Paint Mines Interpretive Park

I'd heard a lot about the Paint Mines Interpretive Park since our move back to Colorado in May.  I don't think I'd heard of them at all when we first lived here.  Whatever the case, being only a little more than an hour drive away it seemed like a good destination.

I was looking to do a little sunset photography, too, so I left in the late afternoon.  Of course, there wasn't a cloud in the sky to help create a truly striking scene.  So you do what you can with what you've got, including a dead thistle and a polarizing filter that was dustier than I realized.

I actually had to hustle to get to an overlook.  I was just in time to catch the sun dipping below the horizon.

I purposely wanted to shoot during twilight to avoid sharp contrast and harsh shadows.  In that regard, I was successful.  What I hadn't counted on was the brilliant colors in the clay being so subdued.

The complete absence of clouds meant I wasn't going to get anything visually compelling from the sky, so the formations had to do all the optical heavy lifting.  Fortunately, they're up to the task.

Lightroom has advanced quite a bit since I started using roughly a dozen years ago.  I feel like I need a class to learn how to use all its new features, at least one of which hopefully removes things like the power lines in most of my images.

I'm not sure my polarizing filter did me any favors in this scene.  As cool as the clay looks, the sky is just weird and unnatural.  And again, I couldn't figure out how to fix in it Lightroom.

I loved this plant's brilliant fall color, which was still vibrant even in the low light.

I read somewhere that the park is one of only three places in the country with hoodoos -- tall, skinny shafts of rock.  Bryce Canyon National Park is another, and I'm not sure what the third is.  It seems like there have to be more than that, though.

Shooting at sunset means the rotation of the Earth tells you when it's time to leave.  That time eventually came, and I took this shot of the crescent moon that's nowhere near as sharp as I'd like and as an annoying sign in the background to boot.  Then I headed home.

The park itself seems really cool, but I want another shot at it (pun intended) before making up my mind.  Next time I may try midday for more vibrant colors while hopefully still avoiding shadows.  A learning experience this time, to be sure!