Colorado fall color is fading fast so I’ll be heading back to Nebraska tomorrow. By my estimate, and by no means is there anything scientific here, the aspens turned about two weeks earlier this year as compared to 2011.   Even though some of my favorite spots were well past their prime by the time we arrived, we were treated to some very fantastic color. There is no better place for Colorado fall color than the San Juan Mountains.

Most of our time was spent in the Dallas Divide area near Ridgway. We revisited some of last year’s locations and discovered a few new ones too. After three days at various locations between Ouray and Telluride, we made a spur of the moment decision to finish the shoot in Crested Butte. As it turns out, our time would have been better spent elsewhere. Except for the west end of Kebler Pass which still is going strong, the Crested Butte area is pretty much done. There were still tons of photographers shooting in the area, especially on Kebler Pass road, but 50% to 75% of the aspens in and around Crested Butte have lost their leaves already.

Here is a sampling of this year’s Colorado fall color:

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