Dallas Divide Photos - near Ridgway, Colorado

“X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS Mark III

ISO - 400

Lens - Canon 70 - 200 zoom

F/stop - 20

Shutter - 1/160 sec.

 I injured my arm in a skiing accident last December and never took another photo for the Rocky Mountain News before it closed last spring. My 35 year career in photojournalism came to an end and I didn’t like it. I wasn’t able to start shooting again until the summer, 6 months after the accident. To stay in photography, I promised myself that I would go out once a week to a special location in Colorado for a photo shoot. After a number of trips, I decided to produce a weekly blog (designed by my son, Jordan Papaleo) about my adventures and call it “X Marks the Shot”. After each shoot, I would pick my favorite image (the X photo) and run it big, along with other images running in a photo page format including information about the trip. The Dallas Divide in the fall would be my first blog. I would follow it with a couple more blogs that I shot this summer. After catching up, I plan on posting weekly photographs.

  The second week in October I headed southwest for a trip to the Dallas Divide. I found a place to stay in Ridgway, which is a good home base and then got a back road map of the area. National Geographic puts out great maps for regions in the state. I found three roads that I wanted to check out that afternoon for good shooting locations in the evening and the next morning. Hopefully, the low light would cooperate.

  As I drove around I noticed the Aspens were past their peak and clouds were moving in. Finding my spot for the evening shoot on Dallas Creek Road, I waited for the evening light. As the sunset approached, an occasional shaft of light broke through the clouds making some nice images, but I never got a good sky.

  Early the next morning I was out on West Dallas Creek Road, at a location I found the day before. Again there was a lot of cloud cover with some light passing through.

  I was pleased with my shoot but realized that I didn’t catch the Dallas Divide at its best. I will be back next fall to give it another go!

“X Shot” location information!

1. Drive time to Ridgway, from Denver Colorado, 6 hrs.

2. Ridgway, located at the intersection of Hwys 550 & 62.

3. Roads I recommend you check out:

                      A) Dallas Creek Road (dirt - dead end)

                      B) West Dallas Creek Road (dirt-dead end)

                      C) Last Dollar Road (dirt-to Hwy145)

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photographer