After assurances that Ohio Pass Road should be passable, even after the rain overnight, we decided to give it a try. Oh, my gosh... It was spectacular. The road follows the river up this verdant valley of ranches and cattle. We've seen a lot of beautiful valleys in our travels (Madison River Valley, valley along the Burr Trail in Utah, Ralph Lauren Ranch), but this is one of the most beautiful of all. One thought that kept repeating was that this is what cow heaven must be like.
The road to Ohio Pass had a little of everything. We saw beautiful ranches, a ghost town, the grace and agility of a pair of deer, a large herd of elk, cattle, aspen-lined roads, and The Castle.
We shot a construction company location where they had built the barn and buildings from
"recycled" lumber from old barns and out-buildings. It made
everything look old and provided a cool foreground to our photographs
of the cattle and pastureland. After hearing an elk bugle, I
located a herd of elk on the hillside below the aspens. There must have
been at least 50 working their way up the slope. They were a long way off,
but it was still dramatic.
Our next stop was the ghost town of Baldwin. It was more like a few old cabins on the side of the mountain, but the aspens above the "town" added some color. They had a grand view from their front porches.
As we continued up the road, we began to get glimpses of The Castle. It looks more like the ruins of a castle that stood at the top of a ridge where it could watch over the valley below. The knife-edged walls appear to be volcanic rock that is harder than the surrounding layers. My favorite view was from an overlook with cattle grazing in a pasture beside a stream with golden aspens leading up toward The Castle.
As we neared Ohio Pass, we found a long curve with an overlook across miles of aspen and The Castle. It's much farther away than some of our previous views. Looking across the river of scree and then the aspens seems to draw your eye to the formation.
From Ohio Pass, it was only a few miles to Kebler Pass. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the aspens were still amazing. We seemed to shoot at this spot almost every day, but we still keep coming back as if we're drawn back.
We decided to go out for dinner and asked for recommendations from the campground owners. They recommended The Trough, which was just down the road. What is the picture in your mind? I'm betting it is nothing like this restaurant. This wasn't a diner or a hole-in-the-wall place. This was an up-scale dinner restaurant with a full bar and very nice decor. The service was excellent and our steaks were great. Why they named this restaurant The Trough is still a mystery.
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