Hoping to travel (2009) the area that I am modelling, ie. Canon City to Minturn.
I would like to travel from Denver via Georgetown to Minturn, continue down H’wy 24 + 285 via Tennesse Pass to Salida. Then follow H’wy 50 to Pueblo, and back up to Denver.
My concern is - what is the weather like during the last week of April and the first week of May?
I do not intend to model snow scences - so I am hoping to get useful photo’s. What are my chances? Where is the snow line at this time of the year?
I agree that the main roads will generally be fine that time of year. There’s always the possibility of snow when it’s not summer and sleet or hail even in summertime, but this will quickly pass.
If you’ve actually got the better part of two weeks to do this trip, I’d suggest extending your trip west to Glenwood Springs or even Grand Junction. I-70 makes this a quick and easy drive and the scenery is spectacular. Plus, you’ll be able to see trains along the way, since Moffat line joins the old Rio Grande main (near Rifle? I don’t have my RR maps handy) and provides traffic that isn’t present along the inactive Tennessee Pass route anymore.
Actually, it’s been a decade or so since the Tennesse Pass line was taken out of service. Most everything along the right of way is still sitting there, although some of the pole lines have been salvaged recently. The only thing that moves on the rails has been an occassional hi-rail truck.
That was why I suggested the side trip towards west Colorado along the old Rio Grande main toward Utah. At least that way all that idle track is not quite so depressing, although I’m not too thrilled by UP and BNSF units.
As for the high country being snowed in, that can really vary depending on the previous winter’s snowfall and spring temperatures. I would think that much would’ve melted away except at higher elevations, for instance further up than Leadville. I’ll admit to being a mostly summertime visitor, but I was out there in early June a few years back and was surprised by how little snow there was. YMMV.
But I remember Bob Richardson writing about how some visitors always seemed to think that Colorado was snow-bound except for July and August and that’s just not the case in most places. It certainly shouldn’t discourage visitors who’ll stick to the highway routes. Now some of the places I go four-wheeling, yeah, there can be snow up there…[#oops]
The information is already at your fingertips. Just do a search on “Salida, Colorado weather” and similarly for Canon City and Minturn. But I’ve already done your work for you. Here:
I used to go hiking on my birthday, July 8th, every year that I lived in Colorado. I hiked a trail up in Indian Peaks Wilderness, in Roosevelt State Park, in Rocky Mountain National Park that ended on a glacier lake on the Continental Divide. As often as not, the temp. of the air was around 70 degrees and the lake water was around 38 degrees. Even then, a good portion of the trail would be snow covered, forcing me to go around or wade through. I’ve seen snow capped peaks in the Rockies the year round.
My experience with western mountains is that the amount of snow varies greatly among years. Regardless, in June there should be a good amount of snow to observe in the higher mountains, particularly on the northern slopes. I remember walking through hip-deep snow on the eastern slope of Muir Pass (around 12,000 feet?) in the Sierra Nevada on a mid-June backpack on a light snow year. I experienced several “face plants” in the snow on that late afternoon hike. After that, I did my backpacking during Septembers.
Here are some recent images we captured on April 12, 2008 between Tabernash and Fraser, CO which is not very far from the location you mentioned.
While on vacation with the family in Colorado we were driving back from Snow Mountain and Sombrero Stables after a very peaceful sleigh ride with hot cocoa and a campfire. On the drive south through Fraser Valley on Hwy 40 between Tabernash and Fraser, CO I spotted the single main line tracks of the Moffat Route of the old Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) and there she was, a unit coal consist with 2 lead prime movers, 2 in the middle and 1 on the end.
The weather varies so much in Colorado. it is possible that it could be snowing or not. I have seen in snow in June by that was a wierd day. Anyway the entire rail line will not be covered in snow so you should still be able to get some quality shots.
If not below is a link to my photobucket which has all the pictures I took on my trip between Tennessee Pass and Canon City.
I tried to follow the tracks as closely as I could and actually hiked along the tracks for several miles.
There are about 1300 pictures in this album and unfortunately when I uploaded it to Photobucket it didn’t like the way I had ordered and now all the picutures are out of order.
if have any questions on the location of a photo PM its link to me and I will figure out where it is as I have all the photo sorted by location on my HDD.
Thank you for the note and those photos. The loco’s are the wrong colour, but that is progress. I get the impression that it will be possible to go on a senic tour (self drive) to look at the area I hope to model.
Rob, you’re going to be up around 10,000 feet at the summit of Tennessee Pass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Pass_(Colorado) In late April, early May, you could be subject to snowstorms. We drove across the Rockies on US 50 in late May of this year, crossing Monarch Pass (elev. 11,300 feet) between Montrose and Salida and this is what we encountered:
Fortunately, the weather was good and we didn’t have a problem. Just remember that you can get nasty snowstorms at high altitude in late spring. In all probability, you will see snow above 7500 to 8000 feet, possibly lower.
Weather in the central Rockies can be fickle at that time of the year! On the 4th of July, 1976 I went over Trail Ridge Road and down to Granby on a (wasted day) picture shooting expedition. I topped the pass in a driving blizzard but the snow wasn’t sticking to the roadway; I wondered if I might have to go down to I-70 to get back to the east side of the Front Range. When I got back to he top however the sky was pristine blue but there was about a foot of snow accumulated at roadside.
I would offer one piece of advice for travel through the Colorado Rockies in April: carry chains and know how to put them on!
Amtrak( at least the California Zephyr from San Franciscco to Chicago) goes along the moffat route thru Colorado. Very rarely does it go up to Cheyenne and over. I’m not sure about other Amtrak trains but the Zephyr definitely goes thru the Rocky mountains and not up to Wyoming.
