Aspens are Golden in Colorado

The aspens are at their peak right now in the Colorado Rockies. I spent the day on Sunday (10/2/11) on Highway 62 near Nederland (west of Boulder) en route to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

I took the shots above along Highway 62. The highway was heavy with foliage peepers as the aspens will be at their peak for about another week. It’s a short season, but magnificent. It was a day of azure skies, with temperatures in the high 70s at elevations between 8,000 and 12,000 feet.

When we reached Estes Park, gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, traffic in all directions was at a standstill. The sidewalks were as crowded as Times Square at midnight. Wall-to-wall people. Just as we were entering downtown, a sign gave us the answer to the crowds. “Elk Fest, Oct. 1-2.”

What the heck, it was a beautiful day in the Rockies so we found a place to park after a half-hour search and spent a good part of the afternoon at the Elk Fest.

We headed for home by way of Rocky Mountain National Park. The entry fee was $20 per car, but I had my handy-dandy Golden Age Passport, which allows me free entrance to all national parks. Once we entered the park, we spotted a family of about nine elk. On our way out of the park, we saw a bull moose enjoying dinner along a pond in a meadow.

If you have never driven in Rocky Mountain National Park, it is not for the faint of heart. It’s a winding, hairy climb to 12,000 feet — well above the tree line in an area called alpine tundra — along a road with no guardrails. As my 6-year-old granddaughter said, “If we go over the side, it’s a long way down. We’re probably going to die.” Yep, I go along with that.

To make things even more fun, we were running out of gas. My son-in-law thought it wise to coast down much of the way after we reached the summit. We did make it to a gas station just outside the exit to the park with about 2 gallons of gas left in the tank. By golly, we probably could have gone another 10 or 15 miles.

Ten hours after we left home, we returned. My wife, who stayed home, handed me a glass of wine as I entered the house.

If you are in the Denver area during the next couple of weeks, get up to the mountains and check out the aspens. You will not be disappointed. If you can, however, go during the week. — Stan Wawer