965 and 1977 when production ended. Of those, 203,544 were Wagons, 17,262 Sports-Utility Pickups, and 5,000 Roadsters.
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Corkscrew Gulch has some of the best views you can see in the San Juan Mountains.
The aspens were not very good this year, but any year in the San Juans is a good year. My favorite mountains.
I shot Como Lake from Hurricane Pass. Como is one of the most beautiful high mountain lakes you can see.
Shirley taking in Red Mountains on the Corkscrew Gulch Trail. This is our favorite drive. It is a 4wheel drive trail. After this we did Hurricane Pass, California Pass, and Eureka Gulch.
Already planning on being back here next year. Thanks for looking.
At this point I am headed to Hurricane Pass road, which you can see on both sides of the Alpine Loop sign. At the top left center of the photo is how you get Hurricane.
This is Shirley taking pictures at my favorite spot, at the top of Corkscrew Gulch. You can see snow on the left side of the road.
I always make sure I get to shoot pictures here. It was cloudy and rainy this day, but still is an amazing spot with the contrast in the mountains.
This is just below Imogene Pass. You can see Don's 4runner on the road. Although we don't have any narrow shelf roads ahead, we will be going through roughest parts of Imogene Pass Road. Going this direction makes it hard to see the line you should take through rough areas. You can also see many mines and tailings from them along the rode.
Imogene Pass Road is still beautiful all the way to Ouray. You have to stay alert the whole way, or you can get rough bumps. Wish everyone could a chance to see it.