The drive over Cordova Pass has to be one of the most beautiful excursions in southern Colorado. It’s simply gorgeous. Monica and I came across it quite by accident while on one of our fall foliage adventures a couple years ago. Actually, it was Monica who suggested veering to the west off Las Animas County Road 43.7, and up the pass, when we happened upon that particular fork in the road. It’s a meandering 25-mile long dirt road (mostly) connecting Aguilar with Cuchara, more or less, and lies in the heart of the Spanish Peaks country. You don’t need a 4WD truck to get over the pass, but I’d think twice about driving a Corolla over it. It’s a great place to take in the changing aspen. And that’s precisely what I did on 2018’s last day of summer.
Cool breezes had been ushering in a change of seasons since early August. And I’d been monitoring both the weather and Instagram to gauge when to make the drive south and photograph, and yes, fly the drone over and through, the changing aspen. Photos of golden aspen from the high country (Telluride, Breckenridge, Snowmass) began trickling through my Instagram feed in early September. The nighttime temperatures here in Pueblo began slipping into the lower 50s about then, which translates into about 10 degrees cooler up in the mountains. And after a couple weeks of cool nights, I decided to pack up the Mavic and the Nikon and head for the pass. I made the turn from Highway 160 to Highway 12 into the Cuchara Valley near La Veta and was quickly met by the burn scar from June’s 100,000-acre Spring Creek wildfire. That sad vista was more compelling viewing that of the Spanish Peaks and its volcanic dikes, which is no mean feat. Making my way toward Cuchara I began to think I was too early for to photograph the fall colors. The trees were still a robust green, but as soon as I began the climb up out of Cuchara everything changed. While there was still a good bit of green in the mix, there were pockets over-saturated golden aspen dotting the hillsides. By the time I made the turn onto the Cordova Pass road, I thought “yep, this is gonna work.”
This was the first time I shot stills along side of drone footage and I was surprised at the relative ease at which making still images came: consider, compose, meter, shoot. Working with the drone proved to be more demanding: maintaining line of sight, gauging wind, avoiding branches, gimbal moves, yawing, pitching, and speed, factored along with considering, composing, metering and shooting made for a challenging task.
Aspen Along The Cordova Pass. Video by Mike Sweeney/©2018
Even with all those machinations, I think the posted clip shows how conservatively (and redundantly) I actually flew. And how far I still have to go with this whole “flying camera” thing. For example, there’s a camera move I just can’t nail down: motioning the gimbal down while putting the drone in an ascent. It looks great when it works, but clunky and uncoordinated when it doesn’t. Which is why it doesn’t appear in this clip. Shooting the stills, not surprisingly, was much easier. Most were shot with my 400mm lens. I felt uninhibited, shooting loose when I wanted and tight when I wanted, exploiting highlights and shadows. I posted some of my take on Instagram and got my customary smattering of likes. I also posted the same files on Twitter with a similar response. But the Twitter user Visit Colorado, quoted my aspen tweet and got over 150 likes and 25 retweets. That’s easily my most popular social media post, even though I didn’t actually post it, for whatever that’s worth.
“@M_Sweeney_1: Aspen along the Cordova Pass #autumn #aspen #Colorado #fallcolors” pic.twitter.com/LZdhkvCRZ0
— Visit Colorado (@Colorado) September 28, 2018
So was the Cordova Pass expedition a success? Did it work? Well, I didn’t crash and/or lose the drone in the wilderness. That’s a win. And my photos were ok. And I did see some beautiful Colorado landscapes on the cusp of autumn. I wouldn’t say I “rocked the house,” but yeah, it was worthwhile endeavor.
