Sept. 25-28, 2024

By Tim Briese

2024 was a banner year for fall aspen colors in Colorado and in late September Teresa and I headed to the Crested Butte area to have a look. This has become one of our favorite areas for fall color viewing because of its proximity, relative lack of crowds, and spectacular foliage. We were not disappointed.

The show began as we went over Wilkerson Pass on Highway 24 and continued as we drove to Buena Vista, over Cottonwood Pass and on to the Crested Butte area.

view from wilkerson pass

The next morning we checked out the Mill Creek Trail off of the Ohio Pass Road north of Gunnison. We have been there before and we saw the best of it this time by hiking a mile up the trail to a very scenic meadow.

on the mill creek trail

a view from the trail

entering the meadow

After this hike we continued up the spectacular Ohio Pass Road, one of the best kept secrets for aspen viewing in Colorado in our opinion.

aspens along the ohio pass road

looking up into the aspens in a grove along the ohio pass road

view from a scenic overlook on the ohio pass road

We continued to the Kebler Pass Road and then took the Washington Gulch Road north of Crested Butte to a spectacular spot that we knew about to see the late day sunshine on the colorful aspen groves at the base of Gothic Mountain.

gothic mountain

late sun on an aspen-laden slope

The next morning we drove up the Ohio Pass Road again and hiked the classic Beaver Ponds Trail. This lovely and easy hike is only a mile and a half roundtrip and it allows one to saunter through a majestic aspen grove all the way to a very scenic pond.

on the beaver ponds trail

We drove over Ohio Pass again which gave us the opportunity to see the grandeur in different lighting. 

a view from the ohio pass road

We continued over Kebler Pass to the Cliff Creek Trailhead area to walk around in more majestic yellow aspen groves and to photograph the gorgeous aspen slopes below the Dyke.

view of beckwith mountain from the kebler pass road

these flaming orange-red aspens below the dyke are present every year

We finished up the day by driving the Gothic Road north of Crested Butte for more photos.

a view along the gothic road

What a show we were treated to on this scenic trip!