Colorado Fall Colors Road Trip

After nearly 400 miles of hiking and backpacking this year, we were ready for a different kind of adventure: our annual Colorado fall colors road trip. We packed lunches and snacks, left the hiking boots behind, and set out to see where the color would lead us.

This was our third annual trip. Beautiful weather had accompanied the first two, but the forecast for this three-day journey called for heavy clouds and rain. That was not going to stop us.

Trail Ridge Road to Delta

We left home early and drove into Rocky Mountain National Park. Near the top of Trail Ridge Road, we pulled over to watch the sunrise. On the west side of the park, we spotted two moose grazing near Poudre Lake.

From the park, our route took us through Kremmling and Leadville, past Twin Lakes, over Independence Pass, through Aspen and over McClure Pass before we reached Delta for the night. Along the way, patches of yellow aspens gave us a preview of what lay ahead.

Dallas Divide and the San Juan Mountains

The next morning, we drove through Ridgway and up to the Dallas Divide overlook. Mount Sneffels and the San Juan Mountains make this one of Colorado’s grandest roadside views. That morning, clouds hid the summits, and the aspens showed only hints of yellow. We had arrived before peak color in this area.

Fall color does not arrive everywhere at once. Elevation, weather, sun exposure and the particular grove all affect when aspens change. We expected some variation across our route, but Dallas Divide was farther behind than we had anticipated.

On the way down from Dallas Divide, we glimpsed a herd of roughly 50 elk. We then followed county and Forest Service roads toward Owl Creek Pass, enjoying the quieter scenery along the way.

From there, we returned through Ridgway and Ouray to the Million Dollar Highway, stopping near Crystal Lake and Red Mountain Pass. For the third year in a row, Crystal Lake rewarded us with beautiful color and reflections. The Ouray-to-Silverton stretch of U.S. 550 demands a driver’s attention, with steep drop-offs in places and reminders of the area’s mining history along the route.

That afternoon, we drove through Montrose to Gunnison, where we celebrated our anniversary over dinner at Añejo Bistro.

Mist and Aspens Near Crested Butte

Despite a forecast calling for rain on our last day, we set our alarms early. The next day would take us into the Crested Butte area, one of our favorite places to experience Colorado in the fall.

Light rain came and went as we drove toward Ohio Pass in the Gunnison National Forest.

It was our third day under mostly cloudy skies, and the wettest of the trip. There was no golden hour or sunlight filtering through the aspens. Instead, rain deepened the earth tones, while pines and aspens emerged from the mist. With few other people on the road, we had time to slow down and take in a quieter side of fall.

A short drive brought us to Kebler Pass, another celebrated fall color destination. The broad aspen-covered hillsides were striking even under gray skies.

We continued through Crested Butte onto Gothic Road, then explored nearby Washington Gulch. Both offered sweeping mountain views and aspen groves, with the mist lending the landscape a different character from the bright autumn scenes we had imagined.

The Drive Home

Later that morning, we started for home by way of Cottonwood Pass on the Continental Divide. There, Margaret met two Continental Divide Trail hikers who told us they had started at the Canadian border and walked about 1,750 miles so far. We had backpacked the stretch ahead of them, from Cottonwood Pass toward Monarch Pass, and knew how demanding it could be. In the rain and 39-degree weather, we wished them well.

From Cottonwood, the last pass we crossed on our several-hour drive home was 10,000-foot Kenosha Pass. Given its distance from Denver, cars filled the parking lot and lined the roadway. Not too far past Kenosha Pass, the sun came out and joined us for the remainder of our drive home.

Three days and roughly 900 miles later, the clouds had given us more than we expected: misty mountains, rich colors and moments of quiet we might have missed in full sun. We were grateful for the trip—and, after a number of miles of dirt road, ready for a car wash.