Hotchkiss Farmland: Farms and fields of green cover the arid desert landscape in an area of Hotchkiss, Colo. The North Fork of the Gunnison River flows through the area providing resources for the farms and ranches. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Mountain Ranch: When traveling across Kebler Pass Road from the west one travels through a canyon along the Anthracite Creek before climbing quickly into the higher elevations of the route. This mountain ranch sits in the canyon and can be seen from Kebler Pass Road from viewpoints along the way. The fall colors frame the beautiful setting of the ranch house, barn and nearby pond. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
When driving through Colorado recently in search of fall color scenery I could not help but notice the beautiful farm and ranch land along our route.
The western slope area of Colorado from Ridgeway, Colo. to the Grand Valley around Grand Junction is filled with various crops and fruit orchards. These areas appear as a green oasis in the middle of the arid high desert landscape of western Colorado.
Traveling to the higher country reveals some farming but more ranch country where fields and meadows are dotted with ranching equipment and cattle, sheep and other animals.
These farming and ranching operations are set in some of the most beautiful countryside imaginable which causes me to continually slow and stop along our travels to view and photograph these scenes. There is a special beauty in the combination of the fall colors and these ranches that I cannot resist documenting with the camera.
Included are just a few of the farms, ranches, and country scenes we enjoyed on a recent drive from the western slope and through the mountain back roads on our way back to the Denver area.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Mountain Meadow: A meadow seen from Kebler Pass road is surrounded by fall color at this time of the year. The small dots seen in the meadow are a herd of cattle grazing while surrounded by the Elk Mountain Range. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Country Road: Kepler Pass Road continues through the aspen trees in the left portion of the photo while a Forest Service road exits off to the right and crosses a small creek before disappearing into the conifer forest. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Old Homestead: An old homestead sits in disrepair while the hillsides glow in the fall color of the aspen forest. This scene was captured south of the town of Crested Butte, Colo. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com