Saturday, October 06, 2018

More Uraling for Fall Colors

Fall Colors may have peaked in the high country (and by high, I mean altitude, not because we're in the Stoner State) but they are just now beginning to turn at the lower altitudes on the Front Range.

Fiona, my '99 Bural with the '84 Beemer engine and I rode out of the cager cesspool that is the Metro Denver area and made it safely into the foothills.

Using US 285, we reached the mountain town of Conifer and took the Foxton Road exit.  The Fall Colors to the north, along Kennedy Gulch Road, drew my attention and I turned Fiona north and eventually up Conifer Mountain Road.

As I neared the top of the mountain, it got pretty cold, I think in the high 30s anyways and I was glad I had donned extra layers before heading out of the house.

There was even about an inch of snow among the trees and the few cars I saw descending from the mountain had snow on them.



As you can see above, it was foggy and cloudy up on top of Conifer Mountain.  As the sun started burning through the fog, it helped illuminate the leaves of the Aspen and Cottonwood trees:







Nearing the junction with Foxton Road again, I posed Fiona next to a nice grouping of Aspen that was nicely glowing with the sunlight.



Now on the Foxton Road, the below copse of Aspen trees were quite eye-catching.


Inside the above copse of Aspen

We twisted and turned our way on Foxton Road, past Reynolds Park and down to the South Platte River road area.  



 View from the small bridge located near the remains
of the South Platte Hotel which serviced river traffic
back in the day.

Must have been quite the sight, the day these boulders
came loose from the high canyon walls above and 
rolled into the South Platte River.

Around 3:30 or so, the clouds rolled in and the light was not enough to illuminate the Fall Colors anymore.  I retraced my route back along Foxton Road, to US 285 and elected to return to the cager cesspool that is the Metro Denver area via South Turkey Creek Road which leads on to Deer Creek Canyon Road.

Had to stop and put all the layers back on as the temperatures which had soared into the low 60s had now dropped back into the 40s!

Snow has, apparently, come early to the Stoner State this year.  It could be an interesting Winter.

12 comments:

RichardM said...

Learned a new word today. Copse. Beautiful colors though no snow was evident in the pictures.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks RichardM, I didn’t use the one shot that easily showed snow....look at the ground under the trees in the first two shots.

SonjaM said...

While traveling on +2000m in the Alps we had our share of snow. But although fall is progressing we don't have the bright yellow of the Aspen trees. Beautiful as always, Dom.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks SonjaM, are there reds in the leaves that do turn?

Diamond Dave said...

Stoner State? Cager Cesspool?? Maybe somebody needs to move

redlegsrides said...

Indeed Diamond Dave....indeed

Bluekat said...

The leaves are getting gorgeous! What a nice break from the city. Some of the roads look fun for bicycling too.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks Kari

Saw many bicyclists on the these roads.....

Steve Williams said...

Your title is wrong. You used "Colors". I only see yellow. Shouldn't it be "More Uraling for Fall Color?"

Lovely photos. It's been so wet here that they're predicting little color this year. Green then brown then gone. Hope the experts are wrong and we get some flaming foilage.

redlegsrides said...

Not much reds huh? Thanks Steve.

Steve Williams said...

Few reds here. And the change has slowed. Weird weather year so far and seems to have affected the seasonal changes. Could be my imagination...

redlegsrides said...

So, slow Fall change for your area and it whipped through here seemingly early....weird weather year indeed.