I’ve lived in Colorado my entire life and have explored many of its diverse geographic areas, from the highest peaks and valleys on both sides of the Continental Divide, to the Eastern Plains, to canyon country on the western edge, not too far from Moab and Arches National Park. To this day, my favorite part of the state is the southwest corner surrounding Telluride, a historic mining town at the end of a dramatic, dead-end valley surrounded by jagged peaks.
The other wonderful thing about Colorado is the presence of four seasons and the variations in altitude that spread those seasons for longer periods of time around the state, depending on your location. And my favorite season, like many photographers, is autumn, when you can feel and see the transitions more palpably than any other time of the year.
So, when you put my favorite place together with my favorite season, it’s a perfect combination, year after year. Autumn is the best time to be in this part of the state, and certainly the best time to capture and experience stunning landscapes adorned by some of the most beautiful autumn color in the world.
Just think about this for a moment: a charming town nestled in the Colorado Rockies with easy access to jaw-dropping vantage points, many with no other photographers around, and often hardly any people around either! Imagine classic western Colorado ranches leading up to blazing yellow, orange and peach colored aspen forests and jagged peaks, all brought to life with crisp, clear light and mountain air. This area of Colorado is as therapeutic as it is photogenic.
Our Colorado Fall Colors photo tour has been honed to perfection over many years and is one of our longest running tours as well. With several locations within a short drive from our hotel, we spend more time shooting and less time getting there. Locations are easy to access, and the schedule follows a comfortable yet productive pace. In this part of the state, peak autumn color usually arrives during the last week of October, when the mountains are dressed in shades of gold, orange, peach, rusty reds and lingering greens, and hopefully a dusting of fresh snow above tree line. We’ve been nailing the timing, and last year was no exception.
On the first day, as we were leaving the town in pre-dawn twilight, we drove up to Telluride’s airport that sits on a plateau just west of town. It’s a perfect place to go on the first morning to see a lot of terrain, get that sense that “you’ve arrived” and capture early morning light in various directions. This year, low-level clouds were rapidly blowing across the peaks, allowing the sun to break through in majestic crepuscular rays, or “God beams” over Telluride back to the east. The clouds were moving so swiftly that each time the sun broke through it looked like a giant spotlight was being projected down and across the valley in a giant sweeping motion. In retrospect, perhaps it was a blessing from above that we’d have an awesome week. And we did.
Each day brought sublime surprises, like mist rising off a frosty cove at Woods Lake to reveal a mirror-like reflection of the forest and mountains above, snow-white horses resting in the early morning sun in front of Wilson Peak as if posing just for us, and dramatic backlit rain showers at sunset that made our landscapes look like renaissance paintings.
Speaking of the light in this region of Colorado, it’s a gift born of relative geography and mountain weather patterns. The section of the San Juan Mountains where Telluride is located juts out to the west like a peninsula, with nothing but relatively flat arid terrain all the way into Utah and beyond. While clouds, rain and snow can blanket the mountains, the air to the west is often clear and dry, allowing the setting sun to penetrate under the clouds and into the mountains, creating some of the best light I’ve ever witnessed anywhere in the world. This was the case on several occasions where suddenly, we had anywhere from two to ten minutes of stunning warm light blazing in from the west at sunset.
On the last day of our 2023 tour, we were on our way to visit the last spot on the checklist for sunset but stopped by a quintessential ranch scene that featured graphic fence lines, tall blonde grasses blowing in between, and a panoramic view of the mountains to the south. Once we settled into the location, we noticed that a herd of elk had emerged from behind a distant ridge. Although we don’t advertise this as a wildlife tour, it’s quite common to see elk, deer, birds of prey, moose and the occasional black bear. Slowly but steadily, over 50 elk began to mingle, graze and play about 200 yards away. As the sun went over the horizon, a couple of the bulls began to bugle, and a sense of peace permeated the cool mountain air. It was a perfect way to wrap up a mind-bending week of stunning scenery, prime autumn color, dynamic weather, and inspiring company.
