Colorado Fall 2015

This year, David and I were excited to visit some new areas of Colorado to see more of its stunning fall foliage. I recently wrote about our trip to Aspen, where the Maroon Bells and Castle Creek Road were completely engulfed in hues of yellow, gold and orange. Since then, we’ve traveled to a few more places where the aspen leaves were still hanging on, doing their best to postpone winter.


ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
We spent a relaxing morning hiking around Bear Lake, an easy half-mile trail that follows the perimeter of the water. Although there were only a few patches of color left among the trees, on the opposite side of the trailhead gave us a perfect view of the lake and surrounding mountains.

David and I headed around the corner to the Alberta Falls trailhead. We knew there was a section of the path that was lined with aspen trees, and thought it was worth the short hike to check it out. Not only were the leaves at their peak, but we got there just in time for them to be lit up by the sun.

David’s parents also flew out to visit the first weekend of October. I took them up to Rocky Mountain to see the Alluvial Fan, which was closed the last time they were in town. We weren’t expecting much foliage because it was late in the season, but deep in the park there were still yellow and orange leaves lighting up the meadows around Long’s Peak, and my favorite stretch of the road by Moraine Park.

KENOSHA PASS
Kenosha Pass is a 10,000ft mountain pass just east of Fairplay, Colorado, and another recommended spot for fall foliage. Our morning was off to a great start; we made a pit stop at a gas station just in time to watch the sunrise – and see a fox run across the field in front of us! Unfortunately we arrived to the pass too late in the season, the leaves had already fallen off the trees. But we still enjoyed driving through the vast cow pastures that backed up to the surrounding mountains.

David and I headed north on Hwy 9 towards Breckenridge – a small mountain town known for its world-class ski slopes. It was our first time here, so we grabbed a couple warm drinks from a Starbucks located inside a cute yellow cottage, and walked around town. One of my favorite spots was the Blue River Plaza – a small park located in the center of downtown looking out onto the surrounding peaks. The park also had patches of aspen trees showing off the full spectrum of fall colors.

I-70
When David’s parents were in town, we took a road trip on I-70 to Glenwood Canyon. Along the way we went shopping in Frisco, looked at rocks on the edge of the Colorado River, and had the best mushroom & gnocchi soup at the Mountain Standard in Vail. For being so late in the season, we were happy to see that there were still plenty of golden aspen trees standing tall around the rest areas and overlooks.