Ridgway to Teluride yesterday. Patchy color, some large groups of aspen are yellow, most are still green. Lots of construction between Ridgway and Telluride. Still smokey, but not as bad at higher elevations.
Heard Ouray to Silverton was peaked, will check later today.
Last week, I drove from Phoenix to Eugene, through Eastern Sierra, Tioga Pass, and did some travel on Oregon Coast. Everything looked pretty green except for Oregon (along Rts 26/6 and 126)- over there, the colors already started to change, but still very subtle.
Color starts south of Ouray and is great until Coalbank Pass, then is nearly all green by the time you are 10 miles north of Durango.
I liked the area around Red Mountain Summit best, especially near Ironton Park. Best time was about 9:00 pm when the sun reached the base of the little lake at Red Mountain creek.
You still see smoke when viewing long distance at low horizons. Not bad up high though.
Those hazy crazy lazy days of sum...,uh, fall. Haze from Aspen to Ouray. The haze wasn't really enough to complain about until today. Locals tell me that there isn't much color yet around here in Ouray. I'll drive Last Dollar Road and Owl Creek Pass tomorrow and report back.
haze is forecast to lessen by sunday with a shift from the northwesterly flow that transported the washington, idaho and montana fire smoke into mostly northern colorado. sunday brings a shift to southwesterly flow with moisture, much needed clouds for grand vistas, and chances of precip each day into wednesday. whether this translates into any also much needed snow at highest elevations is anyone's guess at this point. fingers crossed.
brilliant color around molas pass, coal bank pass, red mountain. all at peak with some past. silverton proper is pretty much past and coming down but mineral creek has got loads of color. ridgway is still a few days away but there are many stands peaking right now.
owl creek pass also has a few days yet to go. looks like it could be the last change in this area.
until the skies clear of haze and clouds fill the grand landscapes, the best shots have all been in close. find a great stand, compose some great road curves into it, look for high backlight, and capture the brilliance!!
with no snow, no clouds, and haze impacting the northern part of the state, grand epic vistas are just not going to happen. still, it's been a strong turn where the peak has been reached, and there's plenty of great fall shots to be had.
and more to come this next week. good shooting all!!
Drove Last Dollar Road from Dallas Divide to Telluride and Owl Creek Pass from Ridgway to the top yesterday. Not a lot of color on first half of Last Dollar Road. But, things really change on the second half. Lots of color on the Telluride side as well as in Telluride itself. Owl Creek Pass road had little color along the road. Vegetation just looked stressed and dried out. Some patches of color on distant mountainsides. Still hazy when looking at distant mountains. BTW, Last Dollar Road was fun to drive. But, the washboard surface of Owl Creek Pass road will shake you to pieces. Off to Telluride today!
Anyone been to Crested Butte or Keebler Pass lately?
NCAndy wrote:
It feels like Fall in the Smokies with temps in the low 50s at elevation, but the trees are still green. A few of the steeper slopes are starting to turn a lighter shade of green so things are slowing changing.
Andy - appreciate your updates. I'm trying to fit in a trip first or second week of Oct. Do you have a best guess as to which might be better timing based on how things look right now?
garyroach wrote:
Drove Last Dollar Road from Dallas Divide to Telluride and Owl Creek Pass from Ridgway to the top yesterday. Not a lot of color on first half of Last Dollar Road. But, things really change on the second half. Lots of color on the Telluride side as well as in Telluride itself. Owl Creek Pass road had little color along the road. Vegetation just looked stressed and dried out. Some patches of color on distant mountainsides. Still hazy when looking at distant mountains. BTW, Last Dollar Road was fun to drive. But, the washboard surface of Owl Creek Pass road will shake you to pieces. Off to Telluride today!
Anyone been to Crested Butte or Keebler Pass lately?...Show more →
You drove right by my brother's cabin. Pretty place isn't it!
RobCD wrote:
Andy - appreciate your updates. I'm trying to fit in a trip first or second week of Oct. Do you have a best guess as to which might be better timing based on how things look right now?
Thanks,
Rob
Hey Rob, I met a friend early this morning up on the BRP at NC 215 south of Asheville for a bike ride. I got to check out the general area from Balsam Gap to Hwy 276 past Graveyard Fields. As warm as it has been I was surprised to see as much color as I did. The high ridges around Richland Balsam, the highpoint on the BRP, have some color on the steeper slopes. I would say 15% or so but it is spotty. The upper reaches of NC 215 are more advanced with some slopes near 50% as a guess. That did surprise me. I would think the next 7-10 days might produce localized peak color around 215. The color around Graveyard Fields is mainly with the scrub, underbrush and smaller trees. The larger trees are mostly still green.
The forecast is for cool nights the next few days. Down here in the valley it is predicted to be near 40 degrees in the morning. If it freezes up at the higher elevations and remains dry it should accelerate the color change. It's a big area with lots of local peaks in color so while one place may be past peak color another might still need more time. Best guess right now, I would say sometime between the 10-16 of October might be a good bet. Later for parts of the Smokies by a week. I'll be up on the BRP a couple times a week from now on so I'll post as things change.
Andy
Sep 23, 2012 at 04:05 PM
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Hello to my French friend I met at the True Grit Cafe this morning. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!
Drove from Mountain Village to Dolores and back today. Color around Dolores is good. By the time you get to Rico, the color is great. But, it gets even better the closer you get to Mountain Village. The color near Mountain Village, just up the mountain from Telluride, is incredible, stupendous, fantastic, fill in whatever superlative you want and it will apply. Mostly cloudy today. Will head to Crested Butte tomorrow!
Today I drove to Paonia (just below the west entrance to Kebler Pass) all the way from Alamosa, via Hwy 114 (Cochetopa Pass) to Gunnison, and via Hwy 92 from Blue Mesa Reservoir.
I'll go in order along my driving route:
- The summit on Cochetopa Pass had lots of color and looked awesome. Lots of orange & gold there.
- The west end of Gunnison, including into Blue Mesa Reservoir, had lots of color too. The trees along the Gunnison River in particular on the west end of town had all turned and were blazing.
- But by far the most amazing display was on Hwy 92 on the north rim of Black Canyon! It was fantastic all along there! It was dizzying how much color there was, everything from still-green to burnt red, and it was everywhere! I was blown away. I'd have to recommend going there for anyone who's in Colorado this week. Lots of color coupled with the amazing views of Black Canyon should make for great photos. In fact, I'm seriously contemplating going back there, instead of going to Kebler Pass for the next few days.
I'll say it again: everyone should check out the north rim of Black Canyon on Hwy 92! Or even the south rim! The color around Black Canyon was the most incredible array of fall colors that I've seen yet!
On the news this morning saw some shots taken at the higher elevations of the Cottonwood Canyon's here outside of Salt Lake City. Strong color changes high up. It was suggested that by next weekend we should be having some good strong color changes a tad lower since our weather is cooler and wet this week. I'm planning on heading up Sunday just in case
