Garden of the Gods and The Paint Mines

I started the day with an early morning return to Garden of the Gods . Like all areas with tall rock formations, there is a morning side and an afternoon side. I tried to capture some of the areas that were in shadow the previous afternoon.

After a noon break back at the room, I drove the 45 minutes out to a less well-known area, The Paint Mines. From the web site:
The Paint Mines Interpretive Park is one of El Paso County’s most unique open spaces. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused by oxidized iron compounds, are found in varying amounts throughout the many different layers of clay.
The Paint Mines Interpretive Park is located in the northeast section of the County near Calhan with approximately 750 acres. The paint mines have evidence of human life as far back as 9,000 years ago. The park features fantastic geological formations including spires and hoodoos that form through erosive action that creates incised gullies and exposed layers of selenite clay and jasper.  

I will say first that the images on the website must reflect extreme manipulation. I can’t imagine that even on the brightest day the colors would look so garish and unrealistic. However the area does not need the over-photoshoped image. The natural formations and colors hold their own. It is a truly bizarre and other-worldly environment. The snow added an additional haunting effect. For most of the afternoon I was literally the only person in the area. Again, I was fighting the exposure as one side of the rock face was reflecting the afternoon sun and the other was shaded. I will say that I was working under practically tropical conditions as the day was clear and sunny and the temperature had risen to the mid-40s! I was able to remove my heavy down jacket and gloves!

As I was walking back I ran into the only other humans who had decided to visit the area this afternoon, Angel and Goodwill. Angel lives in Colorado Springs, Goodwill was visiting from New York. He is a graphic designer, photographer and D.J. And they both were just really cool people. We had a nice chat and took each others photos against one of the rock formations.

Tomorrow I drive to Durango.

Way to many additional images are available in the Gallery.