Fall Color Reports, 2008

[Darren Kilgore]

Use this thread to post any fall color reports from your recent travels in Colorado. Please try to include as much detail as possible, including estimated percentages to describe the peak condition of the areas noted. Pictures, even if they are simply snapshots, are highly encouraged as they are more descriptive than words.

[Mel Ladewig]

Saturday August 30th - Sangre de Cristo East (Westcliffe) and Wet Mountains - no color change in the trees. The tundra in the Sangres still has some flowers blooming, but also some frost damage.

[Joshua Williams]

I'm planning to drive up from Oklahoma Monday, Sept. 22 for my fall expedition. After a couple of days in Denver for business, I'll spend the rest of the week in the mountains with my camera and camping gear! Ahhh, my favorite time of the year...

In planning my trip, I'm trying to come up with as much advance information as possible. Understandably, there hasn't been much to report yet so I thought I'd see what various mountain webcams are showing. Hopefully this helps some other people as well. If anyone has any better resources, that would be cool too.

Attached are snapshots from this morning from Vail and Aspen. The last is a photo taken at Steamboat Sept. 11.

Cheers!

[Rich Long]

I escaped the Springs late Saturday night and made a quick reconnaissance loop to the west. I knew it was too early for aspen color, but was hoping for some decent ferns.

Along Kebler Pass road, the ferns are a mixture of light green, yellow, and just a bit of brown. At McClure pass, they're still all green. No snow yet to mash them down.

For most of this trip, I only saw a hint of yellow here and there among the aspens. One exception to this was Castle Creek Road between Aspen and Ashcroft. While it's nowhere near peak, there was a lot more color along this road (and all the way up the FS road to Taylor Pass) than anywhere else that I saw. Above treeline around Taylor Pass, the tundra colors are looking really good right now.

I continued down the Taylor Pass FS road to Taylor Park and over Cottonwood Pass to home. The FS road on the Taylor Park side is worse than the last time I drove it - about 5 years ago. On the bottom third, there were a couple of obstacles that were pretty much at the limit of my more-or-less stock Ranger's capability. I probably couldn't make that run going uphill, and I became a despised "rock-stacker" at one point to get out of a jam headed downhill in the creek/road (sorry Darren and Mel, but I had no choice!).

[Morris McClung]

I was up way too early on Saturday morning, so I left for Twin Lakes for Sunrise. Tried star shots with 1600 iso first, that's a blast, then sunrise at Twin Lakes. The aspen change has begun. Ended the day at the Sand Dunes, and most aspens I saw looked healthier so far than at the same time last year. Some have spots, and some have gone brown, but for the most part they look good. If nature doesn't mess too much with them, maybe they will be better than the last couple of years.

(Edited to remove pictures that didn't pertain to fall colors)

[Joshua Williams]

Originally Posted by Morris McClung

...most aspens I saw looked healthier so far than at the same time last year. Some have spots, and some have gone brown, but for the most part they look good. If nature doesn't mess too much with them, maybe they will be better than the last couple of years.

Thanks for the encouraging update, Morris! Here's hoping things continue in a positive way.

[Morris McClung]

No problem, Josh. Just keep watching the reports here. Hope your timing is dead on for the peak where you're heading. I'm going again this Saturday, and I hope some have turned up high, and maybe up north.

[Dave Johnson]

Number 3 is pretty cool. #2 ain't too bad either.

[Jan Forseth]

We just spent the last week on Cameron Pass. Some areas have small stands that are at peak. Most areas are still quite green or just starting to change. Temps have been getting down below freezing at night, so I imagine the progression will accelerate now.

[Joshua Hardin]

For those heading up to RMNP this weekend, the color is getting started in the aspen up there. This was the Bear Lake stand early this morning. I would say the stand is about 65-75% changed, as you can see there is still a little green in there. Should be good this weekend, even better early next week if the wind doesn't get to the leaves. Clouds in the east prevented some nice sunrise light, however Longs looked really cool after a coating of snow last night and the lake was relatively calm. I quickly edited this on a laptop and posted for an update on conditions.