Fall Colors in Colorado
We don't have a lot of time this year to see the fall colors in Colorado. Next weekend will be good for Colorado fall colors, but we'll be out of town, so we knew we needed to get out today to try and see the colors before they're gone. The best area to go would have been up the I-70 corridor, but that's where all the other leaf peepers are and the popular areas are always so crowded to the point where it's not as fun. Instead, we went to Red Feather where we ended up being just a little late for fall colors. It's hard to get accurate reports of colors in Colorado in the more remote areas, but even though we missed peak colors in this area we still managed to find a few great spots.
We picked an easy hike this week and one that we've done before. We hiked on Molly Moon and Granite Ridge trails to make the same loop that we made in 2021. We knew the hike wasn't anything spectacular from a hiking adventure standpoint, but we knew there were aspens in the area which is the main tree we were hunting for in order to see the fall colors.
6.23 mi
2.5 hrs
8,547 ft
745 ft
Sunny Hike
The sun flare was good through the trees so I spent a lot of time photographing in this spot.
Golden Leaves
Aspens Along the Path
There were several aspen groves along the path, some without any leaves on them at all, some yellow, and some that were still green. Overall though, we were past peak in this area.
Snake on the Trail
We don't usually encounter many snakes while hiking because we tend to hike at higher elevations where there aren't any snakes. But this little snake was sunbathing right in the middle of the trail and didn't seem bothered by me photographing really close. This is a garter snake, so nothing dangerous. We saw a total of 3 of these same types of snakes on the hike!
Tall Aspens
Granite
One of the trails we hiked on is named Granite Ridge because of all the granite rock in this area. This patch of aspens was the most orange grove that we saw on the hike. Orange isn't uncommon for Aspens but the orange color doesn't last long.
Red Leaf
We found a spot that had some deeper fall colors in the aspens.
