Updated w/ Pics: Color Report - Kebler (and more)

I did a high-speed fly-by of Kebler this weekend. I started at Great Sand Dunes Friday night, then drove from GSD to Kebler Saturday afternoon, spent the night, and came home Sunday via McClure Pass and I-70.

I haven't processed any pics yet, so I'll add a few hopefully this evening.

Around Horse Ranch Park, things are pretty eclectic. The north side, below the Dyke, is mostly green with some yellows, oranges and hints of red starting to emerge. On the south side of the road, things are further along; lots of gold and yellows with a little green left, and a small number of trees that were dropping their leaves. Next weekend and early the following week should be best for that area, imo.

It was very cold - 20 degrees Saturday night - so it's hard to say how things will progress. I ran into Scott Bacon Saturday shooting sunset at Horse Ranch Park, and he was thinking that the next week would be good and the weekend after would be best for the area below the Dyke.

Further down the road, there's all green around the Beckwiths overlook. They didn't look like they'd had even begun to turn. I'd guess two weeks for that area to reach peak.

We camped at Lost Lake Slough, and there was still mostly green with patches of yellow starting develop; only a small % of full-on yellow.

Other areas that we hit:

Coming from GSD to Crested Butte, we came up 17 and 285 through Poncha Springs and Buena Vista. About 50% green and 50% color throughout most stands. The west side of the road appeared to have more color than the east.

We then went overCottonwood Pass; it was, uh, 100% white! It had just been hit with snow by the time we arrived. We walked around a little at the Pass and further down the road at the first trailhead on the Taylor Reservoir side. The ground cover looked mostly brown, not the reds and earthtones that you typically see this time of year. Lots of green aspen still.

McClure was just starting turn on the Paonia side; over the pass and down the hill, looking back towards Marble, there was a range of greens (~ 20%), green-yellow (~40%)and full-on yellow (~30%). A small number had already lost their leaves. Great color on the scrub and ground cover.

Vail: Lots of gold and yellows; quite a bit of snow, too. If the weather didn't do nasty things to the leaves, next weekend should be sweet; no bets on the following weekend.

To all those going out this week, I'm envious. Happy shooting!

THANKS!!!!!

Excellent, excellent report, Rick.

Ditto - thanks for the scoop Rick!! Looks like the forecast is cold and possibly more fresh snow for this Fri night, but then getting a bit nicer for Sat - Mon.

Rick, thanks for the report, we are heading down there on the following weekend the 29th so hopefully it will still be good,

Bill

Great, report Rick. Looking forward to the visuals too.

Thanks again, Craig

Rick,

Thanks for the report, especially since I will be headed that way next weekend.

Do you know if there are any decent places to car camp overnight near Horse Ranch Park? It sounds like that area has some of the best color progress along Kebler so far. I am also considering camping at Lost Lake Slough. But it sounds like it has a ways to yet before the aspens really start to turn. Of course a lot could happen in a week, especially with all the cold weather going on.

Derek - others probably have better info than I do, but, aside from the campground at Lost Lake Slough, there are literally dozens of side roads where you can drive down a ways and look for a spot to set up camp. We drove several of those roads, and saw dozens of truck-campers and tents set up. Just along the road to Lost Lake Slough, there are a half dozen or more trails/roads where people have established camps.

Things will be far more crowded next weekend; best advice is to find a spot early and set up a tent or find some other way to 'mark' your territory. It's BLM (or Forest Service?) land, so camping is not restricted - at least not that I'm aware of.

I personally wouldn't want to be very close to Horse Ranch Park just due to the amount of traffic it sees (cars, horse-trailers, people, cows...). The road is easy travelling, so it doesn't take long to get from one end to the other. Except for dodging the cows...

Rick, that's a great update. Thanks for taking the time to jot things down.

Thanks!

Thanks for the update Rick. This makes me feel a bit better.

Thanks for the great report!

Rick- Thanks for the detailed report.

Thanks, Rick. I've been sitting here hundreds of miles away sweating things. I have the worst luck when it comes to traveling for fall. Last trip was to the Upper Penisula of MI. A wind storm came through two days prior to my arrival and blew down all but the strongest leaves.

I'm heading to Colorado on Fri and should be there in time for a Sun. morning at the Bells then I'm going to just go with the flow. I should have 8 days in Colorado and I'm so ready. Fall in Colorado has been a trip I've dreamed about long before I was into photography. Blame me if the weather goes real sour.

I wish all of ya a great fall season and thanks for the update.

As promised, here are a few pics.

This first is from Great Sand Dunes. As you can see, this one small patch of aspen is near peak. Better hurry!

Around the Beckwiths overlook...

Horse Ranch Park...

Between the Beckwiths overlook and the road to Lost Lake Slough, looking northeast. Not sure of the name of the mountain (Mount Owen?)...

It got down to 20 degrees Saturday night, putting some ice on the beaver ponds for sunrise near Horse Ranch Park...

One last one. We camped at Lost Lake Slough on a very cold Saturday night. If Jennifer looks a little loopy, it's because that cup is full of wine, not cocoa.

p.s. I'm sure there's some funky colors - these are straight from the camera, batch processed and uploaded from a laptop...

I'm sure Jennifer really appreciates that last one being posted.

Thanks for the update. I'm going down there on Thursday and Friday, so hopefully they have progressed a little since last weekend. I'll stick with the cocoa rather than the wine.