I had never been to this part of Colorado when I lived out there back in 01/02, and this was part of what the Western Swing Photo Adventure was all about. What I found here is that this NM very much resembles SW Utah in color and mountains...due in part that it was part of the Colorado Plateau.
It becomes very obvious when your standing in the transitional zone...Colorado mountains on the right with the harder granite boulders and trees, and on the left is the more colorful variations of softer sandstone, which BTW was the bottom of a vast sea some many millions of years ago. The various layers of different sands and colors were actually sediment on the sea bottom being compressed by the weight of the water. When the sea resided to much of what we know today, and then millions of years of water and wind erosion now have formed the vast areas of the Colorado Plateau.
The many trees species of the Colorado mountains have now been replaced with the semi-desert species of juniper and pinyon pines and smaller cactus
plants just to name a few.
The Colorado National Monument owes its existence to John Otto and a few others who carved out the roadway we now travel on back around 1907 and later after much lobbing in Washington DC, the park as formed and he was made the caretaker, a position he gladly accepted for the sum of one dollar a month.
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Camera, Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens, Canon 24-70 f 2.8”L
Exposure, 1/25 sec.
Aperture, f14 Lens Focal Length,57mm
ISO Speed, 400
Polarizing Filter
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This NM was a great find and now off my bucket list,but I would go back. Good camping,no crowds and very little hiking...my kind of place. The western portion of this park is the best in terms of great spires/monoliths like this one and in the BG.
That bump on the horizon (top left) is where the campground is located.
The point (center top) has a opening in it called "The Window", which is really a small arch. Its just a white dot here, but I have other images that show it much better. There is a rim trail that goes over the top of of the window and to the left which affords really great afternoon shooting of these same spires and monliths from the opposite side.(previous post)
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Camera, Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens, Canon 24-70 f 2.8”L
Lens Focal Length, 65mm
Exposure, 1/13 sec.
Aperture, f14 ISO Speed, 100
Polarizing Filter
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This is a 2 image stitch and a blend to obtain this final version.
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Camera, Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens, Canon 24-70 f 2.8 ”L"
Lens Focal Length, 58mm
Exposure, 1/10 sec.
Aperture, f 14
ISO Speed, 100
Tags: spire&monoliths western-landscapes landscapes national-monuments multi-image-pano multi-image colorado colorado-national-monument audio/visual-photo-presentations jmwnaturesimages.com photo-tour-guide photo-tours professional-photographer photo-workshops
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The Coke Ovens here are colorful sandstone rock domes resembling the brick "beehive" coke ovens constructed back in the late 1890's used to carbonize (termed Coke) the coal that was mined in Colorado for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.
Coal was loaded into the ovens through a hole in the top and then converted into coke when heated in an oxygen-deficient environment. The coke was then removed through the front over doors and loaded into rail cars and shipped to various locations for use in smelting ores and for the production of steel in the northern states.
The town of Redstone,Colorado was a company town,constructed solely to house the workers of the ovens and their families. These ovens have not been in use for decades and have heavily deteriorated and are now in the process of stabilizing and restoring these historic landmarks for all to read about and enjoy.
I seem to be having problems with Big Huge Labs,so please press L for a better view.
Camera, Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens, Canon 24-70 f 2.8 ”L"
Lens Focal Length, 42mm
Exposure, 0.167(1/6) sec.
Aperture, f 14
ISO Speed, 100
Polarising filter
Tags: western-landscapes parks national-monuments historic-subject colorado colorado-national-monument detail-studies audio/visual-photo-presentations jmwnaturesimages.com photo-tour-guide photo-tours professional-photographer photo-workshops
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I made this image late in the afternoon along the rim trail at Window rock Trail. I had this place all to myself and actually saw very few people the entire 4 days that I was there. I thought that when I arrived here that finding a camping site would be difficult, but when I got to the campground there were maybe less that 10 campers. Maybe people just don't know about this place???
The better locations for photography were in the northern portion of this park,from Upper Ute canyon to the west (Fruita) entrance. The Big Horn Desert Sheep were seen right at the tunnel(s), but I did not see a one,and I looked hard...high and low for them glassing everywhere.
This is really a very pretty park and if you have the chance to visit, do so, you won't be sorry you did.
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Camera, Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens, Canon 24-70 f 2.8 ”L"
Lens Focal Length, 30mm
Exposure, 0.5(1/2) sec.
Aperture, f 22
ISO Speed, 400
Polarising filter
Tags: western-landscapes parks national-monuments colorado canyons colorado-national-monument audio/visual-photo-presentations jmwnaturesimages.com photo-tour-guide photo-tours professional-photographer photo-workshops
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