I just got back from a little over a week of travelling around Colorado to catch the end of the fall color display. This year was a bit different (aren’t they always!?). Many areas turned early while others close by seemed to stay on the same schedule. I got down to Ridgway in southwestern Colorado just in time this year. Many of the favorite areas to shoot had a lot of stands of aspen that had already dropped. It didn’t help matters when the winds came up in the middle of the week and proceeded to strip even more stands.

Luckily the valley down County Road 5 was still in really nice shape. This shot shows that there was just a bit of green left, but the scrub oak was a nice shade of red/orange and the glowing gold aspens had not dropped many leaves yet. I had a couple of nice sunrises in this spot during the week. Surprisingly, there weren’t many photographers out. I guess they were all having a hard time trying to find the best spot to shoot as well!