Saturday, September 21, 2024 - Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Colorado,
Other U.S.,
CO
Colorado in the fall is synonymous with the aspen tree. Colorado's ubiquitous Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) is a beauty in all seasons, but it is the brilliant yellow (and less commonly) orange & red hues that make this the showstopper of Colorado fall. But the aspen tree is far from the only game in town when it comes to fall color. Colorado's multiple species of cottonwoods turn bright yellow, while urban hardwood trees resemble the spectacle put on farther east in the country. Ash trees and box elders add to the show, while various species of willow pop yellow colors along creek beds statewide. Most hikes are inspired by the recently published guide, Colorado's Best Hikes for Fall Colors by Matt Enquist from the Colorado Mountain Club Press. Observed over three years of writing, Enquist notes, the last week of September and the first week of October have provided reliably beautiful tree color. We warm up for the trip with a few hikes in Front Range near Denver and Breckenridge, which give us some time to acclimatize to high elevation. We climb higher in the central mountains near Aspen in the middle of large wilderness areas. We finish even higher with an attempt to summit Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet; the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains, the highest point in Colorado and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States.
