Colorado Fall Colors: 9/17-9/19

myrahausheer
Sep 20, 2021
5 min read

PSA: IT'S MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!!

While I love hiking in the summer and walking through (not literally - please stay on the trail, y'all) the wildflowers, surrounded by lush greenery, mountains glistening with hints of snow, and getting sunburnt by the abundant sunshine...there's something really special about Fall in Colorado. This is hands down, my favorite time of the year! I love the crisp air, being able to wear cozy layers (big flannel fan), have the windows open, and did I mention see the Aspen leaves change?

Life has been a little crazy for me personally lately and I needed a weekend in the mountains. I've been keeping an eye on the foliage reports and was excited to see that some areas in the Front Range are already turning! I planned a quick weekend trip.

Friday, September 17, 2021

I left work and headed straight to the mountains! Traffic wasn't horrible for a Friday evening and I made it up to Frisco in about 1 1/2 hours. I made a quick stop at Meadow Creek Trail, before the sun set, to check out the Aspens. They were pretty but the lighting wasn't the best to get photos. I would guess that peak color will be in the next week or so! There were some Aspen that were still pretty green, some looked brown/dry, and some had some great color to them!

Saturday, September 18, 2021

I went hiking first thing in the morning and got some great shots! I ended up not doing the whole trail, and actually went on a side trail that had a lake view, so I had more time to drive around and explore that day. But the leaves were beautiful!!

Trail I did: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/lily-pad-lake-trail

Trail I planned on: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/meadow-creek-trail

Saturday Afternoon:

I headed west, and took a scenic drive from Minturn to Leadville! I'm not sure if I've ever been down that way, since I moved here (maybe ever), and I heard good things! The first half of the drive was the prettiest, but it was all worth doing. I got a great shot on the side of the road where the trees were so vibrant in the sunlight, that it almost didn't look real.

I headed back up by Copper Mountain to camp near Frisco. On the way back I hiked Mayflower Gulch. I had done this hike in the winter before and meant to come back during the summer, to see the wildflowers, but time got away from me. Note: if you have a high clearance SUV, you can drive up the trail. I forgot the road was open, until I got a little ways up, so I decided to walk and get some extra mileage. I only made it up to the log cabin ruins because it started sprinkling and got very overcast, so it unfortunately was not the best for photos. But, the foliage in this area (driving) is really pretty right now! Mayflower Gulch doesn't really have aspen trees on the hike.

Mayflower Gulch: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/mayflower-gulch-grand-traverse

Sunday, September 19, 2021:

I woke up early, left my camping spot, and drove to Breckenridge! A blogger in Breck had recently told me about Aspen Alley (and it was already on my list), so I decided to check it out! I was also down for a slower day after hiking almost 9 miles on Saturday.

Aspen Alley was really pretty! Some trees are still mostly green and some are bright yellow, so I would say it will be good through this coming weekend. There are a lot of mountain bikers on this trail, so heads up for that. I personally wouldn't want to MTB on the trail, once it's later in the morning, because there are a lot of families and kids. The first part of the trail is through the pines and then it gets so beautiful! There is also old mining equipment, which was really cool to see. This would be a great spot to take out of town guests, because it's an easy trail (I do not think this is moderate, at all).

Aspen Alley: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/aspen-alley

Parking note: I got there a little after 8am and there were only a couple other cars in the lot. The lot is small and I was shocked by how crazy parking was when I left. Please don't park your car on the side of the road and literally take up the entire lane. Be careful there are a ton of people and children around. I had an older couple almost walk into my car as I was backing out, because they were not paying attention at all. Be safe!

While I was walking through Aspen Alley, I had my tripod set up to take photos, in the middle of the path. A mountain biker zoomed around the corner and I yelled "sorry!" as he went around the curve up ahead. I was there for a bit, taking photos, and enjoying the scenery when I hear a couple bikers coming up the hill talking to each other. "Yea, apparently there's some girl up there taking photos with a tripod out. Anything for the 'gram, right?" (insert sarcastic tone and laughter)

They didn't realize I was still there and could hear them, so I loudly said "Yep, that was me. At least I'm not asking you to take photos for me". They immediately got quiet and rode by me. The girl sheepishly said "well I would've if you would've asked". I didn't reply. I don't know why people get so judgmental about others taking photos.

Moral of the story - BE KIND. Offer to take strangers photos if you see a family trying to get a photo together. Start a conversation on the trail. You never know who you'll meet! I've made friends hiking once we found out we lived in Denver. I actually met a couple I had seen the day before, on a different trail, and we hit it off. I got the wife's number and we've talked about hanging out again! I also met a couple of girls (who were taking photos and videos of each other) on the way up (same spot I got judged) and come to find out - I follow one of the girls on Instagram and we were DM'ing the day before! (Shoutout https://womenandthewilderness.com/) Her friend lives in Denver and is friends with a different blogger I follow (and we've chatted via DM, but never met yet). Basically, it's a small small world! Haha just one more reason to be nice :)

Sunday Afternoon:

Post Aspen Alley, I drove down Boreas Pass to 285. There are some great spots to see! I drove towards 285 to head back to Denver. I intended to do Kenosha Pass but it was so dry and hasn’t turned much, that I skipped it. But there were a ton of people there (traffic was stop and go) so some people enjoyed it. I personally had seen much prettier things for the last 2 days, so it wasn't worth it.