It was a pretty frustrating weekend for many people who drove up from Denver to the mountains to see the leaves changing. The most popular destination was Guanella Pass, whose north entrance is located in Georgetown, located about 45 minutes west of Denver. The traffic there was so bad that state police had to turn cars away at the entrance to the town, explaining that it was overwhelmed. In my opinion, a lot of this problem was caused by the local news media. Both the newspapers and television newscasts seemed to focus on Guanella Pass as THE place to see the best colors, and that this past weekend the trees would be at their peak. And so basically, the entire state drove up there Saturday and Sunday, with obvious results. Another hotspot was Kenosha Pass, which is located southwest of Denver on Highway 285. I saw a photograph of it from last weekend, and it looked like there was a line of traffic that stretched for miles. Not at all a relaxing day in the mountains, I would suspect.
What many people, perhaps newcomers, do not seem to realize is that the Colorado mountains make up a huge area of the state, and there are many places to see the leaves change color without having to sit in traffic the entire time. Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) is just a short drive from Denver, and there are a number of different roads people can take to see those golden aspens. From Evergreen you can drive up a twisting Witter Gulch Road and hardly see another car on the road, even on a weekend. But you will see plenty of aspens. The road ends at Highway 103. You can then take a left and head up toward the top of Mount Blue Sky or take a right back down to Evergreen and see great stands of colorful trees either way. And that's exactly what I did this past Saturday, where I took the two photographs seen on this blog. Of course, if you happen to be retired, you can drive up to the mountains on a weekday and go wherever the hell you want, which is the method I choose to use. Works for me.
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