Fall Colors Hunt

Posted: September 30, 2019

Since Katie didn't have to work this week we decided to go on a little mini-vacation during the week up to Colorado Springs in hopes that we would find some fall colors. We packed as much of Colorado Springs as we could into the 2 days we were there including some of the touristy activities like going to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and going to the Garden of the Gods. But mostly we picked that area for the scenic highway between Divide and Cripple Creek. There were several wonderful panoramic spots to see the fall colors, as well as some beautiful Aspen groves that we got up close to.

On Monday we went on a hike in Mueller State Park. We picked the Lost Pond hike which was short, just under 3 miles, and only 679ft of elevation gain. But since we were taking photos, it was an hour and a half long hike through the mountains. It ended up being a perfect place to shoot the aspens even though we were maybe a week too early for peak colors.

Trailhead Location

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2.92 mi

1.5 hrs

9,839 ft

679 ft

View Graph

The Girl on the Dock

Our hunt for fall colors started pretty close to our hotel at Quail Lake. Since we were looking for colors in the mountains, it wasn't perfect at this low of altitude, but we still got some good shots.

Sunrise

We got to the lake pretty early in the morning so we would get good lighting on the trees.

Fall is in the Sky

Sunflower Sunrise

Red

This was the only red that we found at Quail Lake. It was maybe only about 5 leaves and they were nearly on the ground. But I got the shot and that's all that matters.

Shriveled

Even though it was a little early for the fall colors we still found some dying or dead leaves.

Blue Sies and Water

Quail Lake Panorama

I took 2 panoramas while at Quail Lake. The first one during the golden hour, the second one once everything was lit up. I thought for sure the full lit one would be better, but the warmth of this one really turned out well.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

We stopped at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings on the way up the mountains. We figured why not since we were there already. They were a lot smaller than we thought they would be but they were still pretty cool.

Passage

The passageways in the Manitou Cliff Dwellings were pretty small. Definitely not made for Noah-sized people.

Crouched Down

I'm not sure what this opening was for, but Katie could barely fit in it!

Broken Walls

In the Window

Patches of Fall

We were a little bit early for fall color hunting, but we managed to find several groves of Aspens that were fully yellow and golden.

Yay for Fall

I've been waiting all summer long for fall, and now it's here!

Up the Trunk

We both kept trying to get photos like this but the problem was we couldn't find an area that had the right density of trees.

Fallen Leaves

The ground was littered with yellow aspen leaves.

On the Horizon

The area that we went to in Colorado was absolutely perfect. The mountains were covered in yellow and green colors, not just yellow.

Golden

Along the Trail

Some of the Aspen patches that we found were right off the hiking trail.

Green and Gold

Golden Skies

Hint of Orange

Most of the Aspens didn't have any orange in them. This grove had just a hint of orange.

Tall Trees

Lost Pond

We made it to lost pond which was the most boring part of the hike. Since we had great scenery, the lake was just a little boring.

Lost Katie

Here's Katie at Lost Pond.

Yellow Skies

In the middle of an Aspen grove, you could look up and see yellow in the sky.

Yellow Hillside

We found this grove off the highway and decided to stop and take some photos. The hill was pretty steep though and had loose gravel so we had a hard time getting up and close to the aspens. But that didn't stop me.

Three Trunks

Katie and I both spent most of our shooting looking for a shot like this. It isn't as good as I hoped, but I think it ended up okay. I would have liked the sky to be a lot more yellow.

Massive Grove

This was our favorite spot to shoot. The Aspens we so dense and it was a pretty big grove that everywhere you looked was yellow and beautiful.

Large Grove Panorama

The magnitude of this grove could not be captured in a photo!

Decker Fire

A little after noon we noticed a lot of smoke. It was pretty windy, and by the end of the day, the entire Western sky was smoky. Turns out it was the Decker fire which started several days prior, but the wind was so strong that it kicked up the fire and spread smoke around.

Along the Road

This spot along the road was absolutely gorgeous with colors!

Machinary

We made it to Cripple Creek and walked a little bit on the Vindicator Trail which has some old mining equipment. This photo shows the piston body that ran the man elevator. The steam engines have been removed (and replaced with an electric motor), but the piston body remains.

Beat Up

This is the wall between the machinery and the control room. I'm guessing the walls existed because of how loud it was in there.

Converted

The steam engine-powered man lift was converted to an electric motor at some point and this is where it was connected. The electric motor is no longer there, but I could tell exactly where it went just based on how the machine was built. This photo was turned HDR to bring out some of the colors and detail.

Note from the Workers

I'm guessing that Frank was the mine owner and the signed names are the people who were laid off.

Auto-Brake

This is pretty cool, it's an automatic braking process in the event that the steam engines lose power. The jaws on those cams were spring loaded into a piece of wood. They would slid as the elevator went up, but required tension on the cable in order to lower.

Pealing

Everything was rusty. It was great for photos.

Rock on the Roof

Mill

This was the main mill in one of the many gold mines in Cripple Creek.

Sheep Spotting

We were driving on the highway and Katie had me stop to take photos of the big horned sheep. We saw two of them and I kind of rolled my eyes and judged her as a non-native. But we stopped, and I'm glad we did because 2 baby sheep and another adult ended up joining this one.