Places to Travel in Colorado

Denver has actually one of several longest periods of autumn colors of every city in the united states. That’s because there are five various climate areas within a two-hour drive of downtown Denver. Choose your elevation and you will get in the height of autumn colors for more than 8 weeks, from mid-September to mid-November.

Our friends at VISITDENVER.com have shared their most favorite locations for leaf peeping and scenic drives just moments from Mile High City.
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Aspen woods in Colorado grow from 6, 500 to 10, 500 feet in height. Although many factors make leaves turn color, as a general rule, the greater the height, the earlier the leaves turn silver. Which means that more than some time, you are able to frequently see many different shades of shade using one mountainside, with much deeper golds ahead at 10, 000 legs, blending to pale yellow inside 8, 000 base range, while down into the area or over the flatlands of Denver, woods might nevertheless be green.

You can find 1.9 million acres of aspen woods in Colorado – over one billion trees that when placed collectively would protect a location bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware blended. Aspen actually leaves don’t just switch color in fall, they absolutely radiance in a luminescent bright yellow, very nearly as though that they had their very own source of light. The leaves tend to be tiny, fragile and tissue-thin with an aerodynamic shape that have them in perpetual movement. Also a slight breeze directs every leaf regarding tree sparkling.

Although seasons can differ significantly, there are generally speaking four distinct places and time periods for autumn colors in Denver.

Mid-September to Early Oct. above 9, 500 foot

Winter comes early into high nation. There are many roads within a brief drive of Denver that climb to elevations of greater than two kilometers above sea-level. Some good locations to see very early fall colors above 9, 500 foot include:

• Guanella Pass, positioned one time from Denver, climbs to 11, 670 feet and has many large aspen groves on both edges of the pass. A great hike is on Abyss Lake Trail (20 miles south of Georgetown) into the Mount Evans wild region. You can find aspen groves anyway elevations across the trail, supplying a high probability of seeing color someplace regarding mountainsides.

• Rocky hill nationwide Park, one hour to a single and a half hours from Denver, has its own groves of large aspens around Bear Lake. Additionally numerous high aspen groves dealing with the park in the scenic Peak to Peak Byway (Colorado Hwy. 72 and 7) from Ebony Hawk to Estes Park.

Late September to mid-October, from 7, 000 to 9, 000 feet

The majority of Colorado’s resort towns eg Vail, Keystone, Beaver Creek and Winter Park come in this elevation but sufficient groves of aspens. Some interesting locations to see fall colors include:

• The quaint, old Victorian Mining cities of Georgetown and Silver Plume, situated roughly one hour from Denver (40 miles) tend to be in the middle of aspen groves. An interesting method to see the fall colors is through driving the Georgetown Loop Railroad, where a historic vapor locomotive draws passengers within the steep class between the two towns, at one-point crossing over itself on a 100-foot high trestle.

• The location around Lake Dillon, Frisco and Silverthorne is filled with aspen groves and it is only a 75 minute drive from Denver. An 18-mile paved cycle path circles the pretty lake, supplying hill and fall views in almost every way. Bikes is rented in Frisco or Dillon.

Most of October, from 6, 000 to 8, 000 feet