Leaf Peeping at Guanella Pass
It's that time of the year where the colors start changing. The colors in Colorado don't really stick around, so you have to be prepared the last couple of weekends in September and the first weekend in October to go hunt for fall colors. Since it's still a little early, we knew we had to get up high in elevation to see some color, so we started doing some searching in local newspapers to figure out where is recommended for this year this weekend. We found one article with a recent photo that specifically showed some gorgeous colors at the Silver Dale Interpretive Site just outside of Georgetown on the Guanella Pass scenic highway. Because we weren't guessing where to go and what elevation the colors would be at, we found an amazing site packed with tons of turning aspens. The weather was cooperative being in the 50s but partially cloudy which gave us a lot of different lighting, everything from cloudy, to sunny and even some soft lighting in between. The trees were perfect and the lighting was perfect, so I don't think it could have gotten much better. The Guanella Pass area surpassed our expectations and will definitely be on our shortlist for leaf-peeping in future years.
I am considering this a hike since it was up in the mountains, had some elevation gain (over 500ft), and was over 3 miles round trip. Even though it took us over 2 hours, this was a very slow moving hike that we had lots of fun stopping and shooting along the way.
3.17 mi
2.2 hrs
9,656 ft
551 ft
Colorful Mountainside
The hike was on the East side of the road and this mountainside was on the West. We figured we'd hike up a little bit and try and get a good clear shot. There was no such view, but there were a few places that partially opened up.
The Girl At the End of the Bridge
I took a panorama on the middle of the bridge, all while Katie was waiting for me to get off the bridge so she could get a good shot. I've never taken a panorama in such a tight space before, usually my panoramas are of landscapes showing a big mountain range. It was fun to try something familiar but in a different setting.
The Girl on the Bridge
This was Katie's first photo shoot with her new camera, a Nikon D750. Since we were only about 50 shots in, she had a big smile on her face.
Bridge to Color
There was a bridge not too far from the parking lot. It was pretty busy, so there weren't many opportunities to take photos of it with no one on it or walking towards it.
Littered With Leaves
The ground was covered in yellow leaves, yet there were still a lot of leaves left on the trees.
Up the Bark
There weren't many opportunities to get a good shot looking up in a grove of aspens, but I had to take at least one shot like this.
Dead
In Colorado, the leaves change pretty quickly. The difference between one week and another could be the difference between green and brown. We had to plan this trip based on what day we could head up to the mountains and what elevation was in peak color change. I was quite surprised with the consistency of these trees since usually some aspen groves change at one time and some change at another.
Clouds Rolling In
We had some pretty spectacular lighting. There were quite a bit of clouds that provided us with everything from harsh lighting to full clouds, as well as everything in between.
Bent Over
Since aspen trees have a pretty skinny trunk, some of them can bend in weird ways.
Scarred
I'm glad I stopped and took a photo of this aspen tree trunk. I'm really happy with this composition between the scared and non-scared trees and the contrast and colors in the scar itself.
Rock in the Path
Shooting the Mountain
The photo without Katie in it is a much better shot in terms of composition and lighting, but this blog isn't about posting the perfect photos. It's about capturing all the happy moments and trips that I go on with someone I love. And I think her smile conveys that way better than the photo without her.
Sparse Aspens
This hike was perfect because there were several sparse aspens as well as a few gorgeous aspen groves. Being able to capture both made for some great variety.
Starting to Brown
Starting to Orange
These leaves are just about to start turning orange. I bet if we would have gone two days later we would have seen more orange than yellow in the trees.
Two Bent Trunks
I love how these two trunks have just a slight bend in them at the same spot and they're opposing each other.
Dead
There was always a dead tree somewhere in every single photo. I think this one adds some nice colors to the photo.
Golden
This aspen grove was a perfect golden color.
Darker Coulds
There were several times during the photo shoot that the clouds would be covering the sun and most of the sky for a good majority of the time. It gave some different depth and texture to the sky.
Sun Through the Trees
Orange Tinted
It was a struggle to find orange leaves on the trees. A lot of the trees seemed to be shedding their leaves before they turned orange which was disappointing.
Through the Valley
Curvy
Still Green
The light green leaves was a nice change of pace from all the yellow. The rest of the year it's all green and boring. But not today!
Fall's Here
Going on this hike definitely reinforced the idea that it's fall. We have a couple of weeks of gorgeous colors and then it'll be as good as winter.
The Man in the Hat
This was one of the best areas to shoot and I wish we had spent more time here. It was towards the end of the hike and we were ready to go get some lunch. There were other people walking in the same direction as the guy in the hat in the photo, so we didn't wait for it to clear out.
Floating
We walked thought a small river to get to a shot to take pictures of a bridge and I'm glad I looked down to look at the leaves in the water. The bridge photo turned out okay, but I really like the flattened out leaves.
Green, Yellow, and Brown
The leaves on the ground encompass all the different colors of fall.
Flowing Water
We came across the bridge that we initially crossed over again on the way back and stopped to take some more pictures of it. I wish I had a tripod to be able to take some longer exposures and blur out the water a littler.
Orange Trees
All the orange trees were at the beginning of the hike near the parking lot. Since we didn't find many on the hike, looking back towards the trail and seeing orange was a nice change of scenery.
