This last month, I made three trips into the mountains to view the fall colors. One of my favorite locations are the aspen forests at Kebler Pass. I made this image in the forest during the late afternoon.
Leaving the pass, I stopped at an overlook where I could capture this small grove of aspen trees just before the sun disappeared below a nearby mountain ridge.
A few days later, I headed off to Buena Vista. Driving down the final valley, I pulled off onto a side road where a variety of trees were growing along the creek.
Close by, I meandered down to the creek. Here I found reflections of the nearby trees reflected in the flowing water.
After picking up a coffee in Buena Vista, I headed north to Twin Lakes and Mount Elbert. This year has been really bad for wildfires in Colorado. On the east side of Independence Pass, the sky was filled with a smoky haze that was carried south by the wind. In this image, the mountain valley and distant mountains are obscured by the smoky haze.
On the third trip, many of the aspen trees had shed their leaves, so I only headed as far as Foxton. Along the South Platte River, the river banks hosted willows and sumac bushes. When the sun shines through the sumac bushes, the leaves light up with a vibrant red color.
Heading back towards Conifer, I stopped at James Newton Park, where I had seen a clump of aspen trees; Leaves on these trees had turned orange rather than yellow.
Finally, I turned off at Meyer Ranch Park, where there is a trail that leaves the parking lot and heads up towards the nearby pine forest. There are a few aspen trees spread out in various locations in the forest. However, the grasses also turn into their fall colors. As the sun dropped lower in the sky, the grasses light up with a mixture of green, yellow and orange. Also the long stalks of the grasses glow white when backlit.
I noticed that there were many visitors to the park with their families. It was only later that evening that I remembered that it was a public holiday “Columbus Day”. I had taken the day off work, but it is not one of the days that my employer recognizes as a public holiday! That explained the reason for the number of visitors.