Posted Sept. 29, 2024
Eye-popping Fall Color!
The mountains of Southwest Colorado are beautiful anytime of the year, the area explodes with color in late September and early October. Famous towns like Ouray, Silverton, Telluride and Durango fill with tourists, photographers, and artists hoping to experience and document the season’s offerings.
If you haven’t been there, I suggest that you add Southwest Colorado to your “bucket list”. It is an eye-popping, leaf-peeping fall experience. This was my third trip⏤and hopefully not my last!
The region is also seeped in history! Silver and other ores attracted hardy miners and spurred the development of numerous mountain towns, mines, tunnels, plus a railroad to service the mining ventures. The Durango-Silverton Railroad gives tourists a sights, sounds, and smell for “days of yesteryear” as it chugs up and down the canyon each day through October. Off-road tours take tourists to the remote mines and to places most private vehicles dare to travel.
While many mountainsides were blanketed with intense yellow and gold aspens, I found myself drawn to the patchwork zones of variegated colors consisting of vivid yellow, gold, orange, deep green, and lime green. Darker spruce trees complete the scene⏤acting as visual “anchors”.
Photo Gallery
Additional Pages of Fall Color
Fall on the Million Dollar Highway
Fall in the Rockies
Mines & Mining StructuresColorful Colorado Backroads
Harvest of Fall Images
Colorful Fall Panoramic Images
Cumbres-Toltec Scenic Railroad
Colorado & New Mexico Prime Color
Local Color
The Pumpkin Ranch (October Event)