“Welcome to Colorful Colorado,” our entrance signs boldly announce. The state’s greeting is never more true than when autumn plates Colorado’s hillsides with swaths of leafy gold.
The Midas touch varies by altitude as fall’s auric fingers slowly work down mountainsides. Loftier reaches frequently go gold by mid September, with lower elevations often holding out until late September and early October.
While fall’s flamboyant foliage can be found throughout the state, we veteran leaf-peepers all have our favorite routes for ogling Colorado color at its vivid best. Here are five of mine.
1. Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado’s most visited national park offers a sprawling autumn landscape of gaudy trees abutting somber mountains. This is a place to get out of the car, take a deep breath and inhale the musty fragrance of fall.
Come autumn, the national park adds a bonus feature: It’s rutting season for the park’s elk herds. These animals can be seen congregating in the meadows with bulls emitting their high-pitched bugle call. Lucky visitors may catch an antlers-to-antlers, head-butting bout where the victor scores the harem and the loser goes looking for an Advil.
Sometimes my wife and I opt to spend the night in Estes Park, taking Trail Ridge Road in the morning to Grand Lake and returning via U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass. We like the Stanley Hotel, which offers an 800-bottle whiskey bar and allegedly a ghost or two. Parents may prefer the family-friendly YMCA of the Rockies. For dinner, the Rock Inn Mountain Tavern features wines from a vintner who promises to plant a tree for every bottle sold. We hope ours is an aspen.
2. Cottonwood Pass
Located west of Buena Vista, the road up Cottonwood Pass (County Road 306) offers enough 24-carat color to turn James Bond’s Goldfinger blind with envy. This paved road leading to the top of the Continental Divide is a popular route for gray-noggined bicyclists far fitter than I am.
For sustenance, we usually hit Casa del Sol for enchiladas and margaritas, the Eddyline for pizza and beer, or if my mate insists, the Asian Palate, for Far Eastern fare that even I begrudgingly enjoy.
Overnighters can book stays and soaks at nearby Mount Princeton or Cottonwood Hot Springs, or do like we do and camp beneath gilded leaves at one of the roadside campgrounds.
Those of us who don’t mind dust can continue across Cottonwood Pass and follow the gravel road down to Taylor Reservoir, where pavement resumes. The route continues to Almont, where a right turn leads to Crested Butte and a left to Gunnison.
3. Kebler Pass
I’d always heard that Kebler Pass was one of photographer John Fielders’ favorite places to shoot autumn’s alchemy. But hey, what does he know?
I found out.
The graded gravel road (County Road 12) winds west from Crested Butte past tumbling creeks, willowy meadows and silvery mountains. Glades of autumn aspen paint the hillsides with a cornucopia of colors ranging from mango yellow to papaya orange. Being an unpaved road, it’s easy to stop nearly anywhere and photograph scene after scene. The first time I drove here, I worried that I hadn’t packed enough memory cards.
In Crested Butte, we like the Cristiana Guesthaus for its Alpine, Euro-feel. For dining, I’ve enjoyed pizza at the Secret Stash, gourmet noodles at Marchitelli’s and my mate and I have celebrated anniversaries with steak au poivre at Le Bosquet.
4. Independence Pass
When it comes to fall drives, Independence Pass remains a Colorado Classic. The route follows Colorado 82 through Twin Lakes, crosses the Continental Divide and descends the Roaring Fork Valley to Aspen. Steep, narrow and twisty with screaming drop-offs and guardrails few, it’s the kind of road that inspires flatlanders to white-knuckle armrests.
We love autumn in Aspen with the summer crowds gone and the atmosphere relaxed. Nuggets of arboreal gold plummet from the slopes with the tree-lined roads to the Maroon Bells and out to the ghost town of Ashcroft offering canyons of color.
For autumn lodging, I like the Aspen Meadows Resort, which is located beside the Rio Grande Bike Trail and a pleasant walk from downtown. For dining, it’s the Ajax Tavern at the Little Nell, which offers alfresco seating at the foot of the golden slopes.
Continuing down to Carbondale, a turn onto Colorado 133 leads to a motherlode of color up McClure Pass. From the town of Marble, a four-wheel drive trail leads to the ghost town of Crystal and the iconic Crystal Mill.
5. San Juan Skyway
My all-time favorite autumn drive is the San Juan Skyway, a 233-mile scenic byway that loops through its namesake mountains. Towering peaks teaming with forest green conifers and cheesy gold aspen make the landscape here look like the stands at a Green Bay Packers home game.
We usually begin in Ridgway, heading south on U.S. 550 through Ouray and crawl up the Million Dollar Highway toward Silverton. It’s slow going with my camera-wielding wife wanting to stop, gawk and snap at nearly every pullout.
It’s south to Durango where the Rochester Hotel offers quiet lodging and tasty hot breakfasts a block from downtown. A short stroll away, Steamworks Brewing serves beer, burgers and more, and in the other direction, the Ore House features pricey but delectable hand-trimmed steaks and wild-caught seafood.
The Skyway continues west along U.S. 160 to Cortez and up Colorado 145 to Dolores, Rico and Telluride. A right turn onto Colorado 62 at Placerville leads over the Dallas Divide, where Mount Sneffels and its neighbors loom above a sea of golden leaves. Yes, this is another John Fielder favorite.
