2013 Fall Colors on Blue Valley Ranch

Fall comes quickly to the high country, and the fall colors usually peak at Blue Valley Ranch around the last week of September.

Colorado is famous for two kinds of gold, one of which dominated its economy  during the gold rush days of the late nineteenth century, and the other which supports Colorado’s rich tourism industry today.

It’s easy to see why the aspen attracts so many people to the mountains right around the fall equinox, as the shorter days trigger these splashes of color against the green backdrop of evergreen timber.

Aspen aren’t the only trees adding color to the landscape.  Cottonwoods add their own shade of yellow along the river and riparian corridors.

And viewing the landscape from the highway isn’t the only way to see fall colors.  A walk or hike through the timber will reveal a wider variety of colors in the understory, including these red leaves from a Wood’s rose.

Autumn in the mountains tends to give way to winter storms even more suddenly than it arrives.  All the more incentive to get out and enjoy the crisp, fair-weather days while they last.