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ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY
with Cathy &
Gordon ILLG
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Indian
Paintbrush & Sun Star
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| COLORADO |
| ROCKY
MOUNTAIN HIGH |
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| July 20 - 25, 2008 |
| $1795
Deposit $400 |
| Airport: Grand Junction, Colorado |
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What can be said about Colorado
except WOW! Colorado IS high altitude, and the best way to see it is
the way the hard rock miners did, from the ground. Miles and miles
of four-wheel drive roads take you right up into the alpine scenery that
this state is famous for. And rightfully so--where else can you
access such heights so easily? For five glorious days we'll stay
between 7,500 feet and 12,500 feet.
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Wildflower Scenic
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To access the high points we'll
be traveling by four-wheel drive vehicles. If you're terrified of heights, this
trip probably is not for you. Actually, we'll be on paved roads and
easy dirt roads for the greater part of the tour, but some of the
locations require using four-wheel drive roads. These roads are
well-traveled and not particularly dangerous, but they might get your
adrenaline pumping a bit.
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Alpine flowers are at their peak at
this time, and we'll have entire fields of colorful petals to include in
our mountain landscapes, or play with by themselves. Flowers we'll likely
see include Indian paintbrush in several shades, blue columbine
(Colorado's state flower), lupine asters, bittercress, gentians, fireweed,
groundsel, sneezeweed and little red elephants.
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Indian
Paintbrush & Rockies
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Blue
Columbine
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In a land of superlatives, we'll have opportunities to
test all your landscape equipment, from macros to short telephotos to
super wide angles. You'll learn how to pick out a powerful scene
from the mind-boggling landscapes before you. Not including
everything in your photo is one of the first steps to defining a scene and
creating a style for yourself. Think outside the mountain majesties
and flower petals.
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Our itinerary includes many well-known photographic
hot spots, and we'll spend time at Yankee Boy Basin, Red Mountain Pass,
Paradise Basin, Owl Creek Pass, Ophir Pass, Animas Forks, Schofield Pass,
Kebler Pass, Emerald Lake, Lake Irwin and the road to Gothic. We
have lived here 22 years now, and we'll also include some secret spots
we've discovered over time.
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Alpine Avens Bud
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Animas Forks
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We'll be staying at some memorable locations also.
The towns of Crested Butte, Ouray and Silverton are all National Historic
Districts dating back to the state's mining legacy in the 1870's, and are
fantastic photographic subjects in their own right. You'll find quaint
Victorian architecture, colorful saloons, historic relics and even a
historic rail line. In Crested Butte, "The Wildflower Capital
Of Colorado", we'll stay in a European style lodge, and photograph
flowers right in town. Ouray, elevation 7,700 feet, "The
Switzerland Of America", is nestled in a small canyon surrounded by
12,000 foot and higher peaks. Silverton, elevation 9,318 feet is the end of the line
for the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge train. We'll be on hand
to see the train come chugging into town (lay a coin on the track and have
the train flatten it!). On one of our forays from Silverton we'll
visit the ghost town of Animas Forks.
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All in all, you'll be amazed at the scenery (of
course!), but you'll also find many other subjects to delight you from
dawn to dark. The Rocky Mountains are our backyard, and we
would love to share them with you.
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Alpine Meadow
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