I know I know I said this last year about the fall colors here in CO, but this year was truly, the best in vividness, and diversity as I have seen in 11 years in the state? Last year, I was in the Aspen area and Kenosha area and more locally, around Echo Lake, but this year, even though I went up tp Aspen, I also traveled to Ouray, Ridgeway, and Telluride to shoot. The yellows were in abundance as usual, but there were still many greens, and more orange and red than I had ever seen before. Much of that is due to the amount of moisture the trees got during the past winter, and boy did the San Juan mountains region see a lot of snow? For my money, I now have to say this years colors, at least in the Southwestern part of the state was by far the best I have seen in decade I have been here.
The leaves were also helped by a lack of early storms, no winds, and generally good dry and warm conditions leading up to the first day of fall. It was the ideal weekend to be in the San Juan mountain area, as Oct 1st – 3rd was probably peak colors for the area? Each year its a different guessing game as to what kind of colors and how much or how vivid they will be. Sure, the days get less and less light always on the same days, but snowfalls, high winds, or rain, dictate the timing just as much, and this year it all came together to make for a fantastic fall for shooting the aspens.
