Colorado Autumn Color
I have long wanted to explore Colorado's aspen color in the autumn and this pandemic year seemed the ideal time. So Bend friend, Andy, & I planned to embark on a 2-3 week trip to the central and southern Colorado Rockies in Starr whenever the aspen had peak autumn color – typically during the last week in September. However, this year's foliage reports were very confusing – first predicting a late year, then a surprise mid-September snowstorm initiated the color change early, and then a return of warm weather stopped progress. We finally decided to leave Bend on September 21st when peak color was predicted for a part of the Rockies' San Juan range for the upcoming weekend.
We arrived in the Aspen (town) region north of the San Juans and found the color somewhat disappointing – mostly patchy yellow aspen areas, some trees already loosing their leaves while many others were still green, and almost no oranges or reds. While we scratched our heads on how to proceed, we visited the IMO over-photographed, iconic Crystal Mill. Thankfully it is at the end of a very rough 6 mile 4x4 road so the crowd wasn't so bad. And, I must admit, it is very photogenic and was fun to shoot.
After 2+ days around Aspen, we decided to head south to the San Juans where peak color was still reported happening between Ouray and Silverton. And we did find the area's higher, above-9500' aspen almost entirely in yellow. But we found surprising few photogenic locations, and very little orange or red tones. And the trees in lower, more photogenic locations were still totally green. So we mostly spent a couple of days exploring the above-treeline mining areas around Silverton. This area has become Colorado's off-road 4x4 playground with the very rough, steep, narrow and high roads (10-13,000'), often populated with many jeeps, smaller ATVs and motorcycles. After a couple of days, we were ready to move on. But with the continuing warm weather, the lower elevation photogenic aspen were easily more than a week away from even starting to turn. So we returned to Bend after only a short week...maybe better luck next year!?!
Panoramas – Tap/click on a pano's thumbnail to show an interactive, moving panorama; use the on-screen control bar or your finger/mouse to move around:
Crystal Lake Sunrise, San Juan Mountains:
Frisco Mill, California Gulch, San Juan Mountains:
Calfornia Gulch, San Juan Mountains:
California Pass, San Juan Mountains:
Image Gallery – Tap/click to view individual image, then swipe to advance (use optional controls for auto play, index, or share menu):
