(click on any photo in this post to enlarge it)
I just realized today that I had not finished my series of blog posts from my road trip down to the Gyp Hills. At the end of my Part 2 of this series Dad and I had just finished our second day of photography on the road trip. Time to bring us home now (can’t stay down there forever!).
Our last morning of the road trip we woke up to almost solid cloud cover, didn’t look like we were going to get much of a sunrise so we decided to just start the drive back. We were planning on driving over to Coldwater and heading back home from there. About half way between Medicine Lodge and Coldwater the clouds started to break and we did get a bit of sunrise. We made a few stops along the highway and were rewarded with some really interesting patterns in the clouds.
We were out of the hilly, more rugged landscapes by the time we started shooting (it was very windy and bitter cold, it took us awhile to get brave enough to start shooting!) but the colors and textures were really pretty. I’ve always liked the landscape around Coldwater.
We timed our trip almost perfect for the fall colors. The vegetation in the area looked to be at about it’s peak in terms of colors. With the colder temps moving in on our last day and the wind really picking up, I doubt there was much color left in the area in a few days. With the cloudy sky on our last morning the colors were really popping out; we had a great palette of colors to photograph.
After leaving Coldwater, we worked our way back north and made a swing through the park near the dam at Kanopolis Lake. I’ve been to Kanopolis several times, but always just to the hiking trails near the end of the lake. I was really impressed with the area near the dam. I’m going to make it back there next fall for sure, the trees were gorgeous. We were watched pretty carefully by some deer while we were exploring the park which was okay with me as they didn’t seem to mind having their picture taken (and they stayed off the road!).
After Kanopolis it was only a relatively short drive and we were back home. I can’t wait to get back to the Gyp Hills again to do some photography, maybe I’ll have to move the next road trip up to the spring!
