Finding fall glory off Colorado’s beaten paths
This time every year, we look up. Up to the hills, where we spot pockets of gold in the greenery.
We’re driving to our jobs, to the grocery store, to school — our day-to-day mundane. But our imaginations are up there.
What great, autumn portrait did Mother Nature paint there, in those places seemingly out of reach?
Fortunately for us, Gazette photographers went to find out.
When thinking of how to showcase the seasonal display, the team’s editor, Christian Murdock, thought of some lesser-toured routes in those high forests where aspens thrive.
“The lesser-known drives give you a fresh look of the annual event,” Murdock said. “The unbeaten paths lead to the biggest surprises.”
Here’s some of what they found on their roads of discovery. The journey will continue. Check out gazettedev.gazette.com in the coming days for more pictures from around Colorado.
RIGHT: Aspens show their colors along Last Dollar Road between Ridgeway and Telluride.
Aspens line both sides of the road at the start of Tin Cup on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
The sun peaks through changing aspens on Wilkerson Pass, near Hartsel, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
Old railroad tracks head into a hillside of Aspens on Tennessee Pass on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
A couple of cyclist head up Independence Pass on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Some Aspen trees were bearing more reddish tints on Eastern Tennessee Pass (Hwy. 18 off of Hwy. 24) on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Changing Aspens encircle the small town of Red Cliff on Tennessee Pass on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Chimney Rock is framed by the turning aspens on Owl Creek Pass outside Ridgeway, Colo., Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
The aspens begin to turn golden on Owl Creek Pass Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Scars that look like eyes appear to be watching through yellow leaves on changing aspens on Tin Cup Pass west of Nathrop last week. The scars on aspens are created by self-pruning. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
Spots of yellow aspens can be seen from above St. Elmo Ghost Town at the base of Tin Cup Pass just west of Nathrop, Colo., on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
The setting sun paints the sky red as a storm hits the San Juan Mountains near Telluride, Colo., as seen from the top of Last Dollar Road between Ridgeway and Telluride Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Red, yellow and green aspens provide a colorful foreground to a freshly dusted snowy ridge on Tin Cup Pass west of Nathrop on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
Aspens turn on the east side of Owl Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Aspens frame old homes in the ghost town of St. Elmo at the base of Tin Cup Pass west of Nathrop on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (The Gazette, Parker Seibold)
Aspens begin to turn on the east side of Owl Creek Pass between Ridgeway and Cimarron, Colo., Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
