Fall colors starting to come out in Colorado’s northern mountains, but peak is yet to come

Aspen stands are starting to turn in the northern mountains, but there’s still plenty of time before peak colors emerge. In some prime destinations, the change has barely begun.

There are patches of color between Silver Plume and the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels. In Aspen, the change started Thursday. In Steamboat Springs, “it’s still as green as it can be,” according to Gregory Koehler, owner of the iconic Rabbit Ears Motel.

There is good color popping in the Vaily Valley, though.

“It’s definitely starting here,” said Ashley Carter, who works at the Colorado Snowsports Museum at the foot of the Vail ski area. “We’ve got lots of little yellow and orange and red patches happening all over, from East Vail through Edwards. I just hiked up to Booth Lake (Wednesday) and there were a lot of yellow trees. We’re definitely not at the peak. It’s patchy. I can see out of our window, we’ve got a perfectly green aspen right next to a perfectly yellow aspen.”

Carter is guessing the peak in Vail is a week to 10 days away, but says, “It’s starting to change fast.”

Dustin Schaefer, who works at the Loveland ski area, said the aspen up high near Herman Gulch are close to peak, but he’s guessing the peak in Georgetown — 1,800 feet lower in elevation — is more likely to come around the first week of October.

In Aspen, the change began overnight Wednesday into Thursday.