I thought John Brown Road was named after the man from Connecticut who murdered men in the Bleeding Kansas days of the 1850’s, and then raided the Harper’s Ferry arsenal in October 1859 on the hope of procuring guns for a slave revolt.

But that is not so. Apparently, there was another John Brown from Massachusetts who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 12th 1836, and then made his way to Colorado by 1841, and California by 1849. I guess John Brown Road was named in memory of his trapping times in Western Colorado when it was a land of Utes and Navajos and white men beware.

What a life… for both.

Anyways, I’d first come across John Brown Road in May of 2020, when the world was revering Anthony Fauci. On my Colorado and Utah atlases I could see how John Brown connected Gateway, Colorado to Moab, Utah over the La Sal mountains.

But I was in a Toyota Yaris then. A Yaris is not made for unpaved roads. So, I came back on the 2nd of June in the year of Our Lord 2026 with my 4×4 Tundra to see what was out there.

It’s pretty. It’s wild, though there are other vehicles on this road. You could probably spend a couple of days here to capture the light and colors. However, the sun at 7,000′ and higher in summer is miserable on your skin. It’s a stinging hot, not a suffocating hot like in humid climates.

Fall is the most perfect time to be here.

Although… fresh snow on the Plateau while the La Sals beam white over Moab on a partly-cumulus day would be great too, especially at Arches and Canyonlands.

Anyways, here are some “ok” photos along John Brown Road. Some are better than my Dolores photos. But I just don’t have the patience to strive for perfection sometimes, and I’m cool with that.

The 9 original photos next to its Lightroomed ones. All were taken on my Samsung s25 Ultra with the highest resolution possible.

The area of Colorado where these photos were taken: