Fall Colors: Whare are you seeing them?

It's that time again---Fall Colors!  That great, but short, period of time between the end of the wildflowers and the beginning of the snow season.

So tell us where you're seeing fall colors and how they look.

Also, check out THIS site for a neat fall colors map. Thanks to Monika Chace for sharing the link.

I went up Bison Peak today (after readng Bob's nice write up of the hike online  ) Nearly half of the aspen in that part of Teller County/the Taryalls are already dropping leaves, and while there are a few pockets of yellow, most of the leaves have brown or black spots on them so it's not a pretty scene...hopefully this is not representative of other parts of the state!

The aspens on the North Kaibab NF and north rim of the Grand Canyon have a ways to go.  Only noticed about 10 yellow leaves on one brach of one tree.  Many of the young aspens in the burn areas seem to be suffering from the blight.

I went up to Mt. Evans on Saturday, and it looks just like it always does the first week of September. A few trees were just beginning to show some color. It looks like it's right on schedule around there to me. And, I was in Rocky on Monday, and saw very little change so far up there. Most looked healthy with only some getting the dark leaves. 9 News had a short piece on the leaf blight caused by too much moisture and someone had told them that it was going to be bad this year. I sure hope not!

To follow up on Morris' post THIS doesn't bode well.

Seems we just can't win around here.  I'm hoping for the best, regardless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep--that's exactly what i saw up in teller and park counties--its a total loss up there

Stan, any idea how things are looking south (Cuchara, etc)?

I am a new member signing in just today.  I have been reading your forum for some time and have always enjoyed the informatiom. I live in Maryland but visit Colorado frequently and love the landscape photography opportunities.  I am retired Army physician and very much amateur photographer.  We are currenlty in Aspen, I have been up the Maroon Creek and Castle Creek Roads in the past two days.  Sad to say the tress do not look good at least at the lower elevations.  A Ranger told me that the spring was too wet and cool and the trees are suffering from a fungus/mold that causes the leaves to turn brown and fall off.  He said they think that maybe at the higher elevations, like Maroon Lake, that the treees did not leaf out as early and they might have missed the wet cool spring and thus the fungus.  I noticed that their are a few trees already turning yellow in the "V" above Maroon Lake which may mean he is correct because lower down the leaves simply turn brown and fall off.  The cottonwoods are also effected.  We were here 6-7 years ago and had a similar situation.   

I drove up the Buffalo Pass Road here in Steamboat yesterday afternoon to one of my favorite places and had the same experience---the aspens are affected with leaf mold and not good at all at lower elevations---up to maybe 8,000 ft. here.  Above that, they seem fine but some clones have lost their leaves and the healthy ones seem a little early.  It might be a year for intimate landscapes.  The mountain ash is not affected nor is the rest of the underbrush.  Here's a grab shot at about 8,000 ft. yesterday.

Checked out the Divide/Cripple Creek/Victor area today.  Long story short: At least a week from peaking. The good news: Looks to be largely fungus free.
There are pockets of color, and it looks fairly vibrant. There may be some fungus, but most of the colors looked good.  Much more green than gold. CR 81 between Hwy 67 and Gold Camp Road, including the large aspen grove at 81 & Gold Camp was all green.  CR 1 from Cripple Creek to Florissant didn't have much to see. I drove Park County 77 from US 24 to Ute Creek Trail and agree with other observations that it looks bad there. 

Thanks Bob and Rod for those reports as those are areas I was interested in. Rod, do you think the aspens on the Flattops are equally effected as Buffalo Pass? 

Also, for those interested in Rocky Mountain National Park, last weekend the aspens around Bear Lake are turning. Particulary the aspens that are more orangish. Some were already near peak. On the way up the Bear Lake Road, the aspens averaged about 10-20% turning, with some pockets up at highter elevations at 50%. 

I know this one has been posted here in years past, but if you haven't seen it, these webcams give a very good view of areas around Aspen/Snowmass (although not up as far as the Bells, I think):

http://aspen.roundshot.com/power-of-four/

Drove Fall River Road to St Mary's Glacier, then Guanella Pass to 285 and then over Kenosha Pass today.
Fall River Road has some pockets of nice color, but still has a ways to go. Aspens looked pretty healthy.
The north side of Guanella Pass all the way to the summit looked good. Still a fair amount of green aspens, but what has changed looked nice and also pretty healthy.
The lower parts of Kenosha Pass do indeed look pretty bad, but the higher peaks, especially to the east looked really nice, and should peak soon. I don't think I'd write off Kenosha Pass just yet.

Ken,

I plan to drive Dunkley and Ripple Passes in the next several days to check it out but I'm guessing the elevations are high enough that the trees should be mostly if not all good.

Ken,

I plan to drive Dunkley and Ripple Passes in the next several days to check it out but I'm guessing the elevations are high enough that the trees should be mostly if not all good.

For anyone heading to Jackson, WY

http://www.bestofthetetons.com/2015/09/08/foliage-reports-septemberoctober-2015/

I did drive over Dunkley Pass and Ripple Creek Pass today and it's a very mixed bag.  Coming from the east side, the trees are not good entering the forest until you get to the Chapman Reservoir turnoff about nine miles from Phippsburg, then they're good to the top of Dunkley and for about a mile down the west side.  Then, it pretty much turns to crap---large stands with no leaves at all, lots of faded, grungy green on many others---all the way down to Pyramid and up to the  Pyramid Ranger Station.  Then, voila! all is well again all the way through  Ripple Creek Pass and down to the Trappers Lake turnoff.  Ripple area is still mostly lush green with a few clones that have turned to gold and orange and even some red.  Should be good for at least another week.  The picture above is of one of the few stands that have turned on Ripple, looking toward the Trappers Lake area.

 

I visited the Kaibab National Forest near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Wednesday, September 16th. The few aspens that were changing seemed to be going from green to brown to bare. Did not look particularly good. I was on Forest Service roads near Big Spring outside of the National Park boundary.

The aspens are still green around Flagstaff, but the grasses on the bed of Mormon Lake south of Flagstaff are changing colors.

Did a long fall colors road trip today...Boreas Pass (we only did the east side to the summit and back) looked pretty nice, but still not at peak. I give it to mid week to peak. Tried to get up to Kenosha Pass, but traffic was backed up past Jefferson, so we gave up and turned around. Wilkerson Pass looked good around the visitors center. Hwy 67 from Divide to CO 81 to Gold Camp Road is still a week or so away from peak. Some areas looked good, others had disappointing color.

Just got back from Jackson Hole last night.  About 70% of Aspens were at their peak. 15% had dropped their leaves and the other 15% were still green. Most of the Cottonwoods had dropped their leaves. Oxbow was 50%-50% as shown in attached image.

Spent Saturday scouting the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff.  Lockett Meadow and along the basin trail should be good next weekend.  Inner basin should be good now; I did not hike up to Inner Basin but one could see yellow groves up there.  A few groves of yellow on the north slopes, but probably 70% green.  Aspen Corner and SnowBowl areas are pretty green still.  Aspen Corner may be good next weekend, but the large groves across from Snowbowl will take longer.

A quick trip to Northern Utah this past week, working around a very bad flu bug that limited some of my travels.  This is a repost of my report that had way too much spacing in it, as well as couple of updates. In general, it seems the aspen had turned a bit earlier and many were past peak as of this weekend. 

- Logan Canyon - lower stretches from Logan at peak with oaks turning a fiery maze of red, orange & yellow, absolutely beautiful. 

- Tony Grove (top of the canyon drive) - most of the aspen had either completely dropped leaves or were on the downside of peak. Still, some nice groves near Tony Grove Lake and there were a good mix of peaking oaks mixed in.

- Mirror Lake Byway (south of Evanston WY to Kamas UT) - Aspen peaking to just past peak going up & over the pass. Spectacular drive with great displays but it was very windy and leaves were dropping fast. Lower stretches had peak colors of cottonwoods, oak and beaver pond foliage.

- Alpine Loop American Fork Canyon to Provo Canyon - foliage mostly just past peak. Most of the aspen higher up were past and/or lost many of their leaves.  Some good groves could be found by hiking but overall definitely on the downward slide. 

- Park City - surprised to see many of the aspen groves at the resorts were mostly completely bare. A few good ones left very high up, but hard to access. 

- Guardsman Pass, Pine Creek Canyon & Big Cottonwood Canyon - best of the ones I have noted here. Peak/near-peak aspen foliage at the top of Guardsman and top of Pine Creek Canyon. Oaks are stunning all the way up Pine.  Silver Lake looks great right now with aspens peaking. 

Grand Canyon North Rim 9/27 - Peaking or past peak.  Several stands in the USFS areas and along 67 were crispy.  But I could find wonderful pockets of yellow Aspen within the forest and isolated meadows.  The burn areas along the road to the Point Imperial / Cape Royal were also at peak.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the reports.  Normally I add my voice to the choir, but my focus this year is in the Eastern US.  Happy Shooting! 

 

 

Drove down to Cuchara today, and it's very much a mixed bag. There isn't much to see along Hwy 12 from La Veta to almost all the way to Cuchara.  Past Cuchara, things along Hwy 12 are pretty good, although still a few days from peak, so still lots of green. There are also patches of bland color and trees that have already lost their leaves. Off into the distance on some of the mountain slopes, things were rather disappointing with very large swaths with not leaves at all.  FSR 422 to Blue and Bear Lakes was OK at best,but pretty much like along Hwy 12. Lots of color or nothing.  If you're looking to shoot the big, wide, grand shots, that may be a problem.  If you want to shoot close-up or nearby color, you can find stuff to shoot, but you'll need to work at finding it.

It is a far cry from the great conditions there a year ago.

 

West Fork of Oak Creek near Sedona is still green per photos taken today. The south side of the San Francisco Peaks near flagstaff look to be nearing peak.

I'm headed to Kebler Pass Friday. But, if I can get a good report from the Ridgway area, I'll head that way Saturday. It's been awhile. I want to find that road that takes you to the base of Sneffels and Blue lake again. Any help would be appreciated.