Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30th: I decided to take a road-trip out to Aspen. My main motive was to see the Maroon Bells, probably one of the most picturesque mountains around. I took I70 west through Vail and Glenwood Springs. It was raining all day Saturday so I didn't stop too much along the way although it was very pretty.
I arrived in Aspen around lunchtime and had lunch in town. I walked around for about an hour or so, hoping that the rain would break and I can get to the Bells before the sun went down. Around 2pm I was in luck ~ the sun started peeking through the clouds and so I hopped on the bus to the Maroon Bells (which is required between 9am-5pm to help protect the environment).
After about and hour or so at the lake, it started to rain again so I went back into town and checked into my hotel. The hotel was close enough to the main drag so I walked into town and had a lovely dinner. Made it back in time to watch the Rockies win.
The next morning I woke up relatively early and headed back to the Bells. I wanted to catch the sunrise over the peaks and I was not disappointed (although it was very cold)!! It was absolutely beautiful!!
I've never seen so many photographers! The entire shore was covered with 'em: from large-formats to small digitals to huge lenses (it was also the first time I have seen the 8x11 large format camera in action ~ it was absolutely huge!!). All waiting for the $$ shot...
Did I mention it was freezing!! The canyon stayed mostly shaded, even close to 10am when it warmed up to a whopping 27deg when I left. So much for hiking down the canyon. Oh well, next time. I did stop at many of the pull-outs on the way out of the canyon, and the yellow aspens were just amazing. Not much red, but lots and lots of yellow!
This is looking in the opposite direction of the Maroon Bells...
I took a nice, slow drive home over Independence Pass and up through Leadville.
Although it was a bit of a long haul, the Maroon Bells were definitely worth it! The fall foliage was very much around peak in this area and although there are many, many spots I wish to explore in the fall (fall is my favorite time of the year), I could come back and explore here year after year...
